Notable Embankments

[magpie patrick]

I have found myself pushing into unknown territory, or at least not well documented territory - we are doing a lot of work on the Staveley Puddle Banks at the moment (we is me working with the Chesterfield Canal Trust) and have realised that whilst we know this structure is early (opened by 1777) we don't have any league table or timeline of the development of embankments. My starting point for such things is usually sources like the D&C regional histories "Canals of the British Isles" but whilst these document locks, lifts, tunnels inclined planes and aqueducts they don't give any attention to embankments.

 

Speaking to Christine Richardson, author of the Chesterfield Canal history and other books on the canal, it sppears the canal company didn't do much to document the puddle banks or any other embankment on the canal and it may be that this was generally true, and thus embankments exist as earthworks but are not generally recorded in the archives. You need to see them, or at least find them on maps, to know they exist

Hadfield's regional histories list "Outstanding Aqueducts" - I think outstanding is overdoing it given some of the ones listed but I'd accept "Notable". If we were to do a list of "Notable embankments" what would be on it, and which are on canals that have now closed?  

[tree monkey]

The embankment that runs up to the ponty aqueduct, easily overlooked but it's a hell of a construction 

[Stilllearning]

Audlem?

 

[Pluto]

On the L&LC, I have found detailed specifications for Burnley and Bentley Wood embankments, though little for the other five major embankments between Barrowford and Johnsons Hillock. These were built between 1790 and 1816, by which time the technology of embankment building was beginning to be understood, though Burnley did slip on several occasions during construction. Civil engineers on the continent were definitely in advance of those in the UK when it came to embankment design, though we were in advance when it came to construction, as almost all our early cvil engineers came from a background as craftsmen, rather from the academic upper classes of the time. Jessop's work on the Grand Canal in Ireland was possibly the most important step in the understanding of embankment technology.

Early canal engineers soon found that the cost and technical problems in building embankments and cuttings was prohibitive, though there are several notable examples on the L&LC. By the 1790s, they were beginning to understand the technology, with such structures becoming more commonplace by the 1820s, hence those on the SUC. It was an area where canal engineering formed the basis for subsequent railway construction.

As for a list, what figures would have to be required for a mention. There is the obvious height/length/volume ones, but the geology of the ground over which an embankment was built would be anther major factor, as Jessop found out in Ireland. Their technology was perhaps the most important 'new' factor in civil engineering at the time, and probably is worthy of further work. Over to you, Patrick! How to allow for settlement is covered in my soon to be published translation of an 1817 Austrian book on canal construction.

[magpie patrick]

33 minutes ago, Pluto said:

Early canal engineers soon found that the cost and technical problems in building embankments and cuttings was prohibitive, though there are several notable examples on the L&LC. By the 1790s, they were beginning to understand the technology, with such structures becoming more commonplace by the 1820s, hence those on the SUC. It was an area where canal engineering formed the basis for subsequent railway construction.

 That's interesting as it's more than ten years after the Staveley embankment

 

34 minutes ago, Pluto said:

As for a list, what figures would have to be required for a mention. There is the obvious height/length/volume ones, but the geology of the ground over which an embankment was built would be anther major factor, as Jessop found out in Ireland. Their technology was perhaps the most important 'new' factor in civil engineering at the time, and probably is worthy of further work. Over to you, Patrick! 

 

It'll have to be a bit subjective - going through "Outstanding Aqueducts" in the Canals of the British Isles series I'm not that surprised that Yarningale on the Stratford is missed out given it's grander neighbours but the absence of Mullicourt on the Middle Level is more surprising as it would be the only aqueduct in the Eastern England volume. "size would be one factor, boldness another. At a low level (literally as well as metaphorically) defining an emankment isn't easy, so for that we'll probably have to rely on Churchill's hippotamus principle

39 minutes ago, Pluto said:

How to allow for settlement is covered in my soon to be published translation of an 1817 Austrian book on canal construction.

