Bridgewater Canal Breach

[Arthur Marshall]

2 minutes ago, dmr said:

Thinking about this, its not a North-South blockage as one could still get from the T&M to Wigan and Liverpool etc via the Macc, Peak Forest, Ashton and Rochdale 9, so more reason for Peel to say they don't need to fix it.

You mean on that rare fortnight when neither Marple nor Bosley locks have a crisis and close...

[dmr]

1 minute ago, Jon57 said:

Not for me unfortunately with the stoppages atm. The Trent is up and down like a prostitutes knickers at this time of year. 🥵🥵

 

Explain????   where are you and where do you want to be?😀

[Jon57]

Just now, dmr said:

 

Explain????   where are you and where do you want to be?😀

Brewood. Mirfield 

[dmr]

1 minute ago, Arthur Marshall said:

You mean on that rare fortnight when neither Marple nor Bosley locks have a crisis and close...

 

Look on the bright side, it will really put pressure on CRT to keep them open 😀

[David Mack]

2 minutes ago, junior said:

 

When you get away from the shock of the images and start to think about what this actually means for canal life, it's quite a lot to take in. 

On a personal level we are really gutted as having just bought the boat after several years of not having one, something we were most looking forward to was being able to get into central Manchester for the weekend with the family, regularly and without any fuss. I guess that won't happen for a few years now, and we'll be going for weekends in Anderton for the next few years.

 

There's the boating businesses too. This will impact Liam severely as his whole business is built on his fuel run on the Bridgewater. I'm sure they will adapt and overcome, but business won't be the same for a few years. Likewise Thorne Marine. I'm not sure how much they rely on passing trade, they they are going to be really isolated now. Hopefully they can keep going. Dutton Dry Dock as well. I've been down chatting to Liz Leech this afternoon and she said the Dutton breech had a huge impact on business at the Dry Dock. Luckily this one is a bit further away, but all local businesses are going to have bookings from people who are no longer able to get there.

Of course Peel could mitigate the issue for through craft by relaxing their requirements for passage of the Ship Canal between Pomona and the Weaver. Its not as if there is much commercial traffic these days. But whether they will is another matter. And we wouldn't want to see it as an alternative to repairing this breach.

[dmr]

2 minutes ago, Jon57 said:

Brewood. Mirfield 

A plastic cruiser went through Tod yesterday saying they have come up the Marple/Ashton route and are going to Leeds.

1 minute ago, David Mack said:

Of course Peel could mitigate the issue for through craft by relaxing their requirements for passage of the Ship Canal between Pomona and the Weaver. Its not as if there is much commercial traffic these days. But whether they will is another matter. And we wouldn't want to see it as an alternative to repairing this breach.

 

But the Anderton lift is going to close soon for extensive repairs so it would have to be from Ellesmere Port???

[Jon57]

2 minutes ago, dmr said:

A plastic cruiser went through Tod yesterday saying they have come up the Marple/Ashton route and are going to Leeds.

 Boat engine is still in bits. Going this Friday to hopefully put it back together next week or so if everything thing goes OK should be on the move mid to late January. Things might change stoppage, weather so just might stay around here. I don't make plans anymore. As Mike tyson once said. Plans are OK untill someone smacks you in the mouth. 

Edited January 1, 2025 by Jon57
Addition

[Alway Swilby]

7 minutes ago, dmr said:

 

Look on the bright side, it will really put pressure on CRT to keep them open 😀

Todbrook reservoir isn't fixed yet so there probably won't be enough water for extra traffic across that summit.

Edited January 1, 2025 by Alway Swilby

[billh]

4 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Of course Peel could mitigate the issue for through craft by relaxing their requirements for passage of the Ship Canal between Pomona and the Weaver. Its not as if there is much commercial traffic these days. But whether they will is another matter. And we wouldn't want to see it as an alternative to repairing this breach.

The cost of operating ship canal locks is significant, divided ,I suppose ,by a large number of boats passing through at one time. I can't see Peel getting enthusiastic about that. Having seen how some boaters shape up in big locks ( eg Langton Lock at Liverpool)there would be some  serious safety issues to be overcome.

