Tag: strengthening

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.

February 28th – Another grey, dull day, with a worsening wind. I had stuff to do in Walsall Wood and headed up the canal to get there. Between Cathshill Junction and Walsall Wood Bridge, work has been ongoing since summer on the eastern embankment. First, it was strengthened with sectional piling at the Black Cock Bridge, and the level raised; now soil has been added to some thickness along much of the stretch, presumably to provide better security agains overtopping and to counteract weather erosion. 

I note that on the bend that was piled, staves have been driven into the bank, and reed beds planted behind, presumably to create a natural buffer against erosion in a particularly vulnerable spot.

Wonder if they’ll get round to fixing the brickwork and voids on the pedestrian side of the canal anytime soon?

July 27th – After a day of unexpected but nice things – a meal out, some good family time, a bit of productive bike spannering – I slid out on a finely-tuned steed to enjoy the cooler air that had come in during the day. At the canal in Walsall Wood, near the Black Cock Bridge, the embankment strengthening I recorded last week has come on apace. The sectional piling now seems to be working it’s way up to the bridge itself, and is fascinating to see. 

I heard last week from a comment on Facebook that residents here had been waiting for this work for years. It looks like a decent job, and I hope it solves their problems.

July 20th – Last week, I noted a quantity of sectional piling had been delivered to Ogley Junction maintenance yard ready for a job locally. I wondered where the site was – and now I know.

My attention was drawn by a couple of readers to a work cabin appearing at the Black Cock Bridge, and it seems the work is being done on the embankment at the rear of houses in Bans Close, Walsall Wood, fifty metres or so from the bridge itself.. 

The interlocking piling is driven into the bank to strengthen it, and minimise the effects of erosion. Here the canal runs above ground level, and the embankment is built up to it, and the top level of the bank is only a couple of inches above the waterline.

Surveyors were here in the spring, and left their telltale spray paint and post datums, and this must be the result – fixing up the canal and securing it in a weak spot for another few decades.

Let’s hope they attend to the erosion on the towpath side, too.