The work: A smaller than usual Canal Camp team will work at Clydach Buried Lock to complete the bywash which takes surplus canal water around the newly restored lock itself. The bywash has been lined with concrete blocks, which will now have a stone-facing laid against the blocks.

The reason: This Canal Camp is another part of the regeneration of Clydach Buried Lock, which has been led by the Swansea Canal Society. The land around the lock had been owned by Swansea Council which gave it to the Society to ‘exhume’ and then restore the lock and adjacent waterway. The regeneration is close to completion and new lock gates are due to be fitted to the lock shortly.

Clydach is a small town a few miles north of Swansea, and is effectively now the southernmost point of the Swansea Canal at the Society’s new Canal Centre building, about a mile south of Clydach Buried Lock.

The restoration: The Swansea Canal is two hundred and twenty years old and, while it is no longer the sixteen mile industrial supply line from Abercraf to the city of Swansea, the existing six miles in water are home to otters, bats, kingfishers, dippers, ducks, moths, butterflies and beetles.  The canal also gives pleasure to walkers, cyclists, joggers, and runners alike.

In the long-term, the target is for a possible link between the Swansea Canal and the Neath and Tennant Canals to create a small network of waterways in this area of South Wales.