[Tim Lewis]

 

[David Mack]

10 minutes ago, dmr said:

But the Anderton lift is going to close soon for extensive repairs so it would have to be from Ellesmere Port???

True. I'd forgotten about that.

[haggis]

Is Dutton stop lock open again then? I thought it was to be dosed till the end of January 

[magnetman]

1 minute ago, Tim Lewis said:

 

 

interesting to see those proper Larssen piles bent up. They're the real ones with the deep webs not the mickey mouse type. 

 

Big job there ! 

[Pluto]

I have been doing some research into the construction of the embankments on the Bridgewater recently, looking at the way spoil was deposited as described in contemporary publications. Visitors describe the use of two 3 to 4 feet wide boats, with a hopper between. The boats floated out onto some type of split wooden aqueduct, dumping the spoil between the two aqueduct spurs. All the descriptions are vague on detail, with that by Hogrewe in his 1780 book on English canals probably being the best. He certainly had engineering experience, unlike most of the others. I am currently finishing the layout, and have a few more details to add, but hope the translation will be out soon. Basically, I suspect Brindley had that many problems with constructing embankments on the Bridgewater, that he subsequently only built contour canals.

 

The load-bearing embankment was probably the most important engineering development on English canals, and they saw the first steps in soil mechanics. Along with the excavation of deep cuttings, they opened up new possibilities not previously used to any great extent elsewhere in Europe, where most canal construction problems had already been overcome.

 

[David Mack]

1 minute ago, Tim Lewis said:

 

The breach may have originated beyond the section rebuilt after the 1971 breach, but that clip shows that some of the sheet piling from that repair has been undermined. The way the water weirs in the foreground suggests the reconstructed section has a solid (concrete?) bed which has stopped the erosion from progressing further.

[Cheshire cat]

Couldn't resist going for a nosey. The flow is significant, certainly faster than that on the Llangollen. A group of farmers are trying to get the stop planks in at Dunham. They've had to cut the planks down to size and chop off bits of rotten ones. They're in but they are having a limited effect. They need to get some tarps and soil in the canal. The water levels on the north side of the breach are down around 15 - 18" at the moment. It's gone down a foot in the last five hours. It's a much bigger pound this side of the breach and there must be a fair bit of water coming down the Rochdale Nine.

Fingers crossed for boaters on the Lymm side of the breach 

 

 

[nighttrain123]

Hi. I live nearby and thought I'd reply.

 

I saw them trying to install the stop planks under the Back Lane bridge, but it looked like some of the timbers were rotten and consequently failed. I don't know if this was resolved because I didn't hang around. Of course, there are other places to install stop planks further up towards Altrincham.

 

This part of the canal was reinforced with steel shoring at some point. I remember doing some work experience at the time with a geoengineering company that was involved in the early 90s.

[David Mack]

The breach doesn't seem to have reached the mainstream media yet, amongst all the other weather related stories. But the Guardian does have a nice picture of Pontcysllte aqueduct in the snow to illustrated warnings of the weather to come.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jan/01/three-day-snow-warning-england-scotland-wales-met-office-rain-travel

 

Edited January 1, 2025 by David Mack

[Jim P]

In sale, the level is down 8 inches or so and still falling slowly, with a noticeable flow. It was a full foot above level at 4.30 am. Huge amounts of warehouses / car parks / everything drain into it, and it was *wet* last night.

 

There’s one person I know stuck between the stops. Someone else has just gone to check theirs, which was parked there.

 

jim

[magnetman]

Is it here by the bench where it opened up? 

 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/VXVJmFrXhuaGA8KU8

Edited January 1, 2025 by magnetman

[Liam]

Hi all, a quick update.

The very very high water levels this morning at Preston Brook started to subside at about 10am, and have been slowly dropping during the day to around 7 inches.

It seems that although the stop planks are in place at Agden, and presumably the next set along at Broadheath also, they're merely slowing the water down rather than forming a perfect seal to retain the water. I know the drone footage and videos and pictures I've seen online show a decent flow through the "hole".

