Over just 4 days in April three boats got jammed in the bottom lock at Hurleston, the only entrance to the very popular Llangollen Canal. One boat had to be winched free, damaging the lock brickwork and lifting coping stones (image below). Another had just left 2 fenders down (below right). Since then all boats have to be worked through by CRT workers and the lock is closed after 5pm.
Hurleston Number 4 lock has long been a problem for older narrowboats which had ‘spread’ a little over the years – and for some modern cruisers which were built too close to a 7 foot beam. Signs suggest a maximum beam of 6’10”. The traditional approach was to see if the lock could be entered in reverse and try flushing. After 200 years few brick built locks can be expected to be truly parallel sided, but most are still wide enough to stop a few bulges here and there from causing problems. Many boats have ‘wide bits’ and the trick is to avoid the two coming together!
This lock reportedly had some rebuilding in the 1970’s but there have been increasing cases over the last few years of boats which had been able to pass through now getting stuck. The fuel boats Mountbatten and Jellicoe which had traded on the Llangollen in 2017 and 2018 found they could no longer get onto the Llangollen in March this year. The Grand Union motorboat Buckden which has towed fly-boat Saturn on the Llangollen over the last few years is also no longer able to enter the bottom lock.
In 2017 the lock had been closed for a detailed survey which convinced CRT engineers that the lock side was moving and a major rebuild was necessary, the plan involved a new technique of piling along the towpath side of the lock and then removing the backfill and lock wall for a complete rebuild. However the work could not be fitted into the stoppages list until January 2019.
But then in February 2019 CRT announced;
“Our planned works to rebuild the lock walls at Hurleston Lock 4 have been problematic and we have not made the progress on site that we had expected; it has also become clear that the work programme would need to be significantly longer than anticipated, with works likely to run until the end of May at least. Given the impact this would have on customers wishing to use the locks in the spring and early summer, we have suspended works and are cancelling the project this winter. We will be re-opening the lock from 22nd February. The works will be deferred to next winter’s stoppage season and will restart in November 2019. We will use the time until then to review and re-plan the works.”
It now looks as though it might have been better to put up with the longer closure rather than having to risk further damage to the lock and boats, and supervise operation of a lock which is unsafe. And if the lock wall is continuing to move it might not even stay open through the 2019 season.
