The Cotswold Canals Trust (CCT) has just announced that the dredging team volunteers completed the first pass of the Thames and Severn Canal section between Bowbridge Lock and Stanton’s Bridge last week.
The ‘Dredger No. 5’ moved the thick mat of reeds and accumulated silt to one side of the channel as a temporary measure. This created a navigable channel that enabled work-boat ‘Wookey Hole’ to move the mud hoppers ‘Warp & Weft’ eastwards through the bridge, said the trust.
With all the required vessels positioned beyond Stanton’s Bridge, the dredger then turned around and began to work back towards Bowbridge Lock.
The aim is to dredge the whole pound from Stanton’s Bridge back to Bowbridge Lock to a navigable depth of 1.5 meters.
The dredged material will be loaded into the mud barges. Work-boat ‘Wookey Hole’ will then move the loaded mud barges back through Stanton’s Bridge to the offloading point, according to the trust.
The long reach excavator will unload the mud barges and transfer the material to the two tracked excavators. Using their now well-honed landscaping skills the excavator operators will distribute the material onto the field between the railway and canal.
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