Britain’s longest flight of canal locks is being renovated and members of the public were invited to site last Saturday.

Work to the Tardebigge flight of locks on the Worcester & Birmingham Canal near Bromsgrove is being carried out by the Canal & River Trust. The project costs around £75,000 and forms part of a £45M, five month programme of maintenance and repair to historic canals and rivers across England and Wales.

Tardebigge is made up of 30 locks which raises the canal by 67m over a 3.5km length of waterway. Work at Tardebigge involves replacing lock gates, brickwork repairs to a lock chamber and fitting new paddles.

Chief executive of the Canal & River Trust Richard Perry said: "By showcasing this work to the public we can give them a glimpse of the craftsmanship of the waterways' original 18th Century design and the scale of the work we do to care for it."

Operations director Eddie Quinn from contractor Kier added: "Repairing and maintaining the waterways is a huge task requiring traditional materials and methods to be used."

The Canal & River Trust looks after 3200km of canals and rivers in England and Wales and is working to replace 141 lock gates this winter. The Trust took over the running of canals and rivers from British Waterways in 2012.

(Photos: Trubble (top image) and The Canal & River Trust (bottom))

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