Current projects

Current Projects

In line with the partnership proposals (see Previous Projects) the society feels that the best approach to restoration is from the ends working towards the middle. That is not to say that if an opportunity came half-way along the route it would be encouraged rather than the opposite. However, recent months have seen efforts to make inroads at either end both politically and physically-with varied amounts of success.

Lock is looking great!

Eye Kettleby Lock at Rhubarb Island, which has been hidden under thick vegetation for the past few years, has been given a massive clean-up.

The work was organised by MOWS with funds coming from a grant made by the The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Eye Kettleby was one of 12 locks on the Melton Navigation which linked the town to the Grand Union Canal in the 1800s and enabled horse-drawn barges to bring cargoes of coal and building materials into the heart of Melton. Ten of the 12 locks can still be seen. Eye Kettleby is the best preserved, despite 150 years. having passed since it was last in use. It enabled the barges to rise or fall by 8ft 2in making it the deepest lock along the Navigation.

The clean-up of the lock has been paid for by the Heritage Fund as part of a MOWS project to raise awareness of the Navigation and the role it played in Melton's history. The project has also seen a series of talks and guide walks by historian Brian Fare (with more scheduled in the coming months) and exhibitions at the Museum and library. Information boards will also shortly be placed at strategic points along the route of the Navigation, including at the lock.

The pictures show before and after scenes.

Maintaining the Melton Ring

In Melton Mowbray plans have been passed, after much hoop jumping, to build a double dock for our two workboats adjacent the slipway in the Town Estate compound. The present mooring to the rear of a local hotel is not ideal, as it is adjacent a local footpath with its uncertain security, and after many years there we felt we had imposed on the good nature of the owners for long enough. With plans passed it just remains to raise the funds to build it, but at the time of writing nothing has happened on that score just yet.

Thrussington Lock

Members are involved in a long-term project for the restoration of Thrussington Lock which was Lock 6 of the 12 on the Navigation and had a rise of 6ft 3in.

It is on the Leicestershire Round footpath and during summer weekends hundreds cross the lock’s bridge. Together with the landowner, who is very supportive of the Society’s work, the plan is to develop it as a “model lock” to show visitors how the locking system operated.

It is situated between Hoby and Thrussington and is just across the Melton Borough boundary in Charnwood Borough.

When Society volunteers began work on the restoration three years ago, little could be seen of the lock which was hidden by vegetation and large sections of the one remaining wall had collapsed.

Little can be seen of the other wall as it was used by the Army’s Royal Engineers for explosives practice in 1938 but it is thought the base will be uncovered when further excavation takes place.