Llangollen Canal breach

In December 2025 a breach near Whitchurch caused significant damage to the historic Llangollen Canal.

Update 5 March

Our teams are currently constructing an access road to the site compound. They are working in a farmer’s field alongside the A525, excavating a route from the road so the compound can be positioned close to the canal.

At the same time, we're gradually pumping water out of the makeshift lake that formed when the canal emptied.

Approximately 12 million litres of water flowed into the farmer’s field, where it has since become a temporary refuge for the fish that have been displaced from the canal since December. These fish now need to be safely rescued and relocated back into the canal. In a few days, our fisheries rescue team will begin efforts to catch them.

Using specialist fisheries equipment, the team will temporarily stun the fish by passing a low-voltage direct electrical current through the water. This is a safe, widely used fisheries management technique that briefly immobilises the fish, allowing them to be collected without harm. They will then be carefully transferred into aerated containers and transported back to the canal.

Update 11 February

Now that the boats have all been removed we are focusing on getting the site ready for when the reconstruction works start. Working with our contractor Kier, we're currently setting up the site compound and installing fences to secure the area. Our teams are busy investigating the cause of the breach whilst working on a plan for the repair.

16 Janaury
The two boats, Sefton and Ganymede, which were washed into the breach hole, have now been removed and are back into a section of drained canal. An excavator was used to reprofile the edge of the breach hole into a gentler slope, allowing the boats to be winched from the bottom of the hole.
The boats will be refloated, then taken away to assess what work is needed.
14 January 2026
Narrowboat Pacemaker has now been moved further along the canal and successfully re floated after it was left precariously suspended over the breach.
The two boats, Sefton and Ganymede, which were washed into the breach, will soon be removed. An excavator is being used to reprofile the edge of the breach hole into a gentler slope, allowing the boats to be winched from the bottom of the hole back into a section of drained canal channel.
6 January 2026
The incident has been highly distressing for the boat owners affected, with footage online showing the situation unfolding. Heartbreakingly, two boats were washed into the breach hole.
Our teams, working with our contractors have managed to pull a narrowboat back from the breach hole using a specialist tracked winch. Dams have also been put in either side of the breach site meant that six further boats, initially grounded on the canal bed after the water beneath them ran out of the canal, have been carefully refloated
Our engineers and the local canal team have been on site over Christmas and New Year working to ensure that pipes and pumps are in place to safeguard a continued flow of water around the breach site so boats downstream are kept afloat. This is also important because of the role the Llangollen Canal (along with others across the UK) plays today in moving fresh water for public water supply.
We've started investigations into the likely cause of the breach however the cause of earth embankment failures is not always clear. They can be complex structures, and whilst there are a number of possibilities as to what might be the cause, it is still too early to be certain. The repairs would take much of the year and cost several million pounds.
This week attention we will turn to recovering the three remaining boats: narrowboat Pacemaker, winched away from the breach hole before Christmas, and narrowboats Sefton and Ganymede which were washed into the breach hole.
Pacemaker will be refloated by winching the boat into a section of dry canal before installing a dam and refloating it with canal water.
Sefton and Ganymede are also likely to be winched from the breach site before they are assessed and hopefully refloated. Before that is possible, we need to bring in an excavator and carefully reprofile the steep side of the breach hole so that there is a gradual slope that the boats can be winched along.

Last Edited: 9 March 2026

Llangollen Canal breach

Update 5 March

Update 11 February

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