Ham Mill Lock rejuvenated

I had a few minutes spare this afternoon after dropping Helena off at her teaching job on the old Hope Mill industrial estate.  About half a mile down the river valley towards Stroud, I turned of London Road, which runs along the valley bottom, into Ham Mill Lane.  This is a short single track lane that was formed as an ancient cross-valley trackway.  The lane crosses the river Frome, the Thames and Severn canal and the  main railway line to Paddington, all within a hundred yards.  Then it becomes a footpath again and continues straight up the hillside to Minchinhampton Common, where I blipped the kites yesterday.  The path across the valley was an old route for farm and mill workers, but today it seems to serve only dog walkers.

Where the lane crossed the canal, I stood on the lovely original arched brick bridge which allowed farm carts to cross the water.  Underneath the bridge the towpath allowed horses to pull the barges.  Today it was mostly runners and cyclists, but before long the boats may be back.  This stretch of the canal above Stroud is close to Brimscombe Port, where the regeneration project will end, while before too long the next phase will hopefully go ahead to link the current western end of the canal at Stonehouse with the Sharpness canal at the old Saul Junction.

I met the man in charge of the complete rebuild of this lock which has all been done by volunteer groups since January 2015.  The lock gates were installed at either end two weeks ago.  Dredging is continuing below the lock and this whole stretch down to the Griffin's Mill, the next lock, will be complete in a months time.

I think everyone who has seen the amazing work that has taken place on this canal project is incredibly impressed and are fully behind the next fund-raising pitch to the Heritage Lottery fund in the autumn to enable this stretch to become connected to the national waterway network again.