Photos of 1980's breach at Trevor on Llangollen

[bigste]

Having a look through old photos I found these of a breach near Trevor. I think it was early 80's but you may know better. I think the 1st one was taken from bridge 34w but may be wrong, the breach being just round that bend. It was a bad breach and upset many as it closed the arm for over a year I seem to remember. The repair involved a lot of concrete and was a very expensive job. The actual breach went a long way down the hillside.

Sorry about the picture quality, cameras have moved on since then. Hope the link works as it's 1st time I've posted photos.

Edited October 19, 2015 by bigste

[David Mack]

Having a look through old photos I found these of a breach near Trevor. I think it was early 80's but you may know better. I think the 1st one was taken from bridge 34w but may be wrong, the breach being just round that bend. It was a bad breach and upset many as it closed the arm for over a year I seem to remember. The repair involved a lot of concrete and was a very expensive job. The actual breach went a long way down the hillside.

Sorry about the picture quality, cameras have moved on since then. Hope the link works as it's 1st time I've posted photos.

After the breach was repaired I went to a presentation at the Institution of Civil Engineers by the BW engineers involved. The guy admitted that the breach was very probably caused by the sheet piling you can see in the third photo, which had recently been installed, and had likely been driven through the puddle clay, allowing water to seep through into the embankment.

 

The reconstruction involved a concrete channel to keep canal water out, together with extensive drainage within the embankment to safely get rid of ground water. The embankment side slope was also flattened, with the toe of the embankment extending out onto the disused railway alongside (which further up is the Llangollen Steam Railway).

Edited October 19, 2015 by David Mack

[bigste]

i think one of us is going senile David, probably me. Where I thought these pics were taken was at bridge 34w. The railway is on the higher ground to the right but it crosses the canal half a mile further on. Would have sworn I had the right bridge number. On studying google earth I'm sure it is from bridge 34w. If you look on gooogle earth the street view cameras are active all along the towpath.

Edited October 19, 2015 by bigste

[tree monkey]

i think one of us is going senile David, probably me. Where I thought these pics were taken was at bridge 34w. The railway is on the higher ground to the right but it crosses the canal half a mile further on. Would have sworn I had the right bridge number. On studying google earth I'm sure it is from bridge 34w. If you look on gooogle earth the street view cameras are active all along the towpath.

The area of the breach is still a favoured mooring spot because the trees haven't grown back to block the view

[Grassman]

The breach happened in 1982 a month or so before we had a hire boat holiday booked, meaning we could only get as far as Trevor and had to walk the remaining 5 miles into Llangollen. Our initial disappointment was tempered to an extent by the awe inspiring view of the scale of the breach which had washed much of the hillside away. These days they'd have closed the towpath but back then thankfully elf and safety wasn't as prominent and we were able to clamber down and across it to continue our walk. A local told us that seconds before the breach a jogger had been along there and that was probably what set it off.

[b00ke23]

49 minutes ago, Grassman said:

The breach happened in 1982 a month or so before we had a hire boat holiday booked, meaning we could only get as far as Trevor and had to walk the remaining 5 miles into Llangollen. Our initial disappointment was tempered to an extent by the awe inspiring view of the scale of the breach which had washed much of the hillside away. These days they'd have closed the towpath but back then thankfully elf and safety wasn't as prominent and we were able to clamber down and across it to continue our walk. A local told us that seconds before the breach a jogger had been along there and that was probably what set it off.

 

Wasn't there two breaches? The first one was repaired quite quickly but the repair technique (steel piling) caused water to seep into the hillside and caused a much worse breach about 6 months after the repair......After this breach the very extensive concrete channel that we see today was constructed complete with ground water drainage underneath. I think the feeder was closed for a couple of years while this was done but others may be able to confirm.  

[Stroudwater1]

This is the May 1982 Waterways world report at the time. It was hidden away on P23, would be front page headline now 🤣🤣

[Grassman]

The one in that newspaper article must have been the one we encountered as the dates match up. Here's some photos we took of it. The were prints which I have subsequently grouped together on a memory stick so I hope they'll show up on here okay.

 

 

Seeing 3 of us walking down into the breach gives an idea as to just how deep the breach was.