Some valuable comments.

Today I see there was an excavator digging a wider and deeper trench to drain the water from the breach into the pool that is being pumped below.

As it dug there was a lot of sand there in the breach material but there also seemed to be some clay.

When the breach is finally drained it will be interest no doubt to see what is there with no water to hide the bottom 

The repair has moved on since April 10th with the breach being levelled and a track from the compound to the edge of the canal gravelled. On the 20th April the diggers started to excavate the site of the culvert from the former Corn Mill and which rapidly filled with water in the hole.  On the 21st the large digger dug out more exposing the portal which was filled with clay, but water started to flow from within.

 

It is matter of speculation as to where the water was coming from. As there is a low level of water at the opposite end of that culvert a blockage some where could be suggested.

 

The hole was again left to fill with water which was seeping in from the waterlogged area nearby. Om the 22nd April the large excavator was employed taking off the the top layer of earth in what was the corn mill  mill pool and the spoil was conveyed onto the land near the breach.

 

Last Saturday after pressure washing the culvert a camera was sent down it and today Tuesday they have been digging out the exit again and revealed an old drain pipe which looks to be of the terra cotta type. Meanwhile the water in that culvert id going somewhere and may be that will be found out soon.

It’s all change at Whitchurch, a new plan has emerged 

 

Weekend Update on the Whitchurch Breach HUGE News on the Rebuild 12-07-26

 

 

Yes a new plan indeed

 

Limestone to cover the canal bed being part of the changes

Meanwhile more pipes have been provided for the pumps taking water from one side to the other. There were six sets which had 6 pumps at the Marina and now there are two more that pump from near the A41 bridge and curve round to run parallel with the other now grass covered pipes.

 

Some of the earth was taken away by ESH vehicles, and some has be used to to cover the Reservoir Field up to the dam path and work on the Flood Field has included deepening the stream channel that once flowed past the old corn mill.

 

I often wonder if the water flowing down there from the top and through the pipe under the flood field that seems to have long ago taken the place of the mill race, had some hand in the breach as the mill culvert seems to have been blocked, or partially blocked over time. The power washing has now cleared up that channel and water now flows freely into the Stag Brook.

2 hours ago, Heartland said:

...

I often wonder if the water flowing down there from the top and through the pipe under the flood field that seems to have long ago taken the place of the mill race, had some hand in the breach as the mill culvert seems to have been blocked, or partially blocked over time. The power washing has now cleared up that channel and water now flows freely into the Stag Brook.

Or maybe this had some hand in the breech -

2 hours ago, Allan(nb Albert) said:

Or maybe this had some hand in the breech -

 

 

That's the cordoned-off hole in the towpath @magnetman mentioned multiple times as a possible cause, right back at the start IIRC.

 

37 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

That's the cordoned-off hole in the towpath @magnetman mentioned multiple times as a possible cause, right back at the start IIRC.

 

Wouldn't you then have thought that the breach would have occurred there and it would have disappeared, not some distance further up so it got left behind?

22 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

That's the cordoned-off hole in the towpath @magnetman mentioned multiple times as a possible cause, right back at the start IIRC.

 

Yes and he was right.

 

In its initial report into the breech, CRT said the type of void in the photo could be a possible cause. It went on to claim that the towpath side of the embankment did not have any defects. However, a Principal Inspection earlier in 2025 records a known void at this location which had not been repaired ...

 

The Principal Inspection report also records that piles over a 200 metre length on the towpath side (which includes the breach site) were to be replaced in 2027. Again, this is not mentioned in CRT's initial report.

 

From the initial report -

 

Quote

Whitchurch Embankment 1 directly opposite, underwent a Principal Inspection on the same day in April 2025 and was assigned Condition Grade C – Fair and Serviceability 1- Fit for Purpose. No defects were identified in the area of the breach on this embankment.

 

Just now, IanD said:

Wouldn't you then have thought that the breach would have occurred there and it would have disappeared, not some distance further up so it got left behind?

Nope, the reasons why not were discussed in detail at the time. 
 

Don’t remember what they were tho!

 

 

 

3 hours ago, Allan(nb Albert) said:

Or maybe this had some hand in the breech -

Since the embankment breached on the offside, its difficult to see how a defect on the towpath side could have initiated the breach or had any significant impact on the subsequent escape of water and washout of much of the embankment and bed.

