Ell Brook Aqueduct...continued
With the centring in place, the arch barrel was rebuilt to its original extent in red engineering brickwork, and then work to reinstate the spandrel wall above was able to progress. Initially, stone recovered on site was used, but it quickly became apparent that much of this had been lost, so suitable stone from a demolished railway bridge was imported to site (with assistance from Herefordshire County Council).

 

This stone was cut to size before being laid in place, and then strengthened with mass concrete backfill. The steel centring was removed at the end of 2005 and placed into store for for re-use on the downstream face of the aqueduct.

 

Whilst work progressed on re-building the spandrel wall, the Trust volunteer’s designed and fabricated more temporary works to enable a hole in the centre of the aqueduct arch barrel to be repaired. The hole, believed to have developed around a former outlet provided to enable the canal pound to be drained, was sealed initially with timber centring winched into place and then bolted in position, and then filled permanently with stone laid from above over the centring (early 2006). 

 

During this period, the unstable downstream face of the aqueduct continued to deteriorate, and further collapses of loose masonry had to be dealt with by the Oxenhall team, but it wasn’t until September 2006 that work on the upstream face was sufficiently advanced to enable restoration work to commence on the downstream face.

 

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