March News
20 YEARS YOUNG! by Adrian Wills - 31st March 2023
Not only is this an auspicious year for our monarchy, it also is for the Rolle Canal & Northern Devon Waterways Society, and Lord Rolle’s Canal itself.
In January 2003, a group of people interested in Lord Rolle’s Canal met in the Burton Art Gallery and by the end of the afternoon, the RC&NDWS was inaugurated. This makes 2023 the 20th ANNIVERSARY of the formation of the Society.
Not only is this an auspicious year for our monarchy, it also is for the Rolle Canal & Northern Devon Waterways Society, and Lord Rolle’s Canal itself.
In January 2003, a group of people interested in Lord Rolle’s Canal met in the Burton Art Gallery and by the end of the afternoon, the RC&NDWS was inaugurated. This makes 2023 the 20th ANNIVERSARY of the formation of the Society.
The aims of the society, as established during its inauguration, to research, conserve, publicise and restore surviving features of the Rolle Canal in North Devon have been more than adequately achieved over its past 20 years of its existence, and continues to do so today.
1823 was also an auspicious year since this was when James Green began the construction of Lord Rolle’s Canal, making this year its 200th ANNIVERSARY.
Lord Rolle was very keen on pomp and ceremony and on the occasion of his laying the first stone on the beautiful Beam Aqueduct on 11th August 1824 there were a number of local dignitaries present, members of the public as well as a number of canons. Lord Rolle was at the time Colonel of the North Devon Yeomanry. Unfortunately, one canon burst during the ceremony and a person attending was injured. Lord Rolle promptly paid a surgeon to attend the injured man who was compensated with one year’s allowance.
In order to mark and celebrate these historic events, on Saturday 12th August, starting at 2.30pm the site of Sea Lock will be open to the general public. The site is accessed from the yard at Annery where there is limited parking, so those wishing to attend, are asked to car-share as much as possible or take advantage of the local bus service.
At Sea Lock there will be the opportunity to view the restoration work that is on-going at the site as well as visiting the specially constructed traditional wharf-side building which houses an archive of photographs and canal artefacts.
A number of other attractions are planned for this open day, sadly not including the firing of canons but maybe, fireworks?
All are welcome to attend, but dogs are discouraged. More details will be made available in due course.
1823 was also an auspicious year since this was when James Green began the construction of Lord Rolle’s Canal, making this year its 200th ANNIVERSARY.
Lord Rolle was very keen on pomp and ceremony and on the occasion of his laying the first stone on the beautiful Beam Aqueduct on 11th August 1824 there were a number of local dignitaries present, members of the public as well as a number of canons. Lord Rolle was at the time Colonel of the North Devon Yeomanry. Unfortunately, one canon burst during the ceremony and a person attending was injured. Lord Rolle promptly paid a surgeon to attend the injured man who was compensated with one year’s allowance.
In order to mark and celebrate these historic events, on Saturday 12th August, starting at 2.30pm the site of Sea Lock will be open to the general public. The site is accessed from the yard at Annery where there is limited parking, so those wishing to attend, are asked to car-share as much as possible or take advantage of the local bus service.
At Sea Lock there will be the opportunity to view the restoration work that is on-going at the site as well as visiting the specially constructed traditional wharf-side building which houses an archive of photographs and canal artefacts.
A number of other attractions are planned for this open day, sadly not including the firing of canons but maybe, fireworks?
All are welcome to attend, but dogs are discouraged. More details will be made available in due course.
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SINGING IN THE RAIN AND WALLOWING IN THE MUD - Sea Lock report by Adrian Wills - 29th March 2023
It was not a particularly auspicious start to the day on Tuesday morning (28.03.23), being very damp and grey. I had to go down to the site of Sea Lock before 8 o’clock, in order to receive a delivery of building materials and was considering the sense in working outdoors for the day. I ‘phoned Steve and Nick to decide whether or not to go to work at Sea Lock, since the weather forecast for the day was somewhat ‘iffy’, although due to brighten later on. We decided to ‘give it a go’ and they duly arrived at my house, just after 9.00am. The rain was light at this time, and we were fairly confident that it would not get any worse! Thanks to my dear friend, John, the interpretation loft was standing tall and proud, having now had all the supporting legs propped up and spacers fixed in place. I had spent time fabricating more shuttering in the partly filled trenches between the legs so that when Steve and Nick joined me, we were ready to rock and roll. Nick rapidly built up a head of steam mixing concrete, with Steve barrowing it and flopping it into the shuttered areas, whilst I spent time levelling and fixing another length of shuttering. Tony and Michael had arrived by this time and finished off the task of wire brushing and oiling the pile of scaffold clips that they had begun working on last week. |
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Nick was being somewhat frugal with his addition of water to the mixes since the concrete ballast was already quite wet. Having tamped down the concrete into the shuttering, Steve had difficulty in getting a smooth finish to it with a fibreglass float since the weather was making the concrete wetter than we wanted it to be.
