1,850 visitors took the chance to descend to the bottom of Diglis Lock 2 on the 14th and 15th of November on the Worcester & Birmingham Canal in the second of the Canal & River Trust’s (CRT) winter works public open days.
The first two locks of this canal were built wide and deep to admit Severn Trows (sailing barges) into the Diglis Basin complex whilst the others onward to Birmingham are narrow.
Current works on this stoppage – costing £250,000 in total – mainly involve replacing both of the pair of deep bottom gates; after 23 years in use. Another interesting task was to replace the heavy coping stones along the top of the lock chamber walls. The originals – a type of stone known as Hollington Red – were quarried in Staffordshire and would have brought down the River Severn. Although that stone is still being quarried for economic reasons CRT engineers have sourced a replacement stone called Red St Bees from a quarry in Cumbria, which has proven an excellent match.
The Worcester & Birmingham Canal was completed in 1815, so celebrates its bicentenary this year.
On the Saturday of the open weekend – watched by CRT CEO Richard Parry, waterway manager Nick Worthington and other guests – the Mayor of Worcester, Councillor Roger Knight, cut a ceremonial cake to mark the occasion.
The CRT has at least another 12 open days/weekends planned at various points on its waterway network.
More information here.
Thanks to Harry Arnold and Waterway Images for this report and photos.
