Shropshire Council has now granted planning permission for the removal of the railway embankment at Pant.
This means that, later in the year, the removal of the railway embankment at Pant will go ahead, making the canal towpath accessible once more.
Here, Bob Dewey, one of an army of volunteers working on the restoration of the Montgomery Canal gives a brief history of the canal and the campaign to restore it.
The canal in Pant started life as the Llanymynech Branch of the Ellesmere Canal. This was the project to link the Mersey at Netherpool with the Dee at Chester and then to the Severn at Shrewsbury. The canal was completed from Netherpool (which was renamed Ellesmere Port) to Chester and a section from Trevor to Weston Lullingfields near Wem. The branch to Llanymynech was built and later extended by the Montgomeryshire Canal to Newtown. The section from Welsh Frankton to Newtown is all now known as the Montgomery Canal. The part from Chester to Trevor was never built.
After many years of use, the canal passed into the ownership of the LMS Railway Company. With only limited traffic, it was not making money and when the canal bank breached near Welsh Frankton, the company decided to abandon it even though it would only have cost a few hundred pounds to repair.
The campaign to reopen it started in the 1960s and work has progressed slowly and currently about half the canal has been made navigable. The dry section between Redwith and Llanymynech is about 2½ miles long and is one of the main separations of the restored section through Welshpool from the 3,000 mile national canal and river system. It will need a new waterproof lining to ensure it holds water.
Work is progressing south towards Crickheath where the canal was wider and boats will then be able to turn there. A recent award from the Heritage Lottery Fund will pay for those works and the provision of an extra nature reserve at Aston to protect some of the rare plant life in the canal.
The next obstruction is the School House Bridge which was demolished some years ago and replaced by an embankment. We hope to replace the bridge in the next year or so. If anyone has any old photos of the original bridge we would love to see them.
All being well, in July we intend to remove the embankment so that the towpath can again be walked without having to negotiate the current wooden steps. A group of volunteers from across Wales and England will undertake the works. We expect to achieve this in a week, so apologies in advance whilst the work is done. Relining of the channel should follow in the next few years which will then link Llanymynech to the national canal system.
Of course this all costs money, even with volunteer labour, and we have recently lodged an appeal for funds to enable the restoration to progress. We have already raised about £120,000 and this will help with the £200,000 estimated cost of rebuilding School House Bridge. Part of this money has come from a £70,000 legacy.
We are fortunate in having a generous donor who has offered to match pound for pound money we raise from the public (capped at £60,000 over five years). As small donations qualify for 25% tax rebate via Gift Aid, this means that a £20 donation with the tax refund becomes £25 which then doubles to £50. So a £20 cost to you (or, say £5) is worth £50 (or £12.50) to us.
I am one of those who will be giving up my time to help restore the canal. Will you please help me with the costs of materials and plant hire?? Please look at the donations tab on our website at www.RestoreTheMontgomeryCanal.uk
Or you can send a cheque to Restore the Montgomery Canal, Crowther Hall, Pool Quay, Welshpool SY21 9JU.
