Removing Bridges 8 & 19 ~ 2nd - 9th July 2005
Report by Colin Bryan, GCRS Projects Manager
In February, WRG told me we could have 2nd to the 9th of July for a work camp.
Bridge 8 at Bassingfield and 42 at Harby were identified as likely jobs, and my work together with British Waterways started towards their removal. Visits to, and permission from, the riparian land owners came first, and the BW legal team followed up with the necessary paperwork. ECP (Environmental Code of Practice) was next for both bridges including checking for bird’s nests and bat survey.
Bridge 8
Thoughts next of how each bridge was to be disassembled (we had removed a similar bridge to 42 when we replaced Casthorpe bridle bridge back in 1992) from this an idea of the likely costs involved were estimated. By far the largest cost was the hiring in of a portable dam for use at bridge 8 (this was still much cheaper than importing many loads of clay and making up a pair of coffer dams) even with the reduced costs of the WRG JCB mini excavator (Affectionately called ‘Blue’) the costs were around £7,000 for the week, these costs to be met by the GCRS and GNA funds with a guarantee (insisted on by BW) by Mr Bill Whalley chairman of GCRS.
One month before the event, during an onsite visit to both bridges with Lou Kellet and Craig Greenaway (the WRG camp leaders), we learned that the farmer at Harby was now refusing us access to the offside of bridge 42, with another local preferring to ‘keep the bridge’ even though it was serving no useful purpose and impeding maintenance of that section. Unresolved, this was left for Grantham Canal Partnership to follow up.
Another bridge was required.
Mr Russell Price, the farmer at Cropwell Butler, gave us his permission to remove bridge 19 (this bridge was in a very poor state of repair brick work wise, and had no public right of way). BW agreed, and helped with new ECP for the bridge. New paperwork was raised by Lou Kellet regarding its method of disassembly, waste transfer licence (for the removal of waste concrete) were obtained and we were ready to go.
Bridge 19
Saturday the 2nd of July arrived, due to a last minute change of plan the digger was still at its last job at the river Slea at Sleaford. Fred Marsh and I set forth to retrieve it. On returning we found the WRG beaver tailed truck a just fit at the Cropwell Memorial Hall where the WR teams had started to assemble for the week.
Harriet the cook had soon put together the first of many meals (for an average of 26 people) and we all sat down afterwards (including the GCRS local team) to watch the latest WRG health and safety induction video.
Sunday was the first working day and the two teams dispersed with Lou Kellet on bridge 8 and Craig Kellet on bridge 19. The digger was taken via the farmer’s field to bridge 8 at Bassingfield. The local team had done an earlier exploratory dig at bridge 8, as a local had told us it was strengthened during the last war for trucks carrying munitions delivering direct to the end of Tollerton runway.
The dam holds back the water above Bridge 8
Bridge 8 was broken down tow path side first, all the time our hired pump clearing any leakage from the dam, pumping into the west side of the canal. Both upper and lower levels were monitored but occasionally needed a direct pump from upper to lower (East to West) to maintain the lower levels near West Bridgford . My thanks to Richard Williams and Fred Marsh, who took it in turn to refuel the pump over night.
By Friday (the last working day for WRG) the last remnants of the lower levels of bridge 8 was being removed and the 2 nd (large) trailer of broken up concrete was nearing its full level.
Bridge 8 ~ Work in progress
All that was left for the GCRS faithful, was to point up the below water level brickwork before the dam was broken at midday on the Saturday.
Bridge 19 was of completely different construction, no dam required as it stands in the Cropwell dry section, we were able to break out the heavy concrete infill from above, remove the poor handrails and with the aid of the farmer’s 4ton forklift, lift each individual RSJ onto a farm trailer and taken away for reuse elsewhere. Once gone it was clear the poor state of the bridge support walls, repaired long ago, had been badly dislodged by large hawthorn roots that went back behind much of the brick and stone.
Overview of work at Bridge 19
A new set of hand rails finished off this job, and all that is now required is a stone work / brick work rebuild as time allows.
Attacking the deck of Bridge 19 with jackhammers
Many many thanks to the WRG organisation, to Lou and Craig, and for all who worked on the bridges. I hope you all went away with a sense of satisfaction on these jobs well done.
Thanks also to those at British Waterways, especially to John Monk for his help with paperwork etc, the Harby staff for loan of their big pump, and Leila Griffiths (no longer with BW) for her splendid ECP work, the GCRS team, and Caroline Adkin of British Geological Survey, who came along to both sites each day and made the excellent photographic record of the whole event, some of which is now displayed on this website.
To the many people who have thanked me via E-Mail for the organising the works, all I have to say, is it was hard work but very worth while, when we see another step forward in this canal's move towards restoration. (and yes it was fun!)
Colin Bryan
GCRS Projects
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