IWA, Shrewsbury District & North Wales Branch

15/06/2026

Whitchurch Breach – SAND DUNES at Whitchurch?
Situated some 70 miles from the coast, Whitchurch has few things in common with Aberdovey except perhaps for the newly revealed sand dune-like embankment of the Llangollen Canal next to New Mills Lift Bridge.
Driving home after IWA’s Anniversary cruise on the River Weaver, we passed the contractor’s temporary access to the breach re-instatement works and decided to make a little detour to visit the adjacent, but un-affected, Whitchurch Arm in Chemistry.
All very quiet, except for Joe, busy working at his cruiser, who offered to take our photo in front of the Keep Out fence near the lift bridge. Looking through the fence mesh, we were amazed to see so much sand, lots and lots of it, where, previously, we remembered grass and trees forming a popular mooring spot where we’d often sat on friends’ boats during Festival visits. Really incredible that a largely sand embankment had supported the canal for so long!
Given the high profile of this work, we wonder, has anyone thought of creating a viewing platform, through, or above, the hedge, for visitors to watch the re-build?

11/06/2026

The Inland Waterways Association will be holding its 80th Anniversary Event this Friday on the River Weaver.
This year marks eighty years of protecting, restoring and championing Britain's inland waterways. While it is acknowledged that there is still much to do, the afternoon cruise provides an opportunity to reflect on what has been achieved and to look ahead with pride to the future.
I W A members will celebrate the Association’s milestone aboard the iconic steamship S.S. Daniel Adamson, chosen for both its heritage and its living connection to waterway preservation today.

06/06/2026

Ellesmere Yard on show. CRT hosted a visit to Ellesmere Yard on 5 June 2026 to show Shropshire Council (officers) what had been done with a council grant from the Shared Prosperity Fund and to outline what would be done under the planned CRT Lottery bid. Everyone there was very impressed by the vision for this unique part of our canal's heritage.

02/06/2026

Whitchurch Breach - state-of-play on 01 June 2026 with co-ordinated digging out of a defined section of the failed embankment onto large tracked dumpers which shuttle across to the spoil heaps on the field adjacent to the A41 road where the sandy material is loaded onto a convoy of HGVs and driven away. Images: Taylors Aboard a Narrowboat.
Thinking back to the building of this section, 200 years ago, there must have been huge numbers of horses and carts and human navvies with spades and wheel barrows involved for a very long time!
Orientation - the New Mills Lift bridge coffer dams are bottom left; Grindley Brook coffer dams are top right; spoil heaps and A41 (not visible) are top left.

29/05/2026

Whitchurch Breach - 5 months on ...
Tonnes of sandy breach spoil now form huge temporary heaps near the site access track to the Llangollen Canal at New Mills Bridge and a stream of lorries is currently taking it away. On the line of the canal (on the Grindley Brook end of the gap), excavations of the towpath and offside banks continue near the coffer dams. And the previously flooded field starts to green up again. Images: Taylors Aboard a Narrowboat.

24/05/2026

There's been a lot going on locally and it's all reported here:

The Newsletter of IWA Shrewsbury District & North Wales Branch

12/05/2026

Whitchurch Breach on the Llangollen Canal - CRT update on 11 May and aerial view of the site from the towpath side where culvert work has continued while, on the far side sandy debris is being cleared from the field which became a lake during last December's massive breach. Image: Taylors Aboard a Narrowboat

CRT 11 May 2026
We’ve now drained around 15 million litres of water from the flooded field. This has allowed us to clear up the field and unblock the culvert. We’ll be carrying out a full check of the culvert, but early signs suggest it’s in good condition.

The ground investigations will be finished this week, and testing of materials is continuing off site.

We’ve started digging out the embankment. It will be rebuilt using a strengthened earth method, where layers of reinforcing material are built into the ground to make it more stable. The canal channel itself will be rebuilt in concrete.

We’re continuing to pump water around the breach site, moving about 40 million litres a day towards Hurleston. We’re also looking at whether water can safely be channelled through the breach area

07/05/2026

www.themontgomerycanal.org.uk
Reminder of tomorrow's Forum in Oswestry