Old Stone Wall at the Ocean
Old Stone Wall at the Ocean
by: Hugh C-J
As the railway bridge contractors lowered the water level at the Ocean, an old stone wall under the edge of the towpath has become visible. This is evidently the wall ‘near the Broadwater’ that was built in 1836 by local mason Charles Harrison ‘to support the towing path there.’ The path runs along the top of a substantial embankment, and it seems that regular pounding by horses hooves had caused some slippage.
The Stroudwater Company specified a weather stone wall two feet wide at the least topped by flagstones of the length of 80 feet more or less, each flagstone to be 2 feet 6 inches in face and 10 inches deep, and to be joined to the other stone with two iron dowels. However, when the Committee first inspected the work, they found that it was not done according to contract. After Harrison attended a meeting, they agreed to pay £100 on account, with the residue to follow when he had made alterations under the direction of the Company’ surveyor. The final payment was not made until two years later – presumably the remedial work could only be done when there was a suitable outage.
