Workers unearth canal lock

WORKERS have unearthed  an old canal lock that was buried under a council yard.

It was part of the old Swansea Canal that was discarded around 1976 and filled-in by West Glamorgan County Council and then used as a council yard.

Now it has been gifted to the Swansea Canal Society, that is working to restore a missing link of the canal around Clydach, having received funding.

Intention of opening it up

A spokesman for the society explained to WalesOnline:

"We have always had the intentions of opening it up to join Clydach with Trebanos and Pontardawe. The last three months, we've had funding off central government, [of] £967,000. We've got a company in now which is excavating it for us, and we've actually exposed the  bottom half of the lock and it is in pristine condition.

"We're down to the level of the water but we've got to go down another four foot. It was a nice surprise to see it. The engineer who filled the lock in back in 1976, his name was John Evans. He came down and showed us what he did. He had capped a good part of the lock thinking, or hoping, that a society like ours would come along and expose it and get it working again."

Eventually that will come to pass the society believe.