Dock Lock-June to late July 2025
by: Andy P.
We turned our attention to something we sort of had been ignoring, mainly as other jobs were more pressing. When we looked at the space to fit the tow path jack post and paddle gear it was obvious that something was seriously wrong. The hole was too narrow, not wide enough and with a concrete lintel holding the brickwork and coping stones. No real idea why it was like this just on the towpath side.
The teams combined brain power came to the conclusion that the best option was to cut it all out and reform the top stonework. No problem. Use the brick saw, make a bit of shuttering, and pour some concrete. Job sorted, nice job. The off side just need cutting out to the right width.
We continue to cut out the stop plank channels on both sides of the lock, using the double bladed electric brick saw. Fit battens either side to the correct width then cut out to the right depth. The remaining brickwork is then chiselled out with either a battery or electric breaker. Its hard and slow work. Good arm and upper body work out, we tell ourselves, just before we have to lie down and rest a while.
Another job for us to tackle was the sophisticated and technical brick tap, to assess how solid the brick work was. It was decided to explore some less than perfect sounding bricks. Taking a few bricks out we found a small void and roots. Taking more bricks out horizontally, we found a proper big hole. We were not in the slightest bit concerned. Honestly.
This is all that’s left of the original wooden wall support structure. You can just see the metal pin below that used to hold it in place. The wood went back a good half metre and the front support was about a metre long. Hence the void behind the brick work. It was then filled with concrete and repaired with new bricks to make good.
The large Godwin was still doing a grand job but the outlet hose had moved much of the spoil and formed its own dam. This meant the water was not getting away. So bigger digger Dave, yet again, helped rearranged the piles and pipe work so water would discharge into the pound. A Garibaldi fee has been mentioned for doing this work.
he next area to investigate was to the right of the off side stop plank channel as a row of bricks were sitting proud of the wall. The 2 inch thick root cause can be seen below. It resisted being removed all the way along the wall. More excavations revealed more damage and poor brickwork, so out it came until a suitable and solid rebuilding platform was found. It is never that simple as the wall angles are all over the place so Duncan has to rebuild to match up and align things as good as possible. It’s never easy
The slots seen in the below picture are where we will crack stitch a crack in the wall that extends from the coping stones downwards.
A nice tidy piece of repaired brickwork
The worst job we do is cutting out the stop plank cill. It’s slow, hard and back breaking. Again battens were fitted and a brick saw used to cut along them. The fumes from the saw were unpleasant, so back for Chris and Colin to investigate. Eventually the channel is cut out and Alun and Rob constructed bespoke and made to fit shuttering.
All we have to do then is wheel lots of wheel barrows full of concrete and shovel it into the hole. Tamp it down and make a smooth top surface. Another nice job completed.