16 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Since the embankment breached on the offside, its difficult to see how a defect on the towpath side could have initiated the breach or had any significant impact on the subsequent escape of water and washout of much of the embankment and bed.

Except perhaps in the minds of anti-CRT posters looking to lay the blame on CRT... 😉 

Edited July 15Jul 15 by IanD

34 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Since the embankment breached on the offside, its difficult to see how a defect on the towpath side could have initiated the breach or had any significant impact on the subsequent escape of water and washout of much of the embankment and bed.

 

 

There is a concept in civil engineering called 'tunnelling' IIRC, (no not that sort of tunnel) where even the tiniest trickle of water finding its way somewhere unexpected can open it out into a big enough tunnel to collapse a hillside nowhere near the start of the trickle. All IIRC as explained by MM.

 

 

David Mac,

I suggest you read CRT's initial report but in brief they suggest that piping over time caused a large void to form under the bed of the canal. It was collapse of the canal bed into this void that initiated the sequence of events that led to the breech (rather than the defect). The defect on the towpath side was visual evidence that piping was happening.

6 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

There is a concept in civil engineering called 'tunnelling' IIRC, (no not that sort of tunnel) where even the tiniest trickle of water finding its way somewhere unexpected can open it out into a big enough tunnel to collapse a hillside nowhere near the start of the trickle. All IIRC as explained by MM.

 

 

Piping is term you are searching for.

 

Edited July 15Jul 15 by Allan(nb Albert)

2 minutes ago, Allan(nb Albert) said:

 

I suggest you read CRT's initial report but in brief they suggest that piping over time caused a large void to form under the bed of the canal. It was collapse of the canal bed into this void that initiated the sequence of events that led to the breech (rather than the defect). The defect on the towpath side was visual evidence that piping was happening.

Piping 

 

YES!!!!

 

 

19 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

YES!!!!

 

Except that still doesn't prove that the towpath hole being pointed at caused the breach, which is what people keep suggesting.

 

It means that *if* piping was happening -- and *if* it was happening on both banks, which AFAIK there is no evidence for -- then the hole on the towpath side might have been the early-warning canary in the coalmine, *if* it was caused by the same piping that caused the breach -- not by any means certain since one is at towpath level and the other probably at the bottom of the canal.

 

That's an awful lot of *ifs*... 😉 

 

It's also possible that there was no causal link between the towpath hole and the offside breach, which was caused by penetration of water down through the canal bed, and that there's no effective way of spotting this before it suddenly starts to leak water fast, and probably then breach within a few hours.

 

The fact that the breach destroyed any evidence of what actually caused it means this is all speculation; serial CRT-haters like @Allan(nb Albert) can try and keep on pointing the finger of blame at CRT based on nothing more than "it's all their fault, here's what might have happened", and all CRT can basically say in response is "this is what might have happened but there's no way to prove it either way".

Edited July 15Jul 15 by IanD

The real question that arises here is why did CRT claim in its initial report that no defects existed on Embankment 1 (i.e. towpath side) when this is clearly not the case?

... and why was no mention made that it intended to replace 200 meters of piling next year?
 

10 miles away from the Whitchurch breach there has been another (we are now in between two breaches, literally in the middle). 

 

The tree fell after, not before.  https://youtu.be/EiAJ181DHE4?is=UlefCw8mSHg-RjJy

1 minute ago, EnglishRose said:

10 miles away from the Whitchurch breach there has been another (we are now in between two breaches, literally in the middle). 

 

The tree fell after, not before.  https://youtu.be/EiAJ181DHE4?is=UlefCw8mSHg-RjJy

 

See this

 

It seems the cause is still to be determined even 9 months on.

 

The canal had a temporary dam put in place near the winding hole on the main canal and the privately owned Whitchurch Arm stanked off with water being pumped back around both structures. The water is nearly gone and it is possible to see the damaged metal sections where water might have seeped into the area of the compound. Here Keir had built drains to take the water away to the Stag Brook. Also near the stop plank section there are clear faults there which may explain a known leak at the Lift Bridge area. Yet there is still the areas next to the Stag Brook Culvert and the Mill Culvert. A 7ft deep sump was put in near the Mill Culvert which has water rising in it and this is being monitored. Today it was covered over to stop and chance of rain dropping in and if the water there continues to rise a question must be asked about the original section of culvert there which would be hand made bricks held in place by a lime mortar which was originally put in the early 1800's