Restoration Round-up
by Colin Greenall

Part 1: Work Parties Report

Volunteers have been out on two occasions over the passed two months - in May at Stanley Basin, Blackbrook, and St.Helens and in June at Winwick Quay, Warrington. Both events were well attended and a great deal of work was done.

1. Sunday May 10th Stanley Basin

2. Sunday June 14th Winwick Quay

Blackbrook Revisited - Work Party Report by Peter Keen.

The May Work Party assembled at Stanley Basin behind the Ship Inn at Blackbrook, intending to locate the entrance walls and the western walls of the basin where waiting flats would have moored until a loading berth became available.

Ian, Andy, Bill, John and Eddie were joined by Steve Ormerod, the Project Officer of the Stanley Triangle Project to form two work teams.

Following dismal failures at dowsing to pick up the line of the walls (caused by overhanging foliage as we later learned), two trenches were begun in arbitrary, but logical positions, one in the entrance to the basin, and the other on the western face.

The one in the entrance went well, the diggers making good downward progress through good quality soil. This was however not good news since we wanted to see layers of different materials to indicate the development of the bank through time. The homogenous nature of the infill demonstrated that it had all been deposited at the same time, perhaps as a landscaping exercise. Eventually a thin layer of cinders was discovered then the clay layer, assumed to have been the undisturbed 'natural' surface. The work was below water level by this time and the trench began to fill with water so it was recorded, closed down and backfilled. There were no signs of the wall which would have lined the entrance to the basin so further investigation will be needed.

The second trench soon defeated the other team of diggers, riddled as it was with tree roots and rubble. Fortunately Bill Highcock arrived at just the right moment to utilise his dowsing rods and suggest an alternative place to dig. Trench two was therefore closed and back filled whilst work commenced on trench three.

Although this trench was well away from the tree roots the amount of rubble mixed in with the soil made digging difficult. There was no clear pattern of stratification so again it was concluded that the materials had all been deposited at the same time. Having reached the clay layer, the trench was extended towards the water. A slight but clear elevated ridge of clay was discovered near the water which could well have been the foundation for the elusive wall but no stonework was present.

Whilst the others paused for refreshment, John continued work and discovered a large baulk of timber, 27 centimetres square (about 11 inches) which had obviously been worked. Could it be that the wall had been a timber revetment type instead of a stone wall? No other timbers were found so, not without some difficulty, the baulk was hauled out of the trench to be closely examined (above).

Since it had been located vertically in the soil the uppermost section of the timber had eroded away, preventing any speculation as to its original length. It was the lower end which proved to be the most interesting since it had been immersed in water and was in a much better condition. The wood was of roughly a square cross section, tapering towards the eroded end with a slot worked into one face. This would have taken a great investment of time and effort to create but what was its purpose? Was it the housing for planks of wood, or perhaps the slot for a sluice gate? A sluice gate had been installed in the 1970s when the whole drainage pattern of this section of the valley was changed, but this timber was clearly much older than that, and sluice gates were not needed in the older system.

Closer examination revealed that the well preserved end had been repaired, perhaps more than once during its working life. Two tenons hade been skilfully set into the end which would have mated up with the mortises in another wooden structure, but what this was is not known. Two large dowels had been used to bind the joint together but apparently only one went all the way through whilst the other was a blind dowel, finishing somewhere in the middle of the wood. Other pieces of wood were visible, made apparent by the contrast in grain patterns, indicating the possibility of a further repair.

There is no indication of whether the timber was vertical or horizontal when in use, and no sign of any metal attachments, so once again we have more questions than answers.

The diagram shows the various faces of the timber. If any SCARS members can suggest what it was used for these should be passed to a committee member for inclusion in a future issue of Canal Cuttings.

The day finished with the recording and backfilling of the trench so as not to create a hazard to the public.

Even a negative result is of value in establishing that the basin walls were not in the locations investigated, thus eliminating them from future work. Hopefully the result of the return match, later in the year, will bring more positive results.

Thanks to all who took part.

Sunday June 14th Winwick Quay

Today's project was to complete the painting of the bridge over Winwick Dry Dock and the metal fencing that surrounds the area.

Volunteers soon began to arrive and it wasn't long before Bob, Darren, Ian, Paul and Walter were cutting down the vegetation to allow access to the lower parts of the fence, then, with the aid of further arrivals Eddie and Dave, the wire brushes and scrapers were in action removing rust and flaky paint. Meanwhile the area was sealed off with hazard tape to prevent any public contact with wet paint etc. and the paint was prepared and sorted into plastic tubs for the paint team.

When all the preparation work was complete it was time to get out the paint brushes and set to with the paint. First of all the black gloss was applied to the lower sections of the bridge and fence with Bob, Ian, Darren and Eddie taking this on, and Dave and Walter began to apply the white gloss to the upper rails. Meanwhile Paul continued to clear more vegetation from around the entrance to the bridge.

Dinnertime came, Ian departed and John arrived just in time to finish off the paint on the lower part of the gat. This was an interesting task carried out with a great deal of zeal in the rising temperature of the day. After a break for lunch and the tidying up of the area around the site, we moved over to the nearby boathouse site to try and establish the length of the original building. This is made all the more difficult because of the footpath and track that cross it at the end where it would have opened out on to the canal. A trial hole was dug at a point along side of the fence approximately 25 feet from the rear wall of the building but only revealed an assortment of broken bricks; Eddie and John with Dave supervising carried this out. Meanwhile the rest of the team were clearing the area of vegetation and discussing ways of restoring the building in some way to make it interpretable as to what its purpose was.

By now the temperature was way up in the seventies and everyone was getting a little weary so the site was tidied up and the tools return to the shed and we all went home satisfied with our efforts for the day.

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