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Publication Date: 16 February 2006
The Inland Waterways Association (IWA) has announced £10,000 worth of grants to the Midlands canal network. The grants have been awarded for work to be carried out on the Ashby Canal and the Saltisford Arm of the Grand Union Canal. These grants continue IWA’s commitment to aiding the restoration of waterways during the Association’s Diamond Jubilee year.
As part of this commitment an £8,000 grant has been made towards site investigation works on the Snarestone to Measham section of the Ashby Canal. The site investigations are part of Leicestershire County Council’s scheme to restore the Ashby Canal from its terminus at Snarestone to Measham. The investigations will include trial pits and bore holes, soil samples, hydraulic study, archaeological survey and ecological studies.
Geoff Pursglove of Leicestershire County Council said,
‘We are delighted that IWA has decided to support these site investigations works. White, Young, Green Consulting Ltd have begun work on the site, bringing us a step closer to the eventually restoration of the canal. Their work is taking place in conjunction with independent hydrological studies to establish water resources, and an archaeological survey being carried out by Leicester University’.
Neil Edwards, IWA Chief Executive said,
‘IWA is pleased to be supporting this project. The Ashby Canal has suffered from years of mining decline and subsidence, leading to the abandonment of the top 8 miles. We hope that the completion of these site investigations will lead to further funding which will eventually see Measham connected once again to the national canal network’.
IWA has also awarded a £2,000 grant to the Saltisford Canal Trust towards the cost of converting a former canal warehouse, latterly used as a barn, on the Saltisford Arm of the Grand Union Canal, near Warwick, into an office for the Trust. The project will convert the warehouse into the Trust’s new headquarters, a visitor centre, shop and disabled toilet facilities. For the last five years the Trust has been operating out of a Portacabin which was installed when its previous headquarters became unfit for use.
Philip Ogden, President of the Saltisford Canal Trust said,
‘We are very pleased that IWA has decided to support this project. The planning permission for the Canal Trust’s temporary headquarters has expired and so this project is vital to the continuation of the Trust’s activities and to the management of the canal arm. The Trust operates facilities for boaters as well as fishing and permanent and visitor moorings, which are all essential to the survival of the canal’.
Neil Edwards, IWA Chief Executive said,
‘IWA is delighted to be supporting this project. 'We hope that the conversion of the former canal warehouse to provide key facilities will enable the Trust to continue to successfully manage the canal arm for generations to come’.
For more information please contact:
Jessica Letters, IWA Project Officer, 01923 711 114 ex 24
Notes for Editors:
The Inland Waterways Association (IWA) is a registered charity, founded in 1946, which advocates the conservation, use, maintenance, restoration and development of the inland waterways for public benefit. IWA has over 17,000 members whose interests include boating, towing path walking, industrial archaeology, nature conservation and many other activities associated with the inland waterways. Information provided by 188 corporate members with their own membership structures has revealed that they, in themselves, have a combined membership of at least 59,500 in support of IWA’s voice.
IWA works closely with navigation authorities, other waterway bodies, a wide range of national and local authorities, voluntary, private and public sector organisations to raise funds, lobby for support and encourage public participation. The Association also supplies voluntary labour through its subsidiary Waterway Recovery Group.
More than 500 miles of canals and navigable rivers have been re-opened to public use since the Association was founded. More than 500 miles of further derelict inland waterways are currently the subject of restoration plans.
The Saltisford Arm is all that remains of the Warwick terminus of the Warwick and Birmingham Canal. Restored from dereliction between 1982 and 1988 by the Saltisford Canal Trust, and recorded with numerous photographs at the Trust’s Centre. The Arm is managed by Saltisford Canal Trading Limited on behalf of the Trust, a registered charity.
The Ashby Canal carried coal to the Home Counties until 1981. However by 1966, the mines it served had caused the closure of the northern most 8 miles of the canal through subsidence. The Ashby Canal passes close to the site of the Battle of Bosworth Field. The Battlefield Railway line runs parallel with the canal between Shackerstone and Shenton.
