A local charity has won a £20,000 grant to help discover the
secrets of a historic canal.
Working in partnership with Bath & North East Somerset
Council and the Avon Industrial Buildings Trust, the Somersetshire
Coal Canal Society made a successful bid for the money to the
Heritage Lottery Fund.
The grant will be used to carry out a technical study on one of
the locks on the Somersetshire Coal Canal and associated structures
at Combe Hay.
This is the first step towards restoring one of the locks –
which will help protect this historic structure and allow the
public to see what it would have looked liked when the canal was in
its prime.
The Canal, now disused, ran between Dundas and Midford, with a
northern arm extending to Paulton and a southern arm to Radstock.
It covered almost 18 miles, had 23 locks and was constructed to
transport coal from the North Somerset coalfields to markets in
Bath and the surrounding area.
At that time the only other transport was by pack-horse or horse
and cart, over rough terrain, which made moving the coal
expensive.
The canal was abandoned in the early twentieth century when rail
travel became more efficient, and all that now remains are a series
of structures including locks and bridges, all in varying states of
repair.
The lock restoration is just one of the recommendations from a
conservation and access study carried out by Bath & North East
Somerset Council, the Somersetshire Coal Canal Society and Avon
Industrial Buildings Trust in 2004.
The study included a large amount of consultation with
landowners, parishes and local people and produced a number of
recommendations to preserve existing structures, improve access and
interpretation to parts of the canal and preserve the biodiversity
of the area.
This new study will be carried out over the autumn and the
results used to feed into future bids to finance the work.
Mike Chapman from the Somersetshire Coal Canal Society said: “We
are very excited to receive this money. The disused canal is a
historically important site in the area and the study will ensure
that any restoration work is carried out in an appropriate manner
and to a high standard.”
