Edstone Aqueduct

Edstone Aqueduct

Stratford Canal

1 June 2009

Update May 2011
During a recent trip along the Stratford Canal I picked up these extra images of this impressive aqueduct:

Edstone, sometimes referred to as the Bearley Aqueduct after the nearby village, is to be found on the Stratford Canal and holds the record as being the longest aqueduct in England.

The aqueduct was built in the early 1800's and spans a road and the Alcester Railway (now the Great Western Railway) via a 250 yard cast iron trough sitting atop 13 brick piers, which vary in height from eight to eleven metres. The channel itself is similar to that used at Longden upon Tern, with the towpath forming part of the baseplate.

www.warwickshirerailways.com

A later picture of this water point reveals a heater at the bottom, used to prevent it freezing up in winter.

This structure is full of historical interest, and at one time was owned by the Great Western Railway, who fitted a pipe onto it an used it to refill the tanks of passing steam trains.

It also serves as a backdrop for one of the few photos of the infamous canoeist who purchased a solitary license in March 1953 and made a passage along the length of the canal over a series of chilly weekends, a purchase which saved the canal from abandonment. The rest is, as they say, history.

www.stratfordcanalsociety.org.uk

The trough was built without expansion joints, an omission which caused two cast iron plates to break apart and, over a period of 150 years to cause the end buttresses to start to move away from the embankments. The National Trust did a quick and dirty fix in the 1960's, welding a steel plate over the gap and building a concrete buttress to prop up each end. Sadly, these fixes ultimately did more harm than good, with impermeable layers preventing the escape of moisture and allowing the frost to inflict further structural damage.

A proper expansion joint was added in 1992 and then in 2003, some major remedial work was undertaken by Galliford Try. This involved removing the waterproof Gunnite from the buttresses, replacing the engineering bricks inserted into the piers and finally stripping all the lead paint off the cast iron trough before applying a new coat of paint. This £600,000 project was completed under a huge movable tent, without interrupting boat movements and was jointly funded by BW and the Hertitage Lottery Fund on a 7:5 split. Hopefully this investment will see the aqueduct carrying narrowboats in another 200 years time.

Yarningale Aqueduct

Yarningale Aqueduct
Stratford Canal
3 June 2009

Update May 2011
Another trip and another set of photos:

Yarningale is part of a trio of aqueducts on the South Stratford Canal. Whereas Edstone is the longest in England this diminutive structure must rank as one of the shortest - a runty 42 feet, so short that even Wand'ring Bark can't be contained within its cast iron trough.

Yarningale Aqueduct - Captain Ahab's own collection

This is the second single span aqueduct to be built on the site, crossing a small stream near Preston Bagot. The first was a wooden affair, built in 1812 and washed away by a flood in 1834, caused by a surge from the Grand Union. It's replacement, the aqueduct we see today, was erected in an astonishing 27 days in 1834, having been cast at the Horsley Ironworks, whose output graces much of the BCN.

The aqueduct comes as something of a surprise, with its 9 foot wide channel leading directly into the top of Bucket Lock (number 34) and appears for all the world to be an extended narrows. Boaters therefore find themselves coming to a stop just before the top gates and unexpectedly looking down at a stream passing through a densely wooded valley.

Like its counterpart at Wootton Wawen, the cast iron trough was made without an expansion joint and this resulted in the inevitable split, this time over one of the abutments. Yarningale aqueduct formed part of the "three aqueducts" project in 2003, when major repairs were undertaken to the brick buttresses and the trough, where years of frost damage and corrosion was corrected and the structure rendered safe for many years to come.

Wootton Wawen

Wootton Wawen
Stratford Canal
2 June 2009

First up, its pronounced "Woat'n worn".

This aqueduct is a mini version of the Edstone, with the same style of cast iron trough carrying the canal 30 yards across the A3400, originally on two spans, but now with three brick piers and the towpath being an extension of the baseplate.

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Stratford-upon-Avon_Canal

A large plaque on the side tells us that it was built in 1813 by W Whitmore (engineer). The aqueduct has stood the test of time but it's limited 4.4m headroom has been insuffiicient on many occasions and the structure has undergone numerous alterations to rectify damage suffered.

www.stratfordcanalsociety.org.uk - scene from 1953

The structure stands beside a large basin which currently hosts an Anglo Welsh hire base, who undertake pump outs when boats are stationery on the aqueduct, much to the irritation of any other passing water traffic.

Majors Green Aqueduct, Shirley

Majors Green Aqueduct, Shirley

Stratford Canal

We very nearly overshot this aqueduct as we travelled down the North Stratford in the pouring rain.

It is located between Earlswood Motor Yacht Club and Salter Street and carries the canal over the River Cole.

Captain Ahabs own collection

The surprisingly substantial aqueduct is constructed of dark engineering bricks and the single archway spans both the river and the appropriately named Aqueduct Road. There may be a better view from the other side but a lack of access point means that this view will have to wait for a land based inspection.

The embankment is very steep and an expedition to the riverbank was achieved rather more quickly than anticipated. The toil back up was somewhat slower and only made possible by judicious use of saplings and roots.

Captain Ahab's own collection