|
The Canal Trust’s voluntary restoration project
Mill Green to Hall Lane - Staveley
By Mick Hodgetts
Background
 Following
closure of the Derbyshire end of the canal in the early 20th
century the sectional from Chesterfield to Renishaw was retained
as a water supply for the Staveley & Renishaw Iron works. Recent
photographs from the early 1960s show the canal still in good condition.
In 1971 the iron works at Renishaw ceased their abstraction and
discharging of canal water and by then the section of the canal
maintained as a watercourse from Hollingwood Lock to near Spinkhill
(aprox 4 miles) was in poor condition.
Staveley Puddle Bank was in great need of repair and could not
maintain the canal at full operating capacity levels, resulting
in stop planks being installed at Mill Green Bridge and the water
being maintained at a lower level throughout this section as far
as the narrows at Barlborough Rd (A616) Renishaw. Here a pumping
Station was installed to transfer water over a stop plank dam to
achieve the full canal depth towards Renishaw Iron Works. According
to an early publication of Cuckoo it was decided by British Waterways
Board that although infilling this section would not be any cheaper
than to retain the canal as a remainder waterway for the next 10
- 15 years, infilling was the more favoured option and favoured
by the relevant local authorities.
Condition of the Canal at Mill Green
By the mid-1980s the canal at Mill Green had become a local rubbish
dump. No maintenance was undertaken below Hollingwood Lock and a
concrete dam had been cast in the stop plank grooves next to Mill
Green Bridge. The canal channel from here was filled in and for
the first 100metres past Mill Green Bridge half the width of the
canal onward had a further 10ft of overfilling from ajacent landscaping
works following both the demolition of houses at Mill Green and
further developments nearby.
The towpath originally at a level, dips then rises. It is hard
to find the original location in some places and it is easy to assume
that this is due to mining subsidence. However with careful observation
on site you will find the offside bank is still at the original
level. Therefore in some places the towing path embankment may have
been bulldozed into the channel. In other areas the footpath has
become established on the route of the canal leaving the towpath
route to become overgrown.
The first phase of voluntary restoration
 With
the volunteer input to restoration of the Canal between Chesterfield
and Mill Green completed by the year 2000, the Canal Trust has taken
on the next major project at Mill Green, Staveley, on a voluntary
basis. As the next major phase of restoration on a major scale is
reliant on the outcome of future engineering and benefit studies,
it was decided that the Trust pursue the continuing restoration
to maintain our profile and show something happening on site.
The removal of the over-tipping and the building of the canal wash
walls, well documented over past issues of Cuckoo, has taken 2-3
years to complete. This work was completed by September last year
leaving just the canal channel itself to be dredged and requiring
£40,000 to be raised to do it- the arisings were classed as toxic
waste and had to be taken away to tip. Much credit is due to David
Trickett and Martin Bloomfield who put together the funding package
which raised this enormous amount allowing the canal dredging works
to take place.
After what seemed a lifetime in preparation and waiting, the earthworks
contractor J C Balls commenced on Wednesday 19th June.
With all the pumping out undertaken previously leaving a fully dry
site, the first 2-ton bucket full was extracted at 7.30am. As expected
the first hour was the most difficult due to establishing between
all parties where and what the clay bed of the canal was. All was
quickly resolved and good progress made on the excavation of the
bridge approach. Here for about fifteen metres the canal’s
profile was of a simple flat clay bed between two vertical walls.
Beyond this the canal sides are battered, formed with clay more
closely resembling the natural orange type found locally in the
area. Both sides have wash walling constructed on top of this. By
the end of the first day a good third of the excavation was complete.
The following day was very productive with one massive 360-degree
excavator and six 40-tonne lorries at work. I probed the canal bed
as the works progressed.
The profile of the far bank beyond the retaining wall was formed
from the natural clay strata; this has left a natural clay shelf
below the water line that will in time provide an area for wildlife
colonisation. The last fifteen metres was trimmed down deeper to
form a boat turning point, as this will act (not for too long I
hope) as the head of navigation. The canal bed was puddled blue
clay with the towing path wash wall we had constructed on top of
the clay batter up to one-metre lower the original construction.
Throughout the dredging operation the canal bed was carefully monitored
to avoid digging into it. By Friday afternoon, excavation of the
full 100metres was satisfactorily completed and a batter formed
and compacted across the end. To avoid any drying out of the canal
bed we immediately began to re-water this section by lifting the
top stop plank in the narrows by Mill Green Bridge.
This became quite an event attended by Staveley Neighbourhood Management
team, one of the project sponsors. Within three hours the section
was full with not a leak in sight. That is how things stood for
two weeks until the stop planks were removed by the contractors,
with kind assistance from the sub aqua club.
The second phase of voluntary restoration
 At
the end of last September we moved our worksite a further 100 metres
to Constitution Hill footpath crossing. We have now restored both
sides of the bridge hole and are currently rebuilding the wash wall
back towards Mill Green to eventually join up with the newly re-watered
section.
With regard to rebuilding the footbridge, at this moment I do not
feel that our small and dedicated band of volunteers could undertake
this, although we would not rule out any involvement at some stage
– watch this space. This is only the start of bigger things
that should happen in the near future when the big guns again arrive
back on site. We are only a small but dedicated group that intend
to prove to everyone that there is a desire within the local community
to see the canal restored and are willing to do our bit to see it
achieved.
Our thanks go to those organisations and bodies who have contributed
to the cost of the dredging:
Landfill Tax Credit Scheme:
Waste Recycling Environmental (WREN) and
Viridor Credits - Derbyshire;
Third Party Funder:
Staveley Neighbourhood Management;
Grants from:
Staveley Town Council,
Staveley Miners' Welfare,
Derbyshire Greenwatch,
Waterways Trust.
|