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Eventually however, we managed to completely fill and float off a considerable length of foundation and got it quickly covered over with plastic sheeting and some old roofing panels. Despite the weather not being very kind to us, we achieved a great deal, consumed eleven of the twenty bags of cement that had been delivered that day and reduced the pile of concrete ballast, originally a 10 ton load, to about half!
Have to spend time now enclosing the remaining legs in shuttering, but everything is progressing very nicely.
PS. Only a very short burst of Widecombe Fair was heard that day!
Have to spend time now enclosing the remaining legs in shuttering, but everything is progressing very nicely.
PS. Only a very short burst of Widecombe Fair was heard that day!
A BIT OF A BIGGIE! - Sea Lock report by Adrian Wills - 23rd March 2023
I recently posted a report on the effect of high tides at Sea Lock on Lord Rolle’s Canal and how they would have helped passage of vessels into and out of the lock chamber. This morning’s Spring Tide was even higher than the one I made comment on before. Officially recorded today for Bideford at 7.00am, the tide reached a height of 9.3 metres – a whooper!
It is really nice to see the lock chamber, basin and the canal (back-filled as a result of the high tide) full of water.
I recently posted a report on the effect of high tides at Sea Lock on Lord Rolle’s Canal and how they would have helped passage of vessels into and out of the lock chamber. This morning’s Spring Tide was even higher than the one I made comment on before. Officially recorded today for Bideford at 7.00am, the tide reached a height of 9.3 metres – a whooper!
It is really nice to see the lock chamber, basin and the canal (back-filled as a result of the high tide) full of water.
Further up the river at Annery, the high tide peaks slightly later and is radically affected by the amount of fresh water flowing down the river. Following some heavy rain recently this has been quite substantial, causing the rising tide to over-top flood banks and inundate adjacent fields. Fortunately, these moments of flooding are generally short-lived since the water starts to regress as soon as the tide starts to fall.
Living in an area classified as a flood plain and over-looking the River Torridge, our property is subject to automated flood warnings issued by the EA. These may be about potential coastal flooding or concerning the upper and/or lower reaches of the River Torridge.
We did receive a warning about potential coastal flooding a few days ago but nothing about today. Ironically, we did receive a warning about potential flooding to our area last autumn whilst we were on holiday in the middle of Portugal!
Whilst this morning’s tide was very high and did temporarily close the road into Weare Giffard, it would need to be at least 1½ metres higher before it might create problems at Sea Lock. This may not seem to be much higher but that additional amount of water spread across the whole flood plain would be astronomic!
And then everyone would get a little.
And then everyone would get a little.
ROSEMOOR RESTORATION REPORT by Tony Nicholls - 22nd March 2023
We had a dry day for this week’s session at Rosemoor which enabled us to make good progress on the upper basin and the tucking mill.
We had a dry day for this week’s session at Rosemoor which enabled us to make good progress on the upper basin and the tucking mill.
View of upper basin and tucking mill
Filling last section of former
We removed the former from the first stretch of capping last week and were pleased to see that this had turned out well. The only slight problem was that the wooden dividers between the coping stones proved very difficult to remove. To prevent this from happening again, we coated the dividers in the next section with a releasing agent. The dividers are essential to create the impression of individual coping stones. We have found from experience that this is a much more effective method of forming the capping than casting individual blocks. Each former takes roughly 15 barrow loads of concrete to complete which required a constant (and tiring!) production line of material. By the end of the morning we had successfully finished the second stretch of capping which will be released next week. |
Completed section of coping
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In the tucking mill the rest of the team spent the morning repairing the cobbled floor in the lower chamber. We feel this is an important feature of the building which merits restoration. The next challenge is to find enough suitable stone to complete this work as supplies are dwindling fast.
Laying cobbles
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Repaired section of cobbles
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In order to carry out work on the upper basin, we have had to drain the canal by removing the stop board from the upper sluice. There is now quite a strong flow of water running through the mill race which highlights the colourful paving on the repaired floor.