 

Let me know when it's ready - I'll buy you lunch and collect a copy off you (possibly two, one for Magie the Elder too) 

[matty40s]

Weedon and Bugbrooke embankments are rather important, Weedon being shadowed by the rail one to the West.

[Pluto]

A couple of early embankments, that over the Bollin on the Bridgewater, and the one over the Alt at Aintree on the L&LC.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

Another thing to consider is how early an embankment visible today actually is. Mining subsidence, or land drainage may have dropped the ground level considerably since the canal was first built and it would have had to have been built up to compensate, so the embankment may not be contemporary with the canals original construction. An early canal could then benefit from improved civil engineering knowledge about embankment construction.

Edited August 14, 2021 by Jen-in-Wellies

[Guest]

By co-incidence Smite Brook on the Oxford was mentioned by the Foxes yesterday.

 

Notable because it's actually a buried aqueduct, buried to create an embankment using spoil from a cutting created when one of the 'straightened' sections was created. 

[Heartland]

The Weedon embankment and iron aqueduct on the Grand Junction Canal was made to replace the earlier locks to the Ouse crossing

As Pluto states the Burnley embankment is most impressive and was done at time as the canal progressed to completion.

 

All such embankments came with better understanding of building waterways. Telfords embankment from Froncysyltte has bee mentioned, but his feeder also perhaps deserves mention.

 

On the BCN Main Line there is the embankment across the Sheepwash Valley, which few comment on until they see it close up   

[1st ade]

Either side of the Iron Trunk at Cosgrove (where I'm sat as I type this)

 

At least, unlike the nearby railway embankment at Wolverton, the canal one didn't catch fire while they  were building it!

 

ETA -Heartland beat me to it!!

Edited August 14, 2021 by 1st ade

[Heartland]

Now I am curious as to the Wolverton Railway embankment. Where is there a reference to that?

 

There was a court case where the LBR sought to prevent the GJC from taking down their temporary contractors viaduct. The GJ maintained that the LBR had the right to make permanent viaduct but not a temporary one. Of course to build the embankment on one side, the contractor needed the temporary one and it was left to the Rolls Court to sort out the legalities.

[Steilsteven]

5 hours ago, magpie patrick said:

I have found myself pushing into unknown territory, or at least not well documented territory - we are doing a lot of work on the Staveley Puddle Banks at the moment (we is me working with the Chesterfield Canal Trust) and have realised that whilst we know this structure is early (opened by 1777) we don't have any league table or timeline of the development of embankments. My starting point for such things is usually sources like the D&C regional histories "Canals of the British Isles" but whilst these document locks, lifts, tunnels inclined planes and aqueducts they don't give any attention to embankments.

 

Speaking to Christine Richardson, author of the Chesterfield Canal history and other books on the canal, it sppears the canal company didn't do much to document the puddle banks or any other embankment on the canal and it may be that this was generally true, and thus embankments exist as earthworks but are not generally recorded in the archives. You need to see them, or at least find them on maps, to know they exist

Hadfield's regional histories list "Outstanding Aqueducts" - I think outstanding is overdoing it given some of the ones listed but I'd accept "Notable". If we were to do a list of "Notable embankments" what would be on it, and which are on canals that have now closed?  

The Kennet Navigation has a number of embankments so as it was completed in 1724 do they deserve a place in your league table?

 

Keith

[Pluto]

6 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Another thing to consider is how early an embankment visible today actually is. Mining subsidence, or land drainage may have dropped the ground level considerably since the canal was first built and it would have had to have been built up to compensate, so the embankment may not be contemporary with the canals original construction. An early canal could then benefit from improved civil engineering knowledge about embankment construction.

