Skip to main contentAccess keys help

[an error occurred while processing this directive]
BBC News
Launch consoleBBC News in video and audio
News image
Last Updated: Friday, 23 March 2007, 07:08 GMT
Historic canal stretch to reopen
Part of the 14 Locks stretch to be restored
The work is part of an aim to reopen the whole waterway
A historic stretch of canal in south Wales which has been unused for 74 years, is to be restored after receiving a �700,000 grant.

Work on the Crumlin section of the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canals will be funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

It is considered to be among the most remarkable canals in the UK.

At the historic Cefn Wharf site in Newport, a series of 14 locks, built in 1799, rise 160ft (49m) in just half a mile.

According to the Monmouthshire, Brecon and Abergavenny Canals Trust, the 14 locks are an "amazing feat of engineering" which attract 19,000 visitors from around the world every year.

The canal system also contributed to the industrial development of south Wales with coal once being transported along the waterways.

Jennifer Stewart, from the Heritage Lottery Fund said: "Our canals and waterways are an important element of our heritage in Wales and they need to be secured for future generations."

Chris Morgan, chairman of the Monmouthshire, Brecon and Abergavenny Canals Trust, said it was an "important milestone" in completing "a recreational waterway corridor from Brecon, to the city of Newport, Cwmcarn and beyond."

The work follows the restoration in 2005 of a waterway between Ruskin Avenue and Cefn Wharf (14 Locks) which had been derelict for decades.


SEE ALSO
Waterway reopens after 60 years
05 Jun 05 |  South East Wales
Canal link-up wins Euro cash
17 Mar 04 |  Mid Wales

RELATED INTERNET LINKS
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites



FEATURES, VIEWS, ANALYSIS
Has China's housing bubble burst?
How the world's oldest clove tree defied an empire
Why Royal Ballet principal Sergei Polunin quit

PRODUCTS & SERVICES

AmericasAfricaEuropeMiddle EastSouth AsiaAsia Pacific