June News
ROSEMOOR RESTORATION REPORT by Michael Elliott - 30th June 2021
A slightly smaller working party arrived at Rosemoor to be greeted by the moved scaffolding providing access to the lime kiln wall and arch in two sections. One group then set about adding a bridge between the sections, a kick board and some more railings. They then proceeded to gingerly remove ivy and saplings from the wall and arch, given the loose nature of the stonework in some places. Meanwhile, the rest of the group tidied up the tucking mill, removing loose soil and weeds, to better reveal the structure uncovered to date.
The party finished early as the weather was too hot to continue after lunch!
A slightly smaller working party arrived at Rosemoor to be greeted by the moved scaffolding providing access to the lime kiln wall and arch in two sections. One group then set about adding a bridge between the sections, a kick board and some more railings. They then proceeded to gingerly remove ivy and saplings from the wall and arch, given the loose nature of the stonework in some places. Meanwhile, the rest of the group tidied up the tucking mill, removing loose soil and weeds, to better reveal the structure uncovered to date.
The party finished early as the weather was too hot to continue after lunch!
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Generally, working parties are held every Wednesday morning, meeting in the main car park at RHS Rosemoor, Torrington at 9.30am. (NB. Arrangements may vary during Covid restrictions). Please contact Project Manager, Ian Harrison (tel.01237- 475707) for more information.
RESTORATION OF THE MIDDLE BASIN AT SEA LOCK by Ian Harrison Society Chair - 30th June 2021
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The Rolle Canal and Northern Devon Waterways Society has been successful in obtaining a £12,000 grant from the Association of Industrial Archaeology (AIA) for the restoration of the Middle Basin of the Rolle Canal at Sea Lock, Annery. An additional £1,277 has been allocated to the project from the Societies own funds. The money is for the purchase of materials, plant hire, PPE and tools - all labour will be provided by a dedicated team of volunteers at no cost to the Society. 
Middle Basin before restoration
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This project has been supported by a restoration grant
from the Association for Industrial Archaeology. 
Middle Basin as we hope it will look
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ROLLE CANAL GUIDED WALKS ARE BACK!
We're delighted that our popular walks will be taking place again this summer. Please see our guided walks section for full details.
We're delighted that our popular walks will be taking place again this summer. Please see our guided walks section for full details.
ROSEMOOR RESTORATION REPORT by Tony Nicholls - 23rd June 2021
We arrived on the Rosemoor site in glorious sunshine this week. The warmth filled us with vigour for the day’s work. Unfortunately, the recent good weather has also filled the vegetation with similar vigour as the site is rapidly disappearing under a swathe of weeds and young saplings. At this time of year it is a constant battle to control the encroachment of Nature.
We arrived on the Rosemoor site in glorious sunshine this week. The warmth filled us with vigour for the day’s work. Unfortunately, the recent good weather has also filled the vegetation with similar vigour as the site is rapidly disappearing under a swathe of weeds and young saplings. At this time of year it is a constant battle to control the encroachment of Nature.
Repairing upper basin wall
Contractors arrived in the morning to move the scaffolding over to the archway of the lime kiln. This was ideal as we were able to explain to them exactly where we wanted it positioned to start work on the higher section of the building. While this was being done, we focussed our efforts on re-building the upper basin wall. We are making progress but, despite the stock of stone which has been removed from the original wall, it is frequently hard to find a piece exactly the right shape and size! There is still a substantial section of wall to repair and, when complete, we intend to finish it off with a concrete capping to match the lower basin wall which we restored some time ago.
Work in progress
Generally, working parties are held every Wednesday morning, meeting in the main car park at RHS Rosemoor, Torrington at 9.30am. (NB. Arrangements may vary during Covid restrictions). Please contact Project Manager, Ian Harrison (tel.01237- 475707) for more information.
ROSEMOOR RESTORATION REPORT by Tony Nicholls - 16th June 2021
Following the successful repair of the collapsed embankment at Furzebeam, we returned to the Rosemoor site this week. As usual at this time of year, Nature is rampant and the site is rapidly disappearing under a blanket of weeds. Some extensive gardening will be required in the coming weeks!
Following the successful repair of the collapsed embankment at Furzebeam, we returned to the Rosemoor site this week. As usual at this time of year, Nature is rampant and the site is rapidly disappearing under a blanket of weeds. Some extensive gardening will be required in the coming weeks!
Work continued on repairs to the wall beneath the lime kiln arch. We have been able to use some of the big stones we unearthed several months ago in the base of the wall to provide a solid foundation. We now await the scaffolding to be moved over to the arch itself to enable us to access the higher part of the structure.
We made further progress on the re-build of the upper basin wall which is gradually taking shape and continued to excavate the base of the old mill leat. We still hope to find the stone floor of the leat although this is now looking doubtful and may need to be reconstructed.
