Wednesday 25 November 2009

Tardebigge stoppages

On Friday afternoon, we went for a walk up the Tardebigge Locks. There weren't any boats about, because of stoppages at Locks 36 and 50. This meant there was a chance to see parts of the canal that are usually under water. This is the pound between Lock 35 and Lock 36. We assume that the channel down the middle has been created in the days since the stoppage started, worn by the water that's still flowing.

Above Lock 35 there's a single stop plank, and you can see a brick floor above the lock, and the workings of the paddles.


Lock 36, where the works are, is having a top gate and extensive re-pointing.

There's more work going on at Lock 50. This is looking back towards Lock 49, along another drained pound.

The work at Lock 50 seems to involve the culvert which carries the by-wash. There's a huge hole on the left hand side of the lock, and you can just seen the brick lining of the culvert. A large pipe was waiting nearby, so perhaps they're going to line it to stop leaks.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That's fascinating - isn't it interesting to see the dewatered canal, though I'm surprised that the mud isn't spiked with a multitude of windlasses lost over the years! We saw a pile of new locks gates labelled 'Tardebigge' at the Bradley Workshop in May - it's good to see that they're being put into use.
Sue, Indigo Dream