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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