21st January 2015
Derbyshire County Council, which owns this part of the canal, arranged for Hargreaves Lock Gates to replace the top gate at Bluebank Lock, no. 3.
Yesterday, they did the preparatory work.
As you can see, the old gate was in a pretty bad state.
This was not surprising given its age.
As you can see, the new gate looks great.
The wood, an African hard wood called Ekki, is such a beautiful red colour.
As you would expect, a crowd gathered to watch.
The old cill had to be cut out and removed. You can just see the new one on the left.
You may be wondering where the traditional photos of the gate being lowered into place have gone. Unfortunately there aren’t any. Your intrepid reporter arrived by boat and was too late. Sincere apologies. However, if you click here, you can see lots of such photos including links to videos.
Following day. The new cill has now been fitted. The blue fabric is covering strips of wood that have been mortared into place.These are to ensure a tight fit – after all the quoins are 240 years old.
Note the incredibly good seal of the stop planks. Scarcely any water is coming through.
The new ground anchor is in place.
