over restoration 20

Home	The H&G Canal	Restoration	How to help	Publications	And also...
The H&G Canal Trust You are here: Restoration: Over: Restoration before 2000

This is our most recently started restoration site in the grounds of the former Over hospital where the canal began its route from the River Severn. Most people pronounce Over to rhyme with "clover" but older locals rhyme it with "hoover".

Here we have been working alongside Swan Hill Homes, the developers of the new executive housing, to make the canal the focal point of the new development.

As part of the planning permission for the development, the Trust will gain the canal, the land beside it, and the freehold of the visitor centre which will replace the lock keeper's cottage.

ov7.jpg (25854 bytes)

Early days - starting to excavate the wharf basin and canal. Both had been filled in when the hospital was built

For our part, we have excavated the canal, created a surfaced towpath and built 85m of wharf and a slipway; we still have to build an overflow weir and a pumping station to raise water from the River Leadon. It’s an enormous project for volunteers to undertake. If it was let out to contract it would cost some Ł˝ million but our budget is just Ł50,000. Perhaps you’d like to come and help us.

There is so much of interest to show about the Over project that we have split it between several pages. Use the menu on the left to move between them.

The rest of the pictures on this page are thumbnails.
Click on the picture to see it full size.
Click your Back button to return to this page.

Right, let's start tackling 100 years worth of undergrowth. The final 100 yards of canal on our site was never disturbed by the hospital building. It is overgrown but still holds water

In 1995 we carried out some trial excavations
to confirm the line of the canal

This enormous willow had grown inside the lock

The excavator is standing on Over lock. The Severn is a few yards beyond it. The lock keeper’s cottage is structurally unsound and will be replaced by a new visitor centre.

Over lock starts to appear from the ground. The facing bricks seem to have been taken away and re-used, probably in the last century

It's been exciting to find evidence of the original canal. The first picture reveals part of the lock wall; the second shows remains of the pair of mitre gates at the river end of the lock

Here we see the inner end of the lock and the top of the aquaduct that carried the canal over the mill race

Even the best dumper drivers get stuck sometimes.
The JCB gives a helping shove

Never mind Global Positioning Systems -
David Penny uses his best eye to sight the line of the wharf

The long arm of the wharf with the first concrete pour successfully in place. The reinforcing steel is ready for the next pour to build the wall upwards. We made good progress during the WRG work camp February '99

Extending the length of the long arm. The lorry's chute could not reach close enough so we used the excavator bucket to transfer the concrete into place

The end of the February work camp -
37 metres of concrete poured for the long arm

At last the whole basin is excavated but
needs a lot of pumping. We have dug the basin another metre and a half deep since the right hand picture was taken.
In order to dig the basin we had to remove the main access road to the hospital and all its street lights.

With so much muck to shift the big dumpers prove invaluable

With the basin excavated, we start to dig the line of the canal inland

July 1999 - the ward blocks which have stood derelict for 6 years are about to be demolished

Salvaging slates from the mortuary block and the demolition of the 1970s block

A last view of the excavated basin, seen from the upper floor of the ward just before demolition

Giant weight rings ready for building the pumping station which will provide a water supply from the River Leadon. The rings were surplus from the Cardiff Waste Water Treatment Works and were given to us by Hyder.
The original canal had unreliable water supplies until it reached the Frome beyond Ledbury.

By the end of WRG's July camp, the concrete pours for the long arm of the wharf wall are nearly complete. The short arm is still to be started.
On the opposite site of the basin, gabions are being prepared.

The other main achievement for July was starting to build the slipway which enters the canal just inland from the basin

At the August work camp, Paul Brown prepares the gabions while "Blue" works on the side of the basin where they will be positioned

August saw the start of some intricate brickwork on either side of the slipway

Yes, we even work by night!

In the summer we ran a guided tour and barbeque for members who don't normally get a chance to see progress on site. By the time the food was eaten, light was fading fast.

The intricate brickwork either side of the slipway is coming along fast. It's pleasing to remember that all the bricks are recycled.

The basin seems determined to fill with water before we are ready!
The posts suggest either that work has begun on the short arm or we have uncovered the remains of a Viking longship.

With a concrete base in place on the short arm, the shuttering is built for the next pour. Mike Bowden checks that it's all correctly positioned.

In order to get concrete lorries down into the basin we need to build a road. The black material prevents the crushed brick sinking into the clay.

In November WRG held their annual reunion at Over. With more than 100 volunteers on site for the weekend we really made some progress:

This group must have drawn the short straw - collecting and cleaning bricks from the demolished ward block.

Meanwhile a group clears the remaining trees from the inland end of the site and another "scrub bashes" on the Severn floodplain.

At the same time, this group is laying more crushed brick for the towpath.

Just a few yards away, more progress is being made on the slipway. Midway through Sunday, Matt finishes his wall.

The curved walls require a lot of cut bricks

Meanwhile a huge gang of bricklayers work on both arms of the wharf. There must be a collective noun for them - maybe it's a stretcher or even a frog of bricklayers.

A small team works on repairing our "new" site hut, kindly donated and delivered to us by Joseph Rice Logistics of Gloucester.

The last working weekend of the century saw us, joined by members of London WRG, adding to the brickwork of the wharf walls and the slipway.