Grantham Canal - bits of rusty metal and other interesting stuff.

imagine their faces as , as the water level reduces the out line of a genuine artifact braks the surface, yeap, a genuine 1970's tesco shopping trolley

 

Well 'every little helps...'

 

Drifting slightly from the original topic, here's some photos of what we are up to.

Before we started



The line shows the lock wall has slipped forward



The damage to one of the lock walls revealed - the wall has separated from its counterfortes.. This has caused a major rethink of the way the lock walls are to be restored. Someone wanted the walls taken down brick by brick ....until they were given some strongly worded advice of a directional nature.



Most of the main walls removed and almost down to water level. Next step is to waterproof the dams, remove any fish, de-water the chamber, remove more of the walls, remove the weir, check the floor of the chamber and then, and only then, maybe start the re-build. The light coloured area in the cleared section on the left hand side of the picture (looks like a giant sunfish) has got the archaeologists baffled and has stopped our work on that side of the lock..



After this lock, there's another three, in a similar state, to sort out.

 

And where was the railway line/where the firebar was found?

 

The lock is part of the Woolsthorpe flight of locks - 3 are operational, the next four need to be restored and then it's a level run for the next 19 miles - no problem apart from flat bridges, dry sections, silted-up sections,dual carriageways, SSSIs, and the odd stroppy local. The former railway line is to the right of the main picture, the rusty bit of metal was found in the trees in the background further down the trackbed.

 

Going back to the original query for a moment, there's a bit of fish bellied rail at Middleton Top if you fancy seeing what it should look like.
Nice little project you have there, by the way!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Blimey, that must have been some night on the lash...

Tom

 

I had a word with our friendly farmer at the weekend and he confirms it is a firebar - the archaeologist didn't turn up yesterday, I wonder why. "There's loads more in the woods further along the canal along with chairs, rails, fishplates and other junk" he said. He also added that there are some remnants of a narrow-gauge railway which served the castle if you look in the right place. Out of respect for the privacy of the farmer, I won't give precise details of where the remnants are located as he doesn't want people tramping across his land.

Here are some more photos of our canal.

Taken from a viewing platform installed for our open day, this shows the bottom of the leaning wall on the towpath side.



The by-wash we have recently completed to divert the canal once the dams have been clay lined. When that's done, the lock chamber can be de-watered and the count of dumped supermarket trollies, bikes, prams, safes, etc can begin.

 

Came across this Youtube film today.

 

Bit more progress today. We have started lining the temporary dams with clay, hopefully it's stopped the water flowing through the dam....keeping our fingers crossed.

There's 40 ton of the stuff in there somewhere.



Edited to add: I've altered the thread title to avoid thread drift.

 

Keep the updates and the pictures coming. It's good to see other heritage projects and it widens the support base for your project!

 

It looks like the clay lining of the dam that was laid down earlier in the week is holding.

Here is what it is like behind the dam. The water has been drained through the paddle in the centre of the weir and most of what remains is very soggy silt and will have to be pumped/scooped out. There are some fish trapped in the lock chamber further down and these will be safely removed before the lock chamber is emptied. I'm a sea angler so my 13' beach rod and 4/0 hooks aren't going to be much use.



The proof of the pudding. Water is now flowing over the by-wash.....



..and coming out the other end. Good eh?

 

Something different away from mud, mud and more mud. An autumn day at the other end of our navigable stretch. The A1 is about 100 yards behind me.

 

After the weekend break it was back to business today.

Both dams have been clay-lined and the water level in the lock chamber is well below the level in the canal proper so it seems the clay lining is doing its job.

After adding some more clay and doing a bit of tidying up, our excavator driver ( another volunteer) started pulling the sludge and slime out of the lock chamber - it's black, gloopy and a tad bit smelly and not something you would put in your sandwiches. We'll use a pump to get the bulk of water out, after that the excavator will get on with removing as much sludge/debris as possible before we go in with buckets and shovels and finish that particular phase.

Our man lifting the "stuff" out of the lock chamber



Told you it was black and gloopy. You can almost smell it from here.

 

I am sure I've seen some of that before in the old style Motorway Service Stations proclaiming to be liver and onions... (For those of you that have never seen the 70's and 80's menus served up on the motorway be very thankful you live in an enlightened age...)

 

Minor thread drift: Never mind motorway services, that looked like the standard fare in a lot of army messes. Those of us in the light blue at least knew how to use a knife and fork and were somewhat better fed.

 

Which is why I was very glad that my army unit was frequently attached to Blue Job bases.

 

After another week when brick-cleaning was the main activity we turned up expecting to do something different. As the clouds decided to deposit large quantities of water on the site, we retired to the welfare facility and drank tea. This was the view from the cabin door - our site resembling the Somme on, appropriately, Remembrance Week.



Elsewhere on the canal, we suffer from the activities of those that plague ventures like ours. I'm sure heritage railways also have their fair share of scumbags who seem to be-grudge the enjoyment of like-minded folks who share a hobby.

Two of our boats had their mooring chains ripped out and were cast adrift Fortunately, they hadn't drifted too far along the canal before the action of the wind caused them to become wedged across the canal thus curtailing their journey. Recovery was a fairly straightforward activity but we had to make new mooring points. It was all something we could have done without.

Tomorrow we are having a photoshoot with the BBC East Midlands and other media at our restoration site. One expects to spend sometime in wardrobe and make-up to ensure one's appearance is appropriate to the occasion. Do I need an agent?