Volunteers unearth 200 year old lock

Teams of volunteers from the Grantham Canal Society and Waterway Recovery Group have been working at Lock 15 and have uncovered features designed and built by renowned canal engineer William Jessop over two centuries ago.

It's all part of a project led by the Canal & River Trust and the Grantham Canal Society. The scheme, which has been awarded a £830,500 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), will see volunteers restoring derelict locks 14 and 15 near Stenwith.

In order to repair the lock walls, which were leaning, the volunteers dug out the earth behind and exposed the brick buttresses, or supports, which would have been built to withstand the water pressure from a full lock. Over time the supports and lock walls have moved and crumbled allowing the whole structure to lean inwards and the volunteers have been busy taking them down so that they can be rebuilt.

Karen Rice, project manager for the Canal & River Trust explains; “This is really exciting, it's almost like opening a time-capsule and piecing together how the lock was built all those years ago.

“We are extremely grateful to everyone that has volunteered so far both at the lock and behind the scenes. It's a big job and we still need lots of volunteers so we'd love to hear from anyone interested in getting involved. They'll be following in the footsteps of one of the nation's most celebrated engineers and helping to play an important role in bringing the lock back to life.”

The five year project is being led by volunteers and will see the two locks brought back into working use for the first time in around 80 years. It will also involve training volunteers in valuable conservation skills and laying the groundwork for the restoration of a further two locks (numbered 12 and 13).

For more details on how to get involved in the restoration contact [email protected].