Upper sluice
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES (a week actually!) Sea Lock report by Adrian Wills - 22nd March 2023
Since my last report on work undertaken at Sea Lock, my dear friend and neighbour John, had spent a considerable amount of time over several days, fine-tuning the jacking up of the canal-side supports of the interpretation loft. He has cut some props from substantial steel tube to fill the gaps created beneath the supports, having raised them to the level where the horizontal beams were back to where they should be – horizontal that is! He also realigned the supports so that they were once again properly vertical.
Since my last report on work undertaken at Sea Lock, my dear friend and neighbour John, had spent a considerable amount of time over several days, fine-tuning the jacking up of the canal-side supports of the interpretation loft. He has cut some props from substantial steel tube to fill the gaps created beneath the supports, having raised them to the level where the horizontal beams were back to where they should be – horizontal that is! He also realigned the supports so that they were once again properly vertical.
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Having got the new props in place under the support, he then cut off the fixing plates from the bottom of the steel shoes on which they were standing and re-welded them to the base of the props. He managed all of this despite the weather being frequently wet and cold, and having to work in very awkward places!
In the meantime, I had ordered and received a load of shuttering ply and battens and began the process of constructing frames in which to cast the final batch of concrete around the supports.
In the meantime, I had ordered and received a load of shuttering ply and battens and began the process of constructing frames in which to cast the final batch of concrete around the supports.
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On Tuesday (21.03.23) I was joined by Steve and Nick. Unfortunately, neither Michael nor Tony were available to help that day. Steve bored new holes in the concrete pads and inserted new studs. These studs are somewhat superfluous since they and the props will eventually be encased in concrete. However, they will help stabilize the building and will reduce the possibility of any future movement.
Nick and I, eventually joined by Steve, continued assembling more shuttering, including expansion joints. These are necessary to allow movement within the concrete during periods of hot, dry weather to prevent it from cracking. Within a short time we were ready to start mixing and casting more concrete. Everything was progressing very well until some concern was raised about whether we had sufficient cement to complete the section we had started filling. As it happened, we did have enough – just! By the end of the day, we had completed what we wanted to fill, with less than half a bucket of unused cement remaining! The weather forecast for later in the afternoon was not good so we covered over the new concrete, cleaned our tools and headed for home, very pleased with what we had achieved. Must order some more cement! |
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ROSEMOOR RESTORATION REPORT by Clive Carey - 15th March 2023
This week work continued on the upper basin wall and the Tucking Mill. The wooden formers were removed from the ten sections of capping stones completed the previous week. The formers were then reassembled and positioned ready for filling next week.
Further work was carried out in the mill race which is nearing completion. A start was made on removing ivy from one of the large trees.
This week work continued on the upper basin wall and the Tucking Mill. The wooden formers were removed from the ten sections of capping stones completed the previous week. The formers were then reassembled and positioned ready for filling next week.
Further work was carried out in the mill race which is nearing completion. A start was made on removing ivy from one of the large trees.
NO ELEVATOR MUSIC But lots of creaks and groans! Sea Lock report by Adrian Wills - 15th March 2023
On Monday (13.03.23) my neighbour John, and I went down to the site of Sea Lock to consider beginning the process of actually lifting the interpretation loft to the level at which it originally was built before ground settlement caused it to lean to one side. By way of a trial, one of the supporting uprights had already been unbolted from the concrete pad on which it stood a while ago and had been jacked up surprisingly easily.
On Monday (13.03.23) my neighbour John, and I went down to the site of Sea Lock to consider beginning the process of actually lifting the interpretation loft to the level at which it originally was built before ground settlement caused it to lean to one side. By way of a trial, one of the supporting uprights had already been unbolted from the concrete pad on which it stood a while ago and had been jacked up surprisingly easily.
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I didn’t want to risk the stability of the building by attempting to jack up all the supports in one go but, having nearly completed casting a concrete ring beam on which to support the building, I was more confident about maintaining it during lifting now.
We had initially considered lifting the building using Acrow props. I already have one and would have had to hire several more, but when we tried using mine, we found that it was far from easy. We resorted to using some oak posts propped up by a 10 ton hydraulic lorry jack. After some time attacking one support, nothing seemed to be happening apart from a number of loud and somewhat ominous creaks and groans emanating from the wooden structure. After more pressure was applied to the jack, the metal ‘shoe’ at the base of the support suddenly jumped free from the unbolted studs, which had been retaining it to the concrete pad, and then further raising could be done without much ado. We spent some time wedging everything securely whilst we considered how to fill the void now created below the support, once we had got our levels right. |
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We spent some time wedging everything securely whilst we considered how to fill the void now created below the support, once we had got our levels right.
