Behind the scenes of Whitchurch canal repairs six months after catastrophic breach

As engineers prepare to rebuild the canal embankment at Whitchurch, the Shropshire Star was invited for a look around the site six months after the catastrophic collapse.

Under the baking heat of Monday morning, the former embankment along the Llangollen Canal in Whitchurch looked more like Mars than the waterway that was here last year.

Six months ago to the day, just three days before Christmas, emergency services were scrambled to the embankment at around 4am, to reports of a hole emerging along the waterway.

The breach caused an estimated 100 million gallons of water to escape the canal and pour into neighbouring fields, pulling two houseboats into the breach and leaving another hanging precariously over the edge.

By March, all the boats had been rescued and more than 1,000 fish - including eels, roach, perch, gudgeon, bream and ruffe - were safely recovered from the flooded field next to the breach.

Then, the site - still muddy and waterlogged from winter - still vaguely resembled the canal that had come before it.

Now, after months of excavation, the only familiar landmark is New Mills Lift Bridge, standing awkwardly above the exposed earthworks.

To access the site, contractors have built a new road off the A41 and a new site compound to allow heavy machinery to access the historic waterway.

Soon, rebuilding work will begin, which will involve constructing the new structure in layers, incorporating a synthetic material - known as a geogrid reinforcement - to spread the weight of the soil.

It’s not a cheap project - having reached the millions six months in. Just keeping the canal topped up is costing around £20,000 every week.

While the team is still aiming to complete the rebuild by the one‑year anniversary, project manager Simon Harding said there are many variables.

“There are lots of things that could go right, and just as many that could go wrong,” he said.

“When the weather is like it is today we can make hay while the sun shines, but just three weeks ago it rained so hard we had to completely stop operations.

“But we’re doing our best to get it done by the end of the year.”

Campbell Robb, chief executive of the Canal & River Trust, said the six‑month mark was a moment to reflect on both the scale of the work and the impact on those affected.

He said: “The breach at Whitchurch was an unsettling and difficult experience for local people and boaters, and we remain genuinely sorry for the disruption it caused.

“Incidents like this are thankfully very rare, but when they do occur, they demand complex, careful engineering and a huge collective effort to put things right.

“We know how important the Llangollen Canal is to boaters, local communities and the wider region, and we are working hard towards our aim of reopening the canal by the end of the year.

“The Llangollen Canal is a cherished part of our national heritage, and we are committed to restoring it safely and sensitively.

“As the investigation continues, we are ready to move into the next phase of work, which will allow us to rebuild the canal with greater resilience for the future.”