A section of Lancaster Canal towpath is set to reopen after several months of closure caused by a major leak.
The canal reopened to boats in February, and the towpath, and public right of way, are due to reopen on Monday, March 31.
The reopening comes after waterways charity the Canal and River Trust carried out a £1.6m repair project after a breach at Hollowforth Aqueduct near Barton.
The breach in July 2024 caused extensive damage where parts of the embankment, towpath and sections of aqueduct wingwall washed away.
It saw water levels on the 41-mile canal drop, boats grounded and waterways polluted.
The Trust’s project team created a plan to rebuild the embankment, reinstate the canal towpath and the footpath underneath the aqueduct, and sensitively repair and restore the aqueduct, using original archive drawings to replace all the masonry in its original position.
The complex repair works included several measures, such as a land drain and bentonite clay liner on the canal bed, to prevent a breach in the future.
Lancaster Canal is pictured below.
The repair was particularly challenging as the breach was located away from local roads and required a temporary track to be built to the aqueduct, and along the bed of the drained canal, so that materials could be brought to site.
The temporary access ramp, stone used for canal access and 100 tonnes of waste material, along with two porta dams, have now been removed and navigation has reopened to boaters.
“We’ve been working hard on site since last summer to repair the breach and get the canal back open for boaters and towpath users as quickly as possible," said Jon Horsfall, North West director at Canal & River Trust, which cares for 2,000 miles of historic canals across England and Wales,
"Hollowforth Aqueduct is a piece of living heritage, and we’ve taken care to protect its historical aspects while repairing the damage to make it safe for the future.
“We’ve kept boaters at the forefront of our thinking as we’ve carried out these works, creating an unusual three-sided dam to allow boaters to navigate across the aqueduct before the navigation was closed for the repairs to get under way.
“Thankfully, all that hard work has paid off, the complex repairs have been completed, new measures have been put in place to prevent a breach in the future and navigation has now re-opened for boaters.”
Renowned civil engineer John Rennie designed Hollowforth Aqueduct, using an ingenious engineering solution of three barrel-shaped stone pipes, to carry the Lancaster Canal over New Mill Brook in the 1790s.
John Rennie later went on to design the iconic Lune Aqueduct, near Lancaster, and also the Caen Hill Lock Flight on the Kennet & Avon Canal in Wiltshire, one of the seven wonders of the waterways.
“The Lancaster Canal, which is extremely popular with boaters, walkers and cyclists, is over 200 years old but, like so much of our historic canal network, it has endured centuries of use and been battered by the elements, which have taken their toll on one of the country’s few coastal canals," said Mr Horsfall.
"The breach and costly repairs demonstrate the scale of the challenge our charity faces in keeping canals alive.
“We would like to thank everyone, especially boaters and the local community, for their patience and support whilst these complex works have been carried out.”
The Canal & River Trust cares for and brings to life 2,000 miles of canals and rivers across England & Wales.
Read more: INTERVIEW: Boat homes still grounded three weeks after major Lancaster Canal breach - Beyond Radio
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