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Conservation work continues at Foxton

21st Sep 2005

Action to conserve an important piece of Leicestershire’s industrial heritage continued over the weekend at Foxton Locks, one of the county’s most popular visitor destinations.

Volunteers returned to Foxton to continue the tree removal work they had started last year on its historic Inclined Plane – one of only three designated Scheduled Ancient Monuments in Leicestershire.

The Foxton Inclined Plane boatlift operated at the start of the 1900s, and was an amazing feat of engineering. It was originally built to replace the existing flight of locks and speed up the transit of boats to just 12 minutes – compared to the 45 minutes it takes boats to navigate the locks!

Action is now being taken to conserve this important part of Leicestershire’s industrial heritage. English Heritage, the body responsible for ensuring England’s historic environment is properly maintained and cared for, has requested that a number of trees be removed to prevent their roots from further damaging the important historic remains.

Commenting on the need for the tree removal, Jon Humble, Ancient Monument Inspector for English Heritage, said: "The historic assets at Foxton are of national archaeological importance and are non-renewable."

The volunteers were led by the Waterway Recovery Group’s (WRG’s) Forestry Team with help from members of the Foxton Inclined Plane Trust, and in addition to protecting the historic remains they also gained some valuable training. A qualified Lantra Awards/NPTC trainer and assessor was on site to put them through their paces in wood chipping and chainsaw assessment.

Lending his support to the volunteers at the weekend was Mike Beech, Keeper of Foxton Canal Museum and Company Secretary of the Foxton Inclined Plane Trust. He said:

"I’ve been involved in efforts to restore the Inclined Plane since the 1980s. It’s good to see such a massive step forward. The Inclined Plane is an important part of our heritage, and the Foxton Locks Partnership is keen to see it is conserved as part of work to improve Foxton Locks."

British Waterways is currently developing the Foxton Locks site with other members of the Foxton Locks Partnership, and is working with English Heritage to ensure that the remains of the Inclined Plane are preserved, in anticipation that one day the boatlift can be fully restored.

Later this autumn, works including the dredging and repair of Foxton’s bottom basin and top arm of the canal, which once led boats into the bottom and top of the boat lift, will take place as part of a £2.8 million project including a £1.78 million Heritage Lottery grant.

Last updated: 22/10/2008