 

Interestingly, the footage I've seen shows that the breach isn't because the 1971 - 1974 repair failed, but in fact the embankment immediately south of the concrete narrows has given way. Another thing to note is that the concrete capped steel piling has fallen inwards on itself rather thanks blown out, so leads me to think maybe the bottom of the canal has leaked, causing a sink hole and ultimately a blow out.

 

Ariel the fuel boat is currently at Preston Brook so all good there, but in the immediate future can't be returned until the water level returns to allow a fully loaded boat to get along safely.

In the long term, this breach has cut the canal in half, and therefore my run. Definitely need to do a bit of head scratching to come up with a solution as I don't think it'll be a quick fix.

 

Nothing officially released from the Bridgewater Canal Co as yet, hopefully that will come soon and give us all a bit more info to go on moving forward.

[LBClerk]

Residents of Little Bollington demand an urgent public inquiry into this terrible disaster. There are many questions to be answered. What caused the canal collapse? How was it possible for this to happen? Were lessons learned and adequate measures taken after the canal collapse of 1971? Was regular and adequate maintenance undertaken? Were regular inspections made? Who carries responsibility? And who will foot the bill for rebuilding and for compensation to all affected?

[frangar]

40 minutes ago, Liam said:

Hi all, a quick update.

The very very high water levels this morning at Preston Brook started to subside at about 10am, and have been slowly dropping during the day to around 7 inches.

It seems that although the stop planks are in place at Agden, and presumably the next set along at Broadheath also, they're merely slowing the water down rather than forming a perfect seal to retain the water. I know the drone footage and videos and pictures I've seen online show a decent flow through the "hole".

 

Interestingly, the footage I've seen shows that the breach isn't because the 1971 - 1974 repair failed, but in fact the embankment immediately south of the concrete narrows has given way. Another thing to note is that the concrete capped steel piling has fallen inwards on itself rather thanks blown out, so leads me to think maybe the bottom of the canal has leaked, causing a sink hole and ultimately a blow out.

 

Ariel the fuel boat is currently at Preston Brook so all good there, but in the immediate future can't be returned until the water level returns to allow a fully loaded boat to get along safely.

In the long term, this breach has cut the canal in half, and therefore my run. Definitely need to do a bit of head scratching to come up with a solution as I don't think it'll be a quick fix.

 

Nothing officially released from the Bridgewater Canal Co as yet, hopefully that will come soon and give us all a bit more info to go on moving forward.

Thanks for keeping us posted. Much appreciated. 

37 minutes ago, LBClerk said:

Residents of Little Bollington demand an urgent public inquiry into this terrible disaster. There are many questions to be answered. What caused the canal collapse? How was it possible for this to happen? Were lessons learned and adequate measures taken after the canal collapse of 1971? Was regular and adequate maintenance undertaken? Were regular inspections made? Who carries responsibility? And who will foot the bill for rebuilding and for compensation to all affected?

Have any properties in little Bollington been affected or just farmland?  Good luck getting Peel to part with cash…

[Paul C]

When I saw the piling collapsed inwards, I assumed that during normal (canal full) level, there is little/no force on the piling, with the weight of the water in the canal being balanced by the weight of the ground on the bank. But during the exceptional scenario of the canal being completely empty, the weight of the soil/ground (remembering it will be heavy and waterlogged too) would easily push it inwards. The canal may have failed there, or it may have failed much further downstream and the water flowed away.

 

Let's hope they can get some proper heavy duty hardware in place to properly stop/seal the canal for now, then refill and refloat those affected further away. And if there's boats close by, can bring in the necessary lifting equipment to remove them soon if needs be.

 

I imagine the rebuild will take more than a year.

[Liam]

46 minutes ago, frangar said:

Thanks for keeping us posted. Much appreciated. 

Have any properties in little Bollington been affected or just farmland?  Good luck getting Peel to part with cash…

Yes, lots I believe. Lots of submerged cars and the mill has suffered from flooding.