Tag: Sluice

#365daysofbiking Level pegging

November 24th – At some point between last week and this, Chasewater’s level increased and it overtopped the spillway weir, but now is sits a couple of inches below this, yet the canal valve remains closed off. How could it be so?

I remembered there is a small valve-controlled weir bypass sluice in the back of the 9-Foot embankment, and for the first time ever, it was open. I’m not altogether clear why.

Releasing water into the full canal would mean loading the Ford Brook/Tame waterway through Walsall and Birmingham via the overflow system, so releasing to the spillway would mean the water goes via the crane brook to meet the Tame near Tamworth, which would be better. I suppose using the sluice allows the dropping of the level of the main reservoir in a much more controlled fashion and creates buffer space if necessary.

It’s very unusual and I don’t think I’ve seen this approach in the seven years since Chasewater was refilled.

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April 2nd – Slow handclap for the Canal & River Trust, then, who micropiled around this sluice earlier in the week – there’s little evidence of their handiwork and you can barely tell they were there. Excellent.

Except for the existing trip and accident hazard no effort has been made to fix at all. Someone on foot or a bike is going to go flying off that, you muppets.

I’ve reported it several times, but I may as well have been peeing into the wind.

March 31st – At Clayhanger Bridge on the canal near Brownhills, there’s a sluice that allows the waterway to be drained into local sewers if necessary. I noticed today that it had temporary fencing around it, and that micropiles – stainless steel rods inside sleeve tubes and packed out with expanding foam – had been fitted around the sluice and along the adjoining canal bank.

This is clearly a stabilisation job, and I’m intrigued as there’s not real outward sign of such a thing being necessary – except for the fact that I suspect the bank and culvert may be subject to destructive erosion if used, which these piles may relieve.

The tops currently stood proud will be chopped off at ground level later.

Meanwhile, closer to Catshill Junction, the embankment has been falling away into the canal for over a year, and nothing has been done despite drawing it to the attention of the Canal & River Trust.

Most peculiar.

March 21st – A quick spin to Chasewater on a rather cold day. I noticed a fence has finally been erected around the south side of the Nine-Foot pool, which will hopefully stop idiots driving onto the soft ground there. Thankfully, there’s a kissing gate for explorers, so normal access is unhindered.

At Anglesey Basin, the sluice valve is open again, so I doubt we’ll see the reservoir overspill this year. Nice to see Gem’s chimney sweep back for a bit too.

February 15th – This was a surprise, I must say; in the past couple of years, Chasewater has been allowed to fill overwinter to the point which it overflows, but apparently not this year. The water level has steadily risen to about 300mm (a foot) or so off full, and today, water was draining quickly into the canal from the reservoir.

I guess the Canal and River Trust must need the water for some reason – that is, after all, why Chasewater exists – but it does seem unusual. Hope they don’t draw too much down this time.

January 23rd – A warning to fellow cyclists and walkers on the canal near Clayhanger Bridge in Brownhills. Some kind of work has been undertaken on the sluice set into the towpath, and the sheet steel covers now are proud with a void around the edges.

It’s a real trip hazard, and I can’t imagine what the people who left it like this were thinking.

Take care.

September 19th – There seems to be a lot of work going on with the local canals at the moment. At Walsall Wood, the embankment has be reinforced near the Black Cock Bridge, and near the Big House in Clayhanger, a month ago a pump appeared for a few days, and disturbance in the scrub showed work had been carried out surrounding the canal sluice drains there. Coming home down the canal from Aldridge, I noted that the sluice hear had been oiled, painted and digging had been going  on.

Wonder why the sudden rash of maintenance?

February 3rd – I was out unexpectedly early, so I left work while it was still light. The sharp wind was drying out the towpaths, so I hopped onto the canal at Aldridge to get a break from the traffic of the school run. 

Passing the drain sluice near the Big House at Clayhanger, I noticed something I hadn’t previously. I always thought that if the sluice were opened, it would drain the canal onto the gardens below, as early pictures show this sluice feeding an open channel.

Now the leaves are off the trees, I see there’s actually a drain shaft on the embankment through the trees a few yards away that it must flow into; one assumes this is connected to the common drain for the area.

I’d always wondered why that sluice wasn’t better locked than it is.

August 28th – This is an odd thing. This sluice is built into the canal bank, overlooking the Big House in Clayhanger, and was once (and presumably, still is) a drain point for the canal, with the mechanism blocked out of use. I reckoned it must be redundant, as if opened, it would appear to drain onto the garden beneath it. However, in the last few weeks, someone has been and inspected it, removed the plate covering the mechanics, and greased the gears. Perhaps it’s still functional, and doesn’t drain to the open but to some kind of culvert.

Anybody know for sure?