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Canal-Side Improvements by
The Blisworth Canal Partnership This page will be in construction over the next 12 months. The Canal Partnership was reformed in 2009 and surveyed the entire canalscape within the parish. A number of improvements were noted and some have been completed. Here are monitored two improvements (items 11, 17 and 20 of the previous reference) and for this website the main point is to note for posterity the enhancements to the village while the detail may be found on the Partnership website: |
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"Lock
Beams" - canal-side seating opposite the Mill building.
Installation from 10th July to 15th October 2010, spectators and volunteer workers alike wait for BW to arrive,
they dig holes
for concrete and 'pour'. They returned 3 months later and craned the lock
"balance beams" onto the plinths. An all abilities
access path from the towpath will be established later.
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 A Walk in the Woods - Pocket Park.
This project has already attracted some funding, £1000 in July from the
Northampton Branch of the IWA and a
staggering total of over £4600 arose from
the 2010 Canal Festival, but a little more is needed. Shown
below is the area of interest, a section of the canal embankment near
the mouth of the tunnel, with the green lines showing the present
lines of paths that will be an approximate basis for the "Walk in
the Woods". Areas marked pink are the steepest parts of the
embankment. The inset picture was taken in a cropped out beech
forest in Oxfordshire but hopefully illustrates the eventual appeal of
the place. The project was displayed at the Canal Partnership
stall at the August 2010 Blisworth Festival to encourage suggestions from the community.
The current
management plan document is available for download here. See
the panels below for some details on the creation of the Pocket Park.
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 May 14th 2011 - Use of a small digger rapidly established the line of the path, digging out a width of 4 feet and a depth in the region of 6" to be filled with compressed grit and stones. Villagers must have seen the Springtime appeals on the notice-boards for volunteers to help with clearance of the area and sort out various problems. Support was considerable since the weather warmed a little (!) and progress has been very impressive. The left picture is taken from near the southern most extent while the other is taken near the point where the path will turn left and descend the bank to join the towpath in a series of broad steps. The actual line of the path takes interesting turns around groups of young trees (mere maidens, some of them, at present) and so does not follow the line of the original casually worn path that is shown in the plan above. October 21st 2011 - having filled the upper part of the path with compressible stones and grit during the summer, the work moved steadily towards completion in Autumn sessions.
Beverages in a thermos with nibbles were lunch support while a digger was used to refill, at the car park, a dumper with stones for the path. The digger was also used to fashion a slope at the lower end of the path to rejoin the tow path. A final task for the digger will be to profile the surplus soil to render a natural look. Some young tree and wild flower planting and the installation of some benches later this year should make the whole area very attractive. An idea imported from the Yorkshire Dales may be set up; a "money tree" based upon an old trunk into which 1p and 2p coins are hammered into the bark by visitors. It is proposed to rename the area "The Tunnel Spinney". |
