From Newsgroup: uk.rec.waterways

Major incident declared over canal 'sinkhole'

Chloe Hughes, West Midlands and Ellen Knight, in Whitchurch

Published
22 December 2025, 09:46 GMT

Updated 4 minutes ago

A major incident has been declared over what police have called a
sinkhole at a canal in Shropshire, leaving boats either stricken in a
gaping cavity or teetering on the edge of a steep drop.


......



https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2lvq0yk9dko


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From Newsgroup: uk.rec.waterways

On 22/12/2025 11:21, JMB99 wrote:

Major incident declared over canal 'sinkhole'

Chloe Hughes, West Midlands and Ellen Knight, in Whitchurch

Published
22 December 2025, 09:46 GMT

Updated 4 minutes ago

A major incident has been declared over what police have called a
sinkhole at a canal in Shropshire, leaving boats either stricken in a
gaping cavity or teetering on the edge of a steep drop.

......

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2lvq0yk9dko

Looking at Google Maps, it seems it happened very close to where a
culvert goes under the canal.

As the Llangollen is about the most popular destination for hire boats,
there will be a lot of holiday plans disrupted.

It is a bigger breach than the Bridgewater canal one in January, though
access for the repair will be easier.
--
Tciao for Now!

John.
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From Newsgroup: uk.rec.waterways

On Mon, 22 Dec 2025 11:21:23 +0000
JMB99 <mb@nospam.net> wrote:

Major incident declared over canal 'sinkhole'

Chloe Hughes, West Midlands and Ellen Knight, in Whitchurch

Published
22 December 2025, 09:46 GMT

Updated 4 minutes ago

A major incident has been declared over what police have called a
sinkhole at a canal in Shropshire, leaving boats either stricken in a
gaping cavity or teetering on the edge of a steep drop.

......

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2lvq0yk9dko

I was tied up right over the top of it during the summer! There is a
culvert under the canal right at that point - blown culvert would be my
guess as to the cause. It's not a sinkhole.

They'll have to fix it ASAP for two reasons:
1. The Ll is a major moneyspinner for BW/CART although most of the
hirebases are on the upstream side of the breach.
2. Talking of upstream - the canal supplies water to Hurleston
Reservoir which in turn supplies water to Hurleston Water Treatment
Works.

There is a video of a narrowboat sliding into the hole. Luckily it
seems to have ended up on its bottom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4DGXAPE_lA
--
Regards,

Martin Nicholas.

E-mail: reply-202512@mgn.org.uk (Address will be valid throughout
December).

Posted with Claws Mail, a free & open source e-email client (https://www.claws-mail.org/).

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From Newsgroup: uk.rec.waterways

On Tue, 23 Dec 2025 08:25:35 +0000
Martin Nicholas <reply-2025@mgn.org.uk> wrote:

On Mon, 22 Dec 2025 11:21:23 +0000
JMB99 <mb@nospam.net> wrote:

Major incident declared over canal 'sinkhole'

Chloe Hughes, West Midlands and Ellen Knight, in Whitchurch

Published
22 December 2025, 09:46 GMT

Updated 4 minutes ago

A major incident has been declared over what police have called a
sinkhole at a canal in Shropshire, leaving boats either stricken in
a gaping cavity or teetering on the edge of a steep drop.

......

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2lvq0yk9dko

I was tied up right over the top of it during the summer! There is a
culvert under the canal right at that point - blown culvert would be
my guess as to the cause. It's not a sinkhole.

They'll have to fix it ASAP for two reasons:
1. The Ll is a major moneyspinner for BW/CART although most of the
hirebases are on the upstream side of the breach.
2. Talking of upstream - the canal supplies water to Hurleston
Reservoir which in turn supplies water to Hurleston Water Treatment
Works.

There is a video of a narrowboat sliding into the hole. Luckily it
seems to have ended up on its bottom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4DGXAPE_lA

Drone footage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZO-7D0l68k
--
Regards,

Martin Nicholas.

E-mail: reply-202512@mgn.org.uk (Address will be valid throughout
December).

A smartphone is a toy with a computer inside.

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From Newsgroup: uk.rec.waterways

On 23/12/2025 08:25, Martin Nicholas wrote:

I was tied up right over the top of it during the summer! There is a
culvert under the canal right at that point - blown culvert would be my
guess as to the cause. It's not a sinkhole.

I think BBC News corrected themselves later and said something about it
being unlikely to be a sinkhole. They had probably earlier been just repeating what someone had told them.

Some people seem a bit obsessed with sinkholes!








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From Newsgroup: uk.rec.waterways

On 23/12/2025 09:43, JMB99 wrote:

On 23/12/2025 08:25, Martin Nicholas wrote:

I was tied up right over the top of it during the summer! There is a
culvert under the canal right at that point - blown culvert would be my
guess as to the cause. It's not a sinkhole.

I think BBC News corrected themselves later and said something about it being unlikely to be a sinkhole. They had probably earlier been just repeating what someone had told them.

