Canal section reopens to boaters after bank breach

A section of a canal has reopened eight months after a breach on an embankment led to a towpath collapsing and grounded boats.

Waterways charity Canal & River Trust has reopened the Lancaster Canal to boaters following a £1.6m project to repair a breach at Hollowforth Aqueduct at Woodplumpton, Lancashire.

The canal at the Grade II listed aqueduct was breached in July causing extensive damage with parts of the embankment, towpath and sections of aqueduct wingwall washed away.

Complex repair works included a land drain and a clay liner on the canal bed to prevent a future breach.

Jon Horsfall, North West director at Canal & River Trust, which cares for 2,000 miles of historic canals across England and Wales, said: "Hollowforth Aqueduct is a piece of living heritage, and we've taken care to protect its historical aspects while repairing the damage to make it safe for the future.

"We've kept boaters at the forefront of our thinking as we've carried out these works, creating an unusual three-sided dam to allow boaters to navigate across the aqueduct before the navigation was closed for the repairs to get underway."

The trust's project team created a plan to rebuild the embankment, reinstate the canal towpath and the footpath underneath the aqueduct, and sensitively repair and restore the aqueduct, using original archive drawings to replace all the masonry in its original position.

It was particularly challenging as the breach was located away from local roads and required a temporary track to be built and along the bed of the drained canal, so materials could be brought to site.

Renowned civil engineer John Rennie designed Hollowforth Aqueduct, using an engineering solution of three barrel-shaped stone pipes to carry the Lancaster Canal over New Mill Brook in the 1790s.

Rennie later designed the Lune Aqueduct, near Lancaster, and also the Caen Hill Lock Flight on the Kennet & Avon Canal in Wiltshire.

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