West
Vale Branch |
The warmer and hopefully drier days of summer are now approaching as I write this at the end of May. The downside of that is that plants, and grass in particular, grows at an alarming rate requiring regular work parties just to keep on top of the Canalside Park and towpath in our area. I must admit though, the Park has become a place of luxuriant shrub growth , especially on the mound built up from the dredgings of a few years ago. You may recall that we planted over 1000 native shrubs in this area and despite losing a few to vandals and natural wastage, have retained, by my guess, over 75% of the original planting. Judging by the current growth rate, we will be pruning there next year!
Our major restoration project, Steppingstone Lane Bridge is making steady progress. The infill has been fully removed from the invert and our half dozen work party stalwarts are slowly removing all the rubble from around the remains of the bridge base. We were a little concerned that some new cracks have appeared in the invert but hopefully, this is consistent with a little settling now we have removed the rubble in-fill. During May, we were visited by Peter Smith, Restoration Director and the Trust Bridge Engineer, David Van Der Cruyssen. Their purpose was to assess the remains and give guidance on the ultimate restoration strategy for this bridge. Additionally David will be producing the structural design for the bridge which must be accepted by Oxfordshire County Council before restoration proper can begin.
Both were very impressed with our achievements thus far and the combined opinion was that we would be able to use the existing remains as the base for restoration. (Hooray!). It was also observed that the rescued original coping stones will greatly enhance the appearance of the restored bridge in due course. David noted that the shape of the original bridge, which flares more on the Shrivenham side, indicated that the bridge probably sloped down with the Bourton side being higher, even though the land now appeared similar height on both sides. Coincidently, at the end of May, some drawings of “Bridge 490 Near Shrivenham”, dated 1947, have been unearthed by the OCC Bridges Dept and these have confirmed that the bridge did slope! These drawings also show the major weakness on the bridge, and confirms that it was due to the arch failing that required the Council to collapse it.
The project to build a culvert (aqueduct ?)at Tuckmill Brook is progressing well with both Planning Permission and EA Approval gained. There were two caveats to these approvals. We were required to carry out surveys of Water Voles and White Clawed Crayfish in the immediate area. These studies have been completed by a team of environmental Consultants funded from Branch resources (all donations welcome!) and the results assessed. Procedures will be included in the “Project Method Statement” and the “Project Plan” to avoid any possible interference with their habitat.
To keep abreast of the progress at Steppingstone Lane Bridge and other aspects of our branch activities please visit our web-site at www.westvalecanal.fsnet.co.uk . If anyone feels like helping out in any area whether it be digging or writing, please contact the Branch Chairman or Work Party Organiser or attend our monthly meetings at Shrivenham Bowls Club.
Orph Mable - Branch Project Co-ordinator
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