Track and Wire Sawing at the Cotswold Canal.

As part of the lottery funded restoration project for the Stroud Valley Canal, we were approached to help with the restoration of Blunder Lock.

History of Blunder Lock

Blunder Lock was built in the mid-late 1770s and is part of the Eastington Flight of locks. It was built to accommodate Severn Trows, which are flat-bottomed cargo boats that were traditionally used on the River Severn and its tributaries, especially during the 17th to 19th centuries. These craft could carry about 80 tonnes of cargo.

Like all of the Stroudwater Navigation locks, this lock was lengthened to enable to pass pairs of 70ft narrow boats. This was done by carving a chunk of brickwork out of the top cill to create a greater length in the centre of the lock but only to a depth of about 1m.

The lock was derelict after the closure of the canal in 1954 and was restored in the early 1990s. The repairs of the lock were undertaken by volunteers. The lock was re-gated with a new set of oak gates and paddle gears in 1992 and re-opened by Prince Charles. The oak gates deteriorated to the point that the lock could not have been used safely so had to be replaced again in 2013.

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What needed doing?

In 2021 the lock found itself unusable again and this is where Castle & Pryor stepped in to help. Our client was looking for a cost effective way to form a ladder recess on one side of the Blunder Lock.

What did we do and how?

When we arrived the lock had already been drained with only a few feet of water remained. A scaffold system had been installed to provide access to the lock walls.

We first formed 2nr vertical chases approx. 35mm wide x 225mm deep either side of the recess using a track saw bolted to the lock wall. We then formed the bottom of the recess by stitch drilling a line of 107mm diameter holes. The diamond wire was then fed through the recess and stitch drilled section and pulled up the lock wall to form the back face of the recess. This allowed to cleanly remove the stone section leaving a ladder recess measuring 3.5m x .225m x .550m wide, ready for a new ladder to be installed.

It was an unusual piece of work for us to undertake, and worth revisiting as part of our archive.

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Contact: Lorraine Hart: [email protected]