1 Mar 2026 MANCHESTER
In this video we are in Manchester city centre with the @canalrivertrust They are replacing the lock gates at lock 87 canal street near the Gay village. This is part of ongoing maintenance work on our national canal system. This proved to be logistically very difficult as we are in the middle of a city and the lock gates weigh 3 tonnes each. The gates are on lock 87 on the Rochdale canal that runs right through Manchester city centre. So how do you lift 3 ton lock gates in Manchester city centre. Well its difficult. A large crane was used and the canal lock had to be drained. Its thought the lock gates had sunk into the base of the canal lock. We get a unique insight into the work of the canal and River Trust during their winter maintenance programme. The Rochdale canal was built between the years 1798 and 1804.
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22 Dec 2024
In this video we look at the work of the Canal River Trust. We start at Lock 69 on the Rochdale canal in Manchester. The Canal and River Trust are replacing the lock gates at this location as part of their rolling 25 year replacement and canal maintenance program. We ask the question where are the lock gates made. This took us to the Bradley workshops just outside Wolverhampton. We look around the lock gate workshop and see the history of this former canal basin. There is a canal boat dry dock where once the canal boats were repaired. The lock gates are made of English oak and its great to see the canal lock gates being built. Meanwhile in Manchester on the Rochdale canal the old Lock gates are taken away and the new lock gates are delivered.
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22 Jun 2025
In this video we visit Tardebigge locks on the Worcester and Birmingham canal. It is top lock number 58. The third deepest canal lock in the country. The lock walls have had problems with one side of the lock structure brickwork bulging. The lock was constructed and opened in 1818. A structure over 200 years old it is a testament to the Georgian canal engineers and navies that built it and the height of the canal building era. The Canal and River trust hare faced with repairing this lock and are adhering to strict conservation rules. The front facing bricks are being reclaimed and cleaned and so this takes us to Cawardens a brick reclamation yard. We see the treatment the bricks are given in order to re use them. For the bricks that cannot be used new ones will be put in place. A staffordshire blue engineering brick has been chosen as the nearest match to the original bricks. So we go to a massive clay quarry to see the clay that has been sourced and then onto a brickworks. Ketley brickworks established in 1805. So we see bricks being made at the factory, bricks being reclaimed. A fascinating story of heritage and conservation on Britains canal. By the Canal and River Trust.
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22 Mar 2026
In this video we take a look at the forgotten history of Piccadilly gardens in Manchester. First we go underground in Piccadilly gardens to look at a plant room that provided power and water to a fountain. Then we look at the history from the 18th century. There was old clay pits and since medieval tomes there was a ducking stool for unruly women situated at the flooded daub holes or clay pits. Later The Manchester Royal Infirmary was situated in Piccadilly. It was a hospital and a Victorian lunatic asylum. We take a look at maps and plans of historic Manchester. Later we take a look at old photographs of Manchester and look at how Piccadilly gardens evolved after the second world war WWII into a sunken garden.
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