Please note: Nearly all of the property the canal passes through is privately owned and has no Public Rights of Way. This article is solely intended to describe the route of the canal through the Branch's area. To help us maintain good relations with landowners please do not enter private property without prior permission from the owner.
At SU307903 are the remains of Mundys Lift Bridge. A public footpath from Uffington crosses the canal (in water) at this point on a new footbridge but the abutments of the old lift bridge can still be seen including most of the deck that still spans the canal. This deck is a fixed one that replaced the original lift bridge post 1914. A little further along the canal at SU310904 is the site of what appears to be another bridge. The canal has been culverted here with a causeway built across it to provide farm access. The brick abutments are still visible in places here.
Mundys Lift Bridge - click for larger version
Between this last bridge site and Baulking Road the canal enters a deep cutting that is well covered in trees (Uffington Gorse). Although there is a lot of collapsed timber in the canal through this cutting the water depth appears quite substantial. There is a small wildlife sanctuary SU313900 that should not be disturbed but otherwise signed footpaths give good access this area. The eastern limit of the West Vale Patch is reached at Baulking Road. Here the canal is filled in with what appears to be village rubbish, but beyond the bridge to the east, the canal does hold water.
Near Uffington - click for larger version
Baulking Road - click for larger versionIt can be seen from this “quick canter” through the West Vale section of the canal, that it is very rural and for the most part the bed is visible and intact. There are even some canal features still in use or that can be restored relatively easily. A major sticking problem with this whole length is that it does not have a water feed in its own right but originally required water from the top pound to feed down to it. Currently the Branch is investigating the viability of abstracting water from Tuckmill Brook during the wet seasons to overcome this. Hopefully, our small Branch will be able to bring some of the individual projects to fruition in the near future and bring the whole section back to life eventually.
Text and photographs by Orph Mable