You can see the effect of mining subsidence on Edge Green Colliery basin, on the Leigh side of the former locks at Dover, where you now look down on the basin from the canal. I estimate that the land has dropped between 20 to 30 feet in this area since about 1890. The canal company had special hopper barges for filling in the canal as the additional depth of water increased the pressure on the canal banks. The second photo shows the effects of land drainage on the canal at New Lane, near Burscough. The wet land of Martin Meer, seen in the background, was drained after the canal was built causing the land to subside and the canal banks to become unstable. Water levels below Rufford lock were lowered because of this effect.

[1st ade]

5 hours ago, Heartland said:

Now I am curious as to the Wolverton Railway embankment. Where is there a reference to that?

 There is mention (but with no detail) in The Living Archive

 

I think it was something to do with the nature of the stone used - MK Heritage describes "Alum Shale" which spontaneously combusted and set the sleepers on fire...

[magpie patrick]

18 hours ago, Steilsteven said:

The Kennet Navigation has a number of embankments so as it was completed in 1724 do they deserve a place in your league table?

 

Keith

Thank you, yes they do - I'm now tracking them down, found one above Woolhamton Lock (shown on the 1900 OS base)

[Pluto]

Due to the cost and difficulty of excavation, cuttings were avoided more than embankments by canal engineers. The L&LC between Barrowford and Johnsons Hillock is a good example, with embankments where the canal crosses Colne Water, at Burnley, Bentley Brook, three around Church, the River Darwen below Blackburn, at Feniscowles, and at Holden Water, near Riley Green. The only major cutting is at Rishton. I do think this section is a good example of a canal engineer, Whitworth, setting out a line which balances embankments with cuttings. Although t appears to wander about, it is possibly the most direct route he could have used, and is a major engineering advance compared to the early contour canals, like the Oxford. Other major cuttings on the L&LC are at Lydiate and Dowley Gap on the earliest sections of the canal, and at East Marton on the later sections. You can still see that both Dowley Gap and East Marton were used as quarries for stone.

[magpie patrick]

On 15/08/2021 at 10:24, Pluto said:

Due to the cost and difficulty of excavation, cuttings were avoided more than embankments by canal engineers. The L&LC between Barrowford and Johnsons Hillock is a good example, with embankments where the canal crosses Colne Water, at Burnley, Bentley Brook, three around Church, the River Darwen below Blackburn, at Feniscowles, and at Holden Water, near Riley Green. The only major cutting is at Rishton. I do think this section is a good example of a canal engineer, Whitworth, setting out a line which balances embankments with cuttings. Although t appears to wander about, it is possibly the most direct route he could have used, and is a major engineering advance compared to the early contour canals, like the Oxford. Other major cuttings on the L&LC are at Lydiate and Dowley Gap on the earliest sections of the canal, and at East Marton on the later sections. You can still see that both Dowley Gap and East Marton were used as quarries for stone.

 

Thanks Mike - if cuttings were avoided but embankments were used, where did the fill come from? Modern practice is to aim for a cut-fill balance. 

This is a question we are trying to answer for Staveley 

[David Mack]

2 minutes ago, magpie patrick said:

 

Thanks Mike - if cuttings were avoided but embankments were used, where did the fill come from? Modern practice is to aim for a cut-fill balance. 

 

When all your earthworks were being constructed by men with spades and wheelbarrows, carting spoil from a cutting at one location to an embankment at another would have been a far less attractive option than it is with mechanised construction. 

Contour canals were constructed by moving material in a direction across the canal line only, the excavation on the uphill side being used to form the embankment, usually with the towpath along the top, on the other. That's why the contour canals follow every wiggle of the contour, whereas to modern eyes a slightly straighter route would seem more obvious.

Where cuttings and embankments were necessary, my guess is that it was almost always cheaper to dump cutting spoil locally, and to excavate locally to win material for embankments.

[Martin Nicholas]

Rowington Embankment on the GU, perhaps.

[Pluto]

4 minutes ago, David Mack said:

 

When all your earthworks were being constructed by men with spades and wheelbarrows, carting spoil from a cutting at one location to an embankment at another would have been a far less attractive option than it is with mechanised construction. 

