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Demolished Cotswold bridge re-opened

14th Sep 2005

It has been 30 years since people in Eastington were able to walk beneath Pike Lock Bridge and now, the wait is over.

Demolished in 1970, the bridge over the Stroudwater Canal has been rebuilt and was officially been re-opened by Gloucestershire County Council chairman Lady Dunrossil on Saturday 10 September.

The restoration marks a further step on the road to the complete restoration of the canal itself, plus the Thames and Severn Canal. Known collectively as the Cotswold Canals, it is hoped that one day they will once again link the country’s two major rivers, the Severn and the Thames.

Restoration of the bridge is thanks to the Cotswold Canals Trust, the charity dedicated to the canal’s re-opening, and cost around £350,000 of which the Trust itself has pledged to raise £110,000 through a public appeal.

More than 300 people attended the historic re-opening of the bridge and Lady Dunrossil commented: “We have all reached a new awareness of how important it is to provide access to all these things we have inherited from the past.

“In the ’70s, we were told by experts of the time the canals were thoroughly dead and the county council thought about filling this one in. But now, we think differently.”

Last updated: 22/10/2008