Rebuilding upper basin wall
Excavating the mill leat
The mortar production line in full swing
Generally, working parties are held every Wednesday morning, meeting in the main car park at RHS Rosemoor, Torrington at 9.30am. (NB. Arrangements may vary during Covid restrictions). Please contact Project Manager, Ian Harrison (tel.01237- 475707) for more information.
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SEA LOCK WORKING PARTY - Report by Michael Elliott - 15th June 2021 Following from the continued dismantling of the wharf wall last week, this week the team returned to the more constructive task of rebuilding. One coping stone was already in situ waiting to be mortared into place, with a second coping stone waiting for the next section to be built up to height. As usual, there was also a pile of material in the wrong place, so mortar was mixed, the wall built up and concrete blocks cleaned up and stacked onto a pallet. |
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SEA LOCK WORKING PARTY - Report by Michael Elliott - 8th June 2021
In the absence of the chief stone mason, the navvies continue stripping down loose stone and soil from the wharf wall. This will create more work for the stone mason in due course. After the apparently bottomless section near the drainage pipe, the next section is at least promising a firm base. After a hot mornings work, a good quantity of soil was wheelbarrowed elsewhere as back-fill, and a satisfying pile of stone was created, but the blocks are not really of the scale needed at Sea Lock. Anyone have any large blocks of local stone going spare?
In the absence of the chief stone mason, the navvies continue stripping down loose stone and soil from the wharf wall. This will create more work for the stone mason in due course. After the apparently bottomless section near the drainage pipe, the next section is at least promising a firm base. After a hot mornings work, a good quantity of soil was wheelbarrowed elsewhere as back-fill, and a satisfying pile of stone was created, but the blocks are not really of the scale needed at Sea Lock. Anyone have any large blocks of local stone going spare?
ONGOING REPAIRS AT FURZEBEAM - Report by Ian Harrison - 9th June 2021
We returned to Furzebeam this week to continue the work repairing the towpath retaining wall that was damaged when a huge tree fell earlier in the year. A large amount of work was done a fortnight ago which we continued this week by locating large stones, hauling them up the steep slope and carefully placing them with an appropriate batter. We then backfilled with smaller stones. The project manager for this work Tony Barnes ensured the work was carried out safely and he is confident that the repaired wall will support the towpath for many years to com
We returned to Furzebeam this week to continue the work repairing the towpath retaining wall that was damaged when a huge tree fell earlier in the year. A large amount of work was done a fortnight ago which we continued this week by locating large stones, hauling them up the steep slope and carefully placing them with an appropriate batter. We then backfilled with smaller stones. The project manager for this work Tony Barnes ensured the work was carried out safely and he is confident that the repaired wall will support the towpath for many years to com
Normally working parties are held every Wednesday morning, meeting in the main car park at RHS Rosemoor, Torrington at 9.30am. (NB. Arrangements may vary during Covid restrictions). Please contact the Rosemoor Project Manager, Ian Harrison (tel.01237- 475707) for more information.
ROSEMOOR RESTORATION REPORT by Tony Nicholls - 2nd June 2021
We returned to Rosemoor this week as RHS Rosemoor had kindly agreed to make available a mini digger to carry out some excavation on the tucking mill site. This was an offer we could not refuse!
We returned to Rosemoor this week as RHS Rosemoor had kindly agreed to make available a mini digger to carry out some excavation on the tucking mill site. This was an offer we could not refuse!
The main focus of the excavation was to see if we could find the floor of the mill race and identify the location of the former mill wheel. The first obstacle the digger driver had to overcome was to create an access to the site from the lower trackway. Once this was done, the excavation could start in earnest.
Despite digging down several feet into the mill race channel, we saw no signs of a stone floor. However, one significant find was unearthed – a large iron shaft which may well be the original shaft for the mill wheel. This was very exciting and it will be added to our growing collection of artefacts. Our amateur archaeologists continue to expose more of the internal walls and floors. Perhaps the tucking mill is finally surrendering some of its secrets!
Unearthed iron shaft
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Exposing the tucking mill floor
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Wall of third chamber
Elsewhere on the site we continued to re-build the upper basin wall and carry out repairs to the arch of the lime kiln. This is painstaking work so progress is inevitably slow but we want to get this right.
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Rebuilding upper basin wall
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Rebuilding the arch of the lime kiln
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Next week we plan to return to Furzebeam to complete the repairs to the damaged towpath.
Generally, working parties are held every Wednesday morning, meeting in the main car park at RHS Rosemoor, Torrington at 9.30am. (NB. Arrangements may vary during Covid restrictions). Please contact Project Manager, Ian Harrison (tel.01237- 475707) for more information.
Generally, working parties are held every Wednesday morning, meeting in the main car park at RHS Rosemoor, Torrington at 9.30am. (NB. Arrangements may vary during Covid restrictions). Please contact Project Manager, Ian Harrison (tel.01237- 475707) for more information.