Weaver ship lock repair

MARSH Lock, one of the largest locks on the Weaver in Runcorn, is undergoing important repairs as part of the winter maintenance.

The Canal & River Trust, is spending £500,000 to repair the huge ship lock. Specialist divers working 6ft below water have installed a temporary dam using 54 large steel planks, allowing the lock to be drained of water for the first time in almost 50 years.

Now empty

Now empty, engineers from the Trust are carrying out important repairs to the lock's large oak timber gates.

Simon Harding, Project Manager at the Trust explained:

"Marsh Lock is a large ship lock built in 1895 to link the Weaver Navigation to the Manchester Ship Canal and allow commercial boat traffic at that time to transport salt and all manner of goods to serve industry. To give some idea of the scale of the project, most locks we repair fit one narrowboat at a time—Marsh Lock is big enough to fit in 29!"

The repairs to the lock include refurbishing the outer lock gates, carrying out mechanical and electrical repairs to gate operating systems and other repairs within the lock chamber as needed. Once finished the lock will be back in use and easier to operate for many years to come.