At this point, the weather took a turn for the worse and it began to rain heavily. We admitted defeat and retired for the day.
At this point, the weather took a turn for the worse and it began to rain heavily. We admitted defeat and retired for the day.
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On Tuesday (14.03.23) John and I were joined by Nick. The rest of the usual Tuesday team were otherwise committed elsewhere. John began cutting lengths of heavy steel tube, to be used as spacers beneath the raised upright, whilst Nick and I mixed and filled the 2 trenches remaining to be filled with concrete. Another load of building supplies, predominately bags of cement, arrived on site while we were doing this, providing us with sufficient materials to complete this task. I had already received 10 tons of concrete ballast delivered the day before. Also, during the previous week, my new, flat-packed galvanised staircase was delivered and is now waiting to be assembled. Nick and I completed laying concrete and joined John in jacking up and levelling the building. By the end of the day, the canal-side wall of the building had been lifted to its proper position and everything securely wedged in place. It is quite frightening to see just how much the supporting posts have had to be lifted in order to get the floor joists back to being horizontal. The vertical posts still need to be firmly anchored down and back-filled with a final course of concrete but everything is already looking much sounder, although perhaps not ship-shaped. The interpretation loft is no longer the Leaning Tower of (Pisa?) the Rolle Canal. Once again, very satisfactory progress has been achieved! |
P.S. It has been very pleasing to see the return of several Mandarin ducks to the upper stretch of canal, and new prints left behind in the mud by visiting Otters over the past couple of days.
ROSEMOOR RESTORATION REPORT by Tony Nicholls - 8th March 2023
The dedication of our team of volunteers was amply demonstrated this week with virtually a full turnout in pretty appalling conditions. It rained virtually all morning and the site soon became a soggy, muddy mess – as did the workforce.
The dedication of our team of volunteers was amply demonstrated this week with virtually a full turnout in pretty appalling conditions. It rained virtually all morning and the site soon became a soggy, muddy mess – as did the workforce.
Backfilling the upper basin wall
Given the conditions, we decided to blitz the capping of the upper basin wall and the entire team was put to work on this task. Some personnel spent the morning stone-picking to provide material to backfill the remaining gaps behind the basin wall while the rest laboured to mix concrete and barrow this to site where it was poured into the wooden formers along the top of the wall. We soon had a well-oiled production line in progress and succeeded in filling a further ten 'sections' of capping so we achieved a lot given the miserable weather.
On a sad note, we observed a minute’s silence at coffee break to remember our good friend and colleague, Rusty Crowhurst, who sadly passed away on Monday after a long illness. Rusty was a stalwart member of our team and spent many months working on various aspects of the canal. He will be greatly missed but his contribution to the restoration of the canal will live on. RIP. Working parties are held every Wednesday morning, meeting in the main car park at RHS Rosemoor, Torrington at 9.30am. Please contact Project Manager, Ian Harrison (tel.01237- 475707) for more information. |
Creating the coping stones
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A wet mixer at work
KNIT ONE, PURL ONE, DROP ONE! Sea Lock report by Adrian Wills - 8th March 2023
I initially thought I was going to be Billy No Mates once again, on Tuesday (07.03.23) when Steve and Nick failed to arrive at my house, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, at their normal time. So I wandered down to the site of Sea Lock on my own (ahh!) and began digging out a trench I had started the day before.
Half an hour or so later, the two missing navvies appeared on site. They had been snarled up in a massive traffic jam in Barnstaple resulting from one car crash and road works a bit further along their route. Michael and Tony shortly joined us.
I initially thought I was going to be Billy No Mates once again, on Tuesday (07.03.23) when Steve and Nick failed to arrive at my house, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, at their normal time. So I wandered down to the site of Sea Lock on my own (ahh!) and began digging out a trench I had started the day before.
Half an hour or so later, the two missing navvies appeared on site. They had been snarled up in a massive traffic jam in Barnstaple resulting from one car crash and road works a bit further along their route. Michael and Tony shortly joined us.
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Steve resumed the task of wiring together even more rebar cages, which my neighbour, John had kindly welded together the day before, whilst Nick took over my job of excavating trenches using a combination of mechanised digging and ‘handraulics’.
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Michael and Tony began the somewhat boring and laborious task of refurbishing the scaffold clips we had been using on the scaffold lifts along the wharf wall. Having been exposed to the elements for so long, the clips had become rusty and difficult to do-up or undo. Wire brushing and oiling was the process for the morning.