Some people seem a bit obsessed with sinkholes!

If you look at what causes a sinkhole, it is usually flowing water
escaping from a pipe washing soil away, which causes the surface soil to
sink into the hole.

If you have a culvert (A large pipe) under a canal which fails, that
washes soil away from its surroundings, which then causes the canal bed
to sink into the hole.

See the Bridgewater and Macclesfield breaches earlier this year, both of
which were caused by the failure of a culvert.

If it waddles and quacks, I call it a duck...
--
Tciao for Now!

John.
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From Newsgroup: uk.rec.waterways

BBC News



Boat stranded on canal hole edge pulled to safety

26 minutes ago


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c79x0vqvnq4o




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From Newsgroup: uk.rec.waterways

On Tue, 23 Dec 2025 10:05:41 +0000
John Williamson <johnwilliamson@btinternet.com> wrote:

On 23/12/2025 09:43, JMB99 wrote:

On 23/12/2025 08:25, Martin Nicholas wrote:

I was tied up right over the top of it during the summer! There is
a culvert under the canal right at that point - blown culvert
would be my guess as to the cause. It's not a sinkhole.

I think BBC News corrected themselves later and said something
about it being unlikely to be a sinkhole. They had probably
earlier been just repeating what someone had told them.

Some people seem a bit obsessed with sinkholes!

If you look at what causes a sinkhole, it is usually flowing water
escaping from a pipe washing soil away, which causes the surface soil
to sink into the hole.

If you have a culvert (A large pipe) under a canal which fails, that
washes soil away from its surroundings, which then causes the canal
bed to sink into the hole.

See the Bridgewater and Macclesfield breaches earlier this year, both
of which were caused by the failure of a culvert.

If it waddles and quacks, I call it a duck...

Not really saying any of these were caused by this, but another failure
mode of a culvert is when a blockage or an undersized (for the
conditions) culvert causes water pressure to build from below. Brick
arch culverts, like all arched structures, rely on pressure from above
to remain intact. So the culvert can collapse as a result or an
upwelling can breach the puddle; now you have a hole. I believe the
culvert failure at Streethay in 202? happened in that way. Also
the Bridgewater breach.

All the culverts on the Ll were built at roughly the same time using the
same methods, so I would think there will be one or two failures per
year for the foreseeable future. BW/CART need to devise a method of
fixing these using waterborne equipment. The stoppage between Chester
and Ellesmere Port was delayed by 40-days by site access problems.
There are two towpaths and two canals (once refilled) providing access
to any site.

Wikipedia on sinkholes:
https://w.wiki/HBV4
--
Regards,

Martin Nicholas.

E-mail: reply-202512@mgn.org.uk (Address will be valid throughout
December).

Season's greetings to all our readers!

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From Newsgroup: uk.rec.waterways


From the professionals: https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/engineers-seek-cause-of-whitchurch-canal-breach-after-regular-inspection-showed-no-warning-23-12-2025/
--
Regards,
Martin Nicholas.
E-mail: reply-202512@mgn.org.uk (Address will be valid throughout
December).
The Usenet: Advert-free (but not spam-free) social media since 1980.
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From Newsgroup: uk.rec.waterways

BBC News


Canal collapse repairs to take most of 2026

" 49 minutes ago

Repairing a canal collapse that left boats swallowed up in a deep trench
as water poured out could take most of 2026, authorities have said"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20gnp835yzo
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From Newsgroup: uk.rec.waterways

On 04/01/2026 08:24, JMB99 wrote:

BBC News

Canal collapse repairs to take most of 2026

"-a-a-a 49 minutes ago

Repairing a canal collapse that left boats swallowed up in a deep trench
as water poured out could take most of 2026, authorities have said"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20gnp835yzo

As soon as that?
:-)

Chris
--
https://www.Deuchars.org.uk
Author & Publisher: "A Boaters Guide to BOATING"
Mixing old and new waterway techniques. ISBN 9780953151202
Details: https://www.deuchars.org.uk/publication/

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From Newsgroup: uk.rec.waterways

On 05/01/2026 16:10, chrisnd @ukrw wrote:

On 04/01/2026 08:24, JMB99 wrote:

BBC News


Canal collapse repairs to take most of 2026

" 49 minutes ago

Repairing a canal collapse that left boats swallowed up in a deep
trench as water poured out could take most of 2026, authorities have
said"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20gnp835yzo

As soon as that?
:-)

The local water company need their main water feed repairing asap. ;-)
--
Tciao for Now!

John.
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From Newsgroup: uk.rec.waterways


New Civil Engineer: https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/canal-breach-near-whitchurch-will-cost-several-million-and-take-most-of-a-year-to-repair-12-01-2026/
--
Regards,

Martin Nicholas.

E-mail: reply-202601@mgn.org.uk (Address will be valid throughout
January).

The Usenet: 46 years of social media.

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