Montgomery Canal Restoration Progress

[Heartland]

The AI News has reported that restoration of the Montgomery Canal between Ardleen and Llanymynech will commence in the Spring of 2024 beginning with dredging and will see the rebuilding of two bridges, remove obstructions and see the creation of three off line nature reserves.

[Paul C]

Shame the A483 crosses at grade about 3 times, never mind. I am sure the re-watering of disconnected sections will be of some use though.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

25 minutes ago, Paul C said:

Shame the A483 crosses at grade about 3 times, never mind. I am sure the re-watering of disconnected sections will be of some use though.

What are the plans around fixing these?

[ditchcrawler]

8 hours ago, Paul C said:

Shame the A483 crosses at grade about 3 times, never mind. I am sure the re-watering of disconnected sections will be of some use though.

Maybe that's the three nature reserves 😈

[Graham Davis]

8 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

What are the plans around fixing these?

 

I can't find any plans to do so.

[Francis Herne]

I can't find anything about this online (what's "The AI News"?) but

 

On 05/08/2023 at 11:47, Paul C said:

Shame the A483 crosses at grade about 3 times, never mind. I am sure the re-watering of disconnected sections will be of some use though.

 

The A483 crossing in Llanymynech already has a new bridge at navigable height (https://canalplan.org.uk/photo/ki_t5n), so this section will be connected to the national system as soon as the couple of miles from Crickheath to Llanymynech are reinstated. Only Schoolhouse Bridge now needs rebuilding to do that, and there's already a plan and a fundraising campaign. https://themontgomerycanal.org.uk/schoolhouse-bridge/

 

Unless I've missed one, there are only two dropped bridges from Llanymynech to just north of Ardleen (Carreghofa Lane and the B4398), so this plus Crickheath-Llanymynech will extend the connected navigation to the first remaining A483 obstruction.

Edited August 6, 2023 by Francis Herne

[Graham Davis]

A483 crossings going south towards Welshpool:
The one in Llanymynach village is, as said, navigable.
At the junction with the B4393, SJ 264 171, Penthryn-fawr. The house here has a nice plaque with a canal boat on it.

Just south of the junction with the B4392, SJ 261 157 into Arddlin village.

Both of these would need Trunk Road Agency approval as well as from Powys CC, and with the current economic situation I suspect would be very diffucult to obtain.


 

 

 

[Paul C]

I knew from memory it crossed three times but didn’t realise one was navigable 

[Heartland]

The AI News is the publication of "The Association for Industrial Archeology"

[David Mack]

On 05/08/2023 at 11:47, Paul C said:

Shame the A483 crosses at grade about 3 times, never mind. I am sure the re-watering of disconnected sections will be of some use though.

This extends the navigable Welshpool length to the English border. It is funded through 'levelling up' money that was awarded to Powys Council in October 2021, so can only be spent in Wales. 

Previous thread:

 

[Francis Herne]

1 hour ago, David Mack said:

This extends the navigable Welshpool length to the English border.

Are you sure that's right? I still can't find much detail, but my impression (including from the thread you linked) is that this project includes the Carreghofa Lane (bridge 93) and B4398 (96) crossings but not the two A483 crossings (101 & 102) near Arddleen, so won't join up with the Welshpool section.

 

Instead it would initially be an extension of the short section at Llanymynech used by the trip boat, and in the fairly near future linked to the national network via Crickheath, leaving the A483 as the last obstruction to reach Welshpool.

Edited August 8, 2023 by Francis Herne

[ditchcrawler]

From Facebook, its an open group 

 

Friends of the Montgomery Canal

  · 

Arches going in on the new Schoolhouse Bridge over the Montgomery Canal this morning.

[David Mack]

3 hours ago, Francis Herne said:

Are you sure that's right?

Not entirely! My main point was that this section is in Wales and funded with money allocated to Wales, so won't connect to the already restored section in England that is accessible from the rest of the system.

Some people seemed to be suggesting that the restoration should proceed linearly from the Frankton end, presumably so as to maximise the length available to boats on the main network, but if the money is there to deal with an isolated length, then to my mind its better to take it.