Canal site reopens after eight-year restoration

A canal site in Shropshire has reopened following an eight-year restoration by volunteers.

Wappenshall Wharf was partly built by 19th Century engineer Thomas Telford and once played a key role in the Industrial Revolution, but later fell into neglect.

The site has now been transformed into a visitor centre and café, after more than 40 tonnes of material, including rubbish, were removed and walls built. The Duke of Gloucester visited the site and met volunteers on Tuesday.

Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust chairman Bernie Jones said the work had been a "tremendous team effort".

Jones stated the site in the Telford area was a "very important part of our heritage".

"If it hadn't have been for this canal, this canal coming out of Ironbridge Gorge, the heavy iron castings that were made back then at the start of the Industrial Revolution would never have seen the light of day," he said.

"Dirt roads, wooden cart wheels [and] heavy castings just don't sit well together. They just smash cart wheels to bits."

He added that a route included going "from here... along to the Shropshire Union Canal via our canals and up to... Liverpool docks [and] the world".

"So the whole of the expansion of the Industrial Revolution was really aided greatly by these canals," he said. "That's why it's so important to our heritage."

Jones said people, including retired professionals, had been "so enthusiastic" during the restoration scheme and worked "every Friday, every Saturday through all weathers".

He said the trust was now working to raise funds to get materials to restore a building, with proposals to honour Thomas Telford there.

Jones said the plan was "to work with Ironbridge Gorge, now recently taken over by the National Trust, to make this a building to pay homage to Thomas Telford and all of the great work that he did".

There would be a rolling exhibition of Telford's bridges, churches, roads and canals, he added.

Asked if he would like to see a canal back at the site, the Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust chairman replied that was "our ultimate goal".

Jones said the trust's ambition was to restore canals in the area "to their former glory and re-water them, so that we can have them open again to navigation".

"So if you know anybody with deep pockets that's got about the odd 65 million, we might be able to just do that in a few years' time."

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