REPAIRS to the grade two listed Eshton Road Lock on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal near Gargrave are back on track following setbacks and damage caused by last month’s Storm Eunice.

Emergency repairs to the 200 year old lock, which had been leaking for some time, had expected to be finished by the end of March, but were thrown off schedule by the storm, and are now expected to take another month.

The Canal and River Trust has been working with specialist stonemasonry contractors Lyons on a painstaking restoration project to prevent the lock’s wall from collapsing. The towpath and navigation were closed to the public in November following the sighting of a significant bulge in the historic wall.

Graham Ramsden, senior project manager at Canal and River Trust, said: “Eshton Road Lock is situated in one of the most picturesque spots along the canal, with stunning views of the Yorkshire Dales. It’s a great place to come and relax by water and is a popular spot with boaters, walkers, cyclists, canoeists and paddleboarders.

“We’ve been working hard to reopen the lock in time for Easter, but have been delayed by three weeks after Storm Eunice washed through the site causing further damage. We are hopeful to complete our work and get the lock back open to boats by early May."

An important stage of the repair programme has just begun; the painstaking process of taking down the original lock wall stone by stone. With concrete piles in place to support the ground, each original stone is removed and carefully marked to ensure that it is replaced in the correct order as part of the new lock wall. Around three-quarters of the original stones are in good enough condition to be reused, with the remainder sourced from a nearby quarry, and cut to the exact measurements of the originals.

Ruth Garratt, the charity's heritage advisor, added: “As the guardians of 2,000 miles of waterways in England and Wales our charity is responsible for protecting and preserving the fascinating and unique feats of engineering on our 200-year-old canals. My role is to help maintain the historic integrity of our waterway structures as we repair and maintain them to meet the 21st century challenge of extreme weather conditions caused by climate change.”

“It's vitally important to find the balance between minimum intervention, which retains as much of the authentic 'as built' fabric of our historic structures whilst also adopting a constructive conservation approach, which acknowledges that the waterways are a living, working heritage.”

The Canal and River Trust is asking people to #ActNowForCanals and help to support their local waterway, from volunteering projects, citizen science surveys, to raising funds or clearing up litter. Every small action can make a huge difference www.canalrivertrust.org.uk/donate