Rewatering Renishaw
We will be paying a six figure sum towards the cost of this work. If you would like to help, please contribute to our 2027 Appeal by clicking here.
Our Work Party started on this project in January 2022. To see what they will be doing click here.
We put the latest photos at the top, but lower down they go in chronological order.
November 13th 2025. Some of the guys were digging a hole.
It will be used to test the Terraseal membrane leaning up against the fence. They had to dig by hand because VMR was under repair – on the left in the compound.
July 17th 2025. We are hugely grateful to Fawkes Recyling who once again helped us move equipment from our compound at Bellhouse Basin to our new compound at Renishaw. First it was our smaller digger and a few other bits of kit.
Next to go was the large dumper truck.
Lastly, they took a container full of Heras fencing panels.
June 19th 2025. We are very grateful to Fawkes Recycling who moved our smaller digger – VMR (Violet May Rawson) – to Renishaw for the day, returning it to Bellhouse Basin at the end.
Here it was being unloaded.
The aim was to start clearing some of the growth in the canal to enable ground investigations and a topographic survey to take place.
March 6th 2025. At last the guys were back doing some vegetation clearance.
Graham is always the last to finish.
They cleared an incredible amount just in the first two hours.
Compare this photo to the one further down when the welfare unit was delivered.
They certainly deserved their lunch break.
September 27th 2024. We were given a welfare unit by Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council. It had been installed at Black’s Pit corner.
January 16th 2022. The first job is vegetation clearance. This must be done by 31st March before the bird nesting season. Here Peter and Bromley are moving a stump that they have tirfored out. The tirfor is on the left.
The walls for the Miners Crossing bridge were revealed.
This shows the walls being built in 2008 by our Work Party and some volunteers from the Waterway Recovery Group.
Dave and Bromley were packing away some drain rods they had been using to test the outflow pipe from the spill weir.
This shows the spill weir being restored in 2007.
February 17th 2022. As you can see, lots has been cleared along the canal track.
A few trees have been felled.
February 27th 2022. Clearing and burning the brush continued.
The sideweir was clear.
Clearing had also been taking place near the housing estate.
This is the same view in 2010.
March 13th 2022. There was an incredible turnout of new, local volunteers to help with the vegetation clearance. They were joined by Lee Rowley, MP for North East Derbyshire, working here by our Chair, Peter Hardy.
A group photo at the end of a terrific day’s work.
March 27th 2022. Roy was cutting down trees.
You can see that lots had been cleared.
April 3rd 2022. The guys were tirforing out small tree stumps at the northern end of the Rewatering Renishaw stretch at the end of the housing estate.
May 1st 2022. The guys were chipping all the accumulated brash. (Photos courtesy David Wright)
January 15th 2023. After work had been stalled whilst we secure further permissions, we had finally got back to vegetation clearance, now going south from Miners Crossing towards White Bridge.
A really good distance had already been cleared.
Clive was cutting down a willow tree.
It landed exactly as planned.
Clive and Adrian soon got in to start cutting it up.
February 26th 2023. Our Work Party had done lots more clearing. This was the last day for major cutting because the bid nesting season officially started on 1st March.
Adrian was using a chainsaw.
….. as was Clive.
The aim had been to get to White Bridge and you can see from this photo of David using a brushcutter on blackthorn that they were virtually there.
Walt was working further back cutting up previously felled trees into smaller logs.