Contour canals were constructed by moving material in a direction across the canal line only, the excavation on the uphill side being used to form the embankment, usually with the towpath along the top, on the other. That's why the contour canals follow every wiggle of the contour, whereas to modern eyes a slightly straighter route would seem more obvious.

Where cuttings and embankments were necessary, my guess is that it was almost always cheaper to dump cutting spoil locally, and to excavate locally to win material for embankments.

While that is certainly the case, spoil must have been moved on part-completed canals, as can be seen in the drawings of spoil boats used on constructing the Bridgewater, as illustrated below. The drawing comes from Smiles' Lives of the Engineers, which suggests boats like this were used for constructing Bollin Aqueduct. Surprisingly little in the way of spoil heaps can be found close to canals, which does suggest that any excavated spoil was used elsewhere on the canal's construction. On the L&LC, I can only think of one very likely site, and that is at Gargrave, below Higherland Lock, with the cutting at Rishton also having possible spoil heaps. Damages paid to land owners regarding spoil can be found in the land purchase books which survive, as it the extract below. Burnley embankment would have needed vast amounts of spoil which would not have been available in  the immediate area which was low-lying and probably prone to flood. Canals always tried to use the cheapest land where possible, especially near towns or villages. As so little detail of canal construction has been recorded, it is one of those things which may remain uncertain, unless more contemporary information is discovered.

[Steilsteven]

On 15/08/2021 at 09:11, magpie patrick said:

Thank you, yes they do - I'm now tracking them down, found one above Woolhamton Lock (shown on the 1900 OS base)

The one above Southcote Lock is fairly well hidden and could easily be overlooked but it extends all the way to Southcote hatches.

Towney and Aldermaston Locks also have embankments above them unless I'm mistaken.

 

Keith

[magpie patrick]

7 hours ago, Pluto said:

 

 

 

Okay - I'll bite

 

It has been put to me, in the meeting on Friday that led to my original post, that Brindley built his embankments on the Bridgewater by bringing in boatloads of earth, and that the bottom of the boat opened and deposited the earth. There are two flaws in this- first if you open the bottom of a boat then not only will the load end up on the canal bed but so will the boat. The second is that if the boat is floating then canal building is complete. The design above would answer the first but not the second - this boat could empty the load through the hopper floor without sinking, but it can't float across an unfinished embankment. It would have to be unloaded and the soil carried the last bit by barrow or cart, which could be done from an ordinary boat. 
 

Was Brindley trying to pull the wool over soomeones eyes with this one? A bit of counter-espionage perhaps, confuse the opposition with mis-information?  

1 hour ago, Steilsteven said:

The one above Southcote Lock is fairly well hidden and could easily be overlooked but it extends all the way to Southcote hatches.

Towney and Aldermaston Locks also have embankments above them unless I'm mistaken.

 

Keith

 

Four years ago I was moored for a couple of weeks above Aldermaston lock and from memory I'm sure you are right

Edited August 16, 2021 by magpie patrick

[BEngo]

Much of the spoil from Tring canal cutting was dumped at the top of the cutting, giving the impression today that the cutting is deeper than it actually is.  I suspect that also applies to some other canal cuttings, particularly those with no local need for spoil.

As for boating the spoil to embankments, it would be cheaper than horse and cart, over any distance  but would suffer from double or triple handling. Cut to wheelbarrow.  Tip Into cart, shovel or tip into boat, shovel  into cart for final tipping (end or side).  You aalso need a near complete canal for the boat trip. Hopper bottom  boats might have been possible, but of no use half way up a part completed and not yet watered bank.

 

N

[Nightwatch]

On 14/08/2021 at 13:19, The Happy Nomad said:

By co-incidence Smite Brook on the Oxford was mentioned by the Foxes yesterday.

 

Notable because it's actually a buried aqueduct, buried to create an embankment using spoil from a cutting created when one of the 'straightened' sections was created. 

I saw that as well. Been along there numerous times and didn’t realise.