Newport Canal
Post 7
6th June 2010
The mile and a half of canal through Newport is a shining example of canal preservation as local amenity, long before restoration was even considered.
Summerhouse Bridge (13)
The canal track is in water all the way from Meretown lock to the east through Farmers Lock and into the Town Lock, both of which have been in filled and left with just a few inches of water to offer an indication of what it looked like, but without the danger of drowning.
Fisher's Lock Newport.
Newport Canal Basin
This policy prevents the line becoming clogged with debris, preserving the chambers for ultimate restoration. To the town's credit, the resulting linear waterpark is kept spick and span and completely devoid of the sort of debris one usually finds in an abandoned canal.
East from Newport Town Lock
Black Warehouse at Newport
Newport contains contains a couple of additional bonus features. Firstly there is the large square basin which is now filled with lillies and offers a tranquil fishing spot, and secondly there is the "Black Warehouse" one of the few original canalside strictures to remain. There are plans for a long term use for this building, but to date is remains just a BW store.
Gate recess at Newport Town Lock
I predict that, come the restoration, Newport with its quaint country town centre will become a firm favourite with boaters, similar in appeal to Market Drayton but smaller.
Archive photos of the canal at Newport:
Summerhouse Bridge - Newport
Aerial view of Newport Lock and basin in 1921
The above photos have been assembled from various sources, including those freely found on the internet. My thanks go to the many photographers alive and dead who have contributed to this collection and in so doing, are keeping the memory of these canals alive. These images are reproduced for ease of research are are not necessarily the property of this blog and some may still be subject to copyright, and as such they should not be used for commercial gain without the explicit permission of the owner (whoever that may be).
The Norbury to Newport Canal Restoration CIC has now been officially launched.
ReplyDeleteThe residents local to this canal, the only branch of the Shropshire Union not restored, being fed up with The Shrewsbury and Newport Canals Trust just talking for the last 10 years, decided to form their own Community Interest Company. The locals, totally against the Trust's plans to build a concrete and steel monstrosity, called an Inclined Plane, in the middle of our lovely countryside decided that the best way to be rid of these plans forever was to restore the canal as to close to Telfords original route as possible.
As many of you will have seen from Capt Ahab's blog, much of this canal is still in pretty good order, some sections still holding water.
Among our directors we have specialists in business, the environment,wildlife and recreation, and even people with first hand experience of restoring a similar canal (look out for the Droitwich opening shortly).
Shareholders are local residents, so they control what goes on.
It costs nothing to be a share holder, the only clause is that, should the CIC be wound up with debts, then each shareholder contributes one pound.Natural England are very interested and we have a meeting with them next week also, on the same day, a meeting with the right people at British Waterways
For more info contact Brian Maxfield on NTNCRCIC@aol.com