Canal Restoration at Malswick
The Malswick Project is diverse and represents a great opportunity to restore a significant stretch of canal.
Malswick lies just east of Newent and the scheme now comprises two sections of canal restoration – Malswick West and Malswick East – totaling up to around 1,050m in length.
Nearest postcode: GL18 1HE
OS Grid Ref: SO 74157 25162
What3Words: ///producing.masts.gazed
Malswick West
As part of the deal to support the initial land acquisition, the Trust agreed to undertake construction works across the site, including restoring two existing brick-built river bridges, building a substantial new bridge across the same watercourse, creation of various new culverted and gated accesses between fields, and provision of several hundreds of metres of new stock-proof fencing and hedges for the landowner – the Malswick West section.
In early 2020, most of this work was complete, and focus moved towards the major task of re-creating about 600m of canal channel and towpath through the site, highly visible alongside the B4215.
During the Summer of 2022, the Waterways Recovery Group held three camps at Malswick, and their teams were able to assist with completing the major culverts needed to pass surface water below new canal embankments, and start the major muck shifting work needed to raise existing ground level to form the embankment and cut a new canal channel across the site where existing levels were more satisfactory.
See video footage of this in More on our work at Malswick below…
Once restored, all of this will be directly accessible from Malswick House. The landholdings adjoin each other, adding to the logic of our focus in this area. This is part of the strategic decision that the Strategic Land Acquisitions Group took several years ago.
The route of the canal will go through two sections of woodland, which will give us the opportunity to create wildlife corridors alongside the route. We enlisted the help of the Worcestershire Wildlife Consultancy at an early stage to carry out a detailed survey before any work commenced so that we could minimise any disruption to wildlife.
Please note that the site will not be open to the general public until the canal has been formally completed.
Funding and volunteers required
The Malswick Project is part of the Trust’s strategic drive for the future acquisition of land. We are building a land bank to provide five to ten years of volunteer work.
Above all this requires money; see our Land Fund Appeal, but also for loans, as liquidity is just as important. The current acquisitions at Newent and Malswick have only been able to happen due to the generous support of our members to the Land Fund, and an anonymous donation some time ago of £100,000 helped to fund Malswick House.
As is said elsewhere on this website, this is a major project, with specific funding and volunteering needs.
A considerable amount of new funding will be needed to meet the costs of refurbishing and installing the swing bridge, lock chamber construction, reforming the canal channel and of all the associated groundworks.
In addition, new teams of volunteers will be needed to boost the existing capability, and address a variety of needs including planning and design, programming, management of health and safety, operation of mechanical plant and equipment, and the good old fashioned plain and simple grafting that is canal restoration.
Please read our pages on funding and volunteering – if you can help at all, PLEASE GET IN TOUCH.
