Canals

When the M5 motorway was built, it was deemed necessary to fill in the Stroudwater Navigation from Westfield Bridge to the A38 (the ‘Missing Mile’). This Included re-routing Oldbury Brook, and infilling Westfield Lock. A new route for Oldbury Brook was achieved by destroying the top end of the lock, and it lay hidden for 50 years under a field.

Restoration of Westfield Lock and the adjoining new Oldbury Brook Aqueduct will be undertaken by volunteers from Waterway Recovery Group and other mobile groups. In late October, Newbury Working Party Group (NWPG), together with corporate volunteers from Godwin Pumps, came to the Cotswolds to help locate the remains of the lock, just east of Westfield Bridge. Over this long weekend, the tops of the lock walls emerged again from the ground. Using spades, shovels and mattocks they dug down 300mm on the Inside of the walls to help determine the overall condition of the lock.

Meanwhile, Pete Bunker used the Cotswold Canals Trust mini excavator to start digging out under the bridge revealing a couple of coping stones amongst the spoil. At the top end of the lock, the entire gate recess, ground paddle culvert, and wing wall are missing on the south-east side, but all of the nor th-east side remains This also revealed the tell-tale signs of the demolition having been done by a large excavator, as the bucket teeth marks are dearly visible. Meanwhile, Graham battled away with a spade and mattock to try and locate the remains of a bypass spill weir, following clues in a late 1960s photo. This was as far as we were able to go, but we now had plans for a repeat visit.

Despite a poor weather forecast, NWPG returned in late November when we had assembled heavy plant - an 8 tonne excavator and two 6 tonne dumpers - all kindly supplied by Plantforce free of charge. Entering the site under the bridge would be difficult due to the steep slopes necessary to get under the arch, so we made an access route in from the north side of the lock. Initially we started digging back eastwards from the bridge, with the excavator sitting about 5m above the base of the lock. Both dumpers plied back and forth, delivering spoil to a fenced-off compound.

At this point we realised that most of the lock chamber coping stones had been tossed into the bottom. We currently have a pile of around 20 coping stones, including two of the specially shaped hinge quoin stones, most of which can be re-used. We confidently expect to find most of the remaining coping stones next time.

On Sunday, we switched to the eastern end of the lock, working back from a retained bund against Oldbury Brook cutting. Gradually the remains of the north eastern side of the lock cill started to reappear from the spoil. By lunchtime we’d exposed the timber mitre for the gates, but the 10" x 12" timbers hadn’t fared that well from being buried for over 50 years. At the end of the day, the working excavated face had moved back about 7m into the lock.

With the plant due to be collected on Tuesday, we planned another day’s digging but Monday saw heavy rain all day. Instead, Duncan and I cleared some random spoil heaps and reduced the height of the infill by another metre. This left us with an access route and a gently ramped top surface, meaning that we can dig much closer to the bottom of the lock.

Despite awful weather, we had a visit from Terry Robinson and friends. The Robinson family has made a generous donation to CCT in memory of John Robinson, restricted to the restoration of Westfield Lock. With luck, this money will cover the restoration of the str ucture and pay for new lock gates, paddle gear and lock ladders. The lock will henceforth be known as John Robinson Lock. The canal route will lead out under the original Westfield Bridge, but then turn hard left onto the Missing Mile and eventually arrive at Westfield New Lock, which will drop the canal to the required level to pass under the M5 River Frome bridge.

We now need to arrange a further two or three days’ work, as we’re only about halfway through emptying the lock. Present indications are that its remains are in remarkably good condition and that restoration will be no more difficult than any other lock on the Phase 1a and 1b (Saul to Brimscombe) lengths. The complication of the missing south-east section of the lock head will be resolved by incorporating it into the concrete channel forming the new Oldbury Brook Aqueduct, thus linking into the existing canal up the Eastington locks.

Regional groups are now scheduled to return on 4/5 February, 18/19 February, 4/5 March, and 11/12 March - after which it’s hoped that the lock will be looking pretty much like any other Stroudwater Navigation lock under restoration.

Jon Pontefract (in CCT’s The Trow )