Restoration
Since 1969 when the canal through Welshpool was threatened by a proposed road bypass, the canal has been partially restored for use by pleasure boaters. In some places the canal has been filled in, roads have been built over the channel, bridges have been lowered, and infrastructure such as pipes and manhole covers have been built in the canal bed, presenting several obstacles to restoration. The section from Freestone Lock to Newtown is dry, and no longer in British Waterways ownership.
In 1987 the locks at Frankton Junction were restored and officially reopened.
In 1996 the 4 miles (6 km) section from Frankton Junction to Queen's Head was reopened.
In 2001 work was started on the restoration of Newhouse Lock, with an estimated cost of £104,000. Soon after work started on the lock, it became evident that there were structural problems which had not been apparent when the first engineering inspection had been carried out. The costs were reappraised and a revised estimate of £250,000 was produced. The restoration was completed on schedule in 2006, and the lock was opened officially on 25 June 2006 by Lembit Opik, M.P., in conjunction with the Annual Montgomery Dinghy Dawdle. This completed the restoration of all of the locks on the section of the canal owned by British Waterways, and was the eleventh lock to be restored by Shropshire Union Canal Society.
In 2003 the 3 miles (5 km) section from Queen's Head to Gronwen Wharf was reopened. In October 2007 the 800 metres (875 yd) section from Gronwen Wharf to Redwith Bridge was filled with water, but is not open to navigation by motorised vessels.
In October 2007 restoration was started on the 400 metres (437 yd) section from Redwith Bridge to Pryce's Bridge.
In 2007 restoration of Crickheath Wharf was started by the Shropshire Union Canal Society, though in 2008 work was postponed due to land ownership issues.
Restoration is being carried out by a partnership of the Montgomery Waterway Restoration Trust and British Waterways.
-
Restoration near Redwith Bridge, July 2007
-
Restoration near Crickheath Wharf, August 2007
-
Puddle clay lining and temporary end stop at Redwith Bridge, October 2007
Read more about this topic: Montgomery Canal
Famous quotes containing the word restoration:
“In comparison to the French Revolution, the American Revolution has come to seem a parochial and rather dull event. This, despite the fact that the American Revolution was successful—realizing the purposes of the revolutionaries and establishing a durable political regime—while the French Revolution was a resounding failure, devouring its own children and leading to an imperial despotism, followed by an eventual restoration of the monarchy.”
—Irving Kristol (b. 1920)
“I claim that in losing the spinning wheel we lost our left lung. We are, therefore, suffering from galloping consumption. The restoration of the wheel arrests the progress of the fell disease.”
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948)
“The King [Charles II] after the Restoration accused the poet, Edmund Waller, of having made finer verses in praise of Oliver Cromwell than of himself; to which he agreed, saying, that Fiction was the soul of Poetry.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)