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Spring was definitely in the air and Steve was in fine voice, entertaining Nick and me with sound bites from his somewhat eclectic repertoire, which on that day included (just by way of a change!) ‘Widecombe Fair’, ‘With a Little Help from my Friends’, ‘Tip-toe through the Tulips’ and even snatches from Scot Joplin’s ‘The Entertainer’. Much more interesting than Radio One! I initially spent time sourcing more steel for Steve, before getting out the mixer and loading it with ballast and cement. Nick soon finished digging trenches and then joined me to help mixing concrete. Finally, by the end of the day, all the necessary trenches had been dug, all the rebar frameworks welded and stitched in place and only two trenches remain to be filled with concrete. Having used up all the concrete ballast on the site these would have to wait for another day. Although it is not required for a while, I have put in an order for a new external galvanised steel staircase, which is due to be delivered shortly. Hooray! |
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UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS - Not to be confused with a certain television series - Sea Lock report by Adrian Wills - 4th March 2023
On Tuesday (28.02.23) Steve, Nick and I continued digging trenches; fixing reinforcing bars, and mixing and pouring concrete under the interpretation loft at Sea Lock. In the meantime, Michael worked on his own, chopping down and stacking tidily a load of brash from further along the site.
On Tuesday (28.02.23) Steve, Nick and I continued digging trenches; fixing reinforcing bars, and mixing and pouring concrete under the interpretation loft at Sea Lock. In the meantime, Michael worked on his own, chopping down and stacking tidily a load of brash from further along the site.
Working under the confines of the loft is not easy and just to exacerbate the situation, where the last but one trench that Nick was digging, is very close to a plastic pipe containing the electrical power supply to the building. The last trench, not started at this time, is even more restricted than many of the others since it is beneath the external staircase leading to the first floor landing. This problem was to be tackled later. |
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Tuesday proved to be another productive day, leaving only one short trench and one longer one still to be dug and infilled before we can begin the process of actually jacking up and levelling the building. Other than using Acro props to do the lifting, we haven’t decided on a plan of action for the final process of underpinning the supporting legs of the building once it is up.
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On Thursday (02.03.23), I set about removing the staircase. I haven’t been very happy about its resilience for a while and have already had to replace one of the treads, which failed through rot, and another was flexing rather alarmingly.
The wooden staircase was doomed and after some time spent in undoing bolts and removing screws, I used the backhoe of the tractor to pull it away from the building.
After a bit of a tussle, the staircase finally let go of the building and crashed to the ground. On clearing up the fallen debris, I discovered that there was a lot more rot in the timber than I had anticipated so the staircase was approaching the point of becoming dangerous to use. It is now going to be much easier to excavate the last trench.
The wooden staircase was doomed and after some time spent in undoing bolts and removing screws, I used the backhoe of the tractor to pull it away from the building.
After a bit of a tussle, the staircase finally let go of the building and crashed to the ground. On clearing up the fallen debris, I discovered that there was a lot more rot in the timber than I had anticipated so the staircase was approaching the point of becoming dangerous to use. It is now going to be much easier to excavate the last trench.
ROSEMOOR RESTORATION REPORT by Tony Nicholls - 1st March 2023
We met at Rosemoor on a fine, dry morning this week to continue work on both the tucking mill and the upper basin.
A further section of the wooden former was constructed and placed in position on the upper basin wall. We then started the long process of filling the individual cavities with concrete. Each cavity takes roughly one and a half wheel barrows of material so this kept our mixer very busy during the morning.
We met at Rosemoor on a fine, dry morning this week to continue work on both the tucking mill and the upper basin.
A further section of the wooden former was constructed and placed in position on the upper basin wall. We then started the long process of filling the individual cavities with concrete. Each cavity takes roughly one and a half wheel barrows of material so this kept our mixer very busy during the morning.
Former prepared and in position
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First three sections filled
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On the tucking mill, we focussed our efforts on the ongoing reconstruction of the mill race wall. We plan to raise the lower section of wall by another two courses of stone. This will bring it to the level where we think the wooden bearers supporting the axle of the mill wheel would have been located. The layout of the old walls here is quite complicated so we must be careful to preserve as much of the original structure as possible.
Working parties are held every Wednesday morning, meeting in the main car park at RHS Rosemoor, Torrington at 9.30am. Please contact Project Manager, Ian Harrison (tel.01237- 475707) for more information.
Working parties are held every Wednesday morning, meeting in the main car park at RHS Rosemoor, Torrington at 9.30am. Please contact Project Manager, Ian Harrison (tel.01237- 475707) for more information.