Heritage Training was given to CRT staff and volunteers to help them rebuild a brick parapet wall on Vicarage Road bridge on the Kennet and Avon canal. The bridge is Grade II listed. Due to structural movement and the use of cement mortar the south parapet was deemed unsafe and was to be rebuilt.
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The bridge built circa 1811 had been repaired in the late 19C due to structural movement.
As part of the 19C repair two metal rails were used as structural supports, they are a rolled rail sections known as Barlow rails which were used on early railways. Blue bricks were used in conjunction with the rails
A scaffold was erected over the canal to enable the work to be carried out.
The blue brick repairs did not prevent the bridge from further movement and it continued to crack.
The parapet was dismantled by CRT staff. The bricks were cleaned and put to one side for reuse.
The parapet was taken down to the string course of the bridge. — in Hungerford.
Volunteers were trained to repoint the brick walls in lime mortar.
Not enough original handmade bricks survived so suitable ones were mixed with a modern handmade brick of the same size and colour. — in Hungerford.
The centre of the parapet was curved both horizontally and vertically so rebuilding followed the string course and course heights, but was rebuilt by eye to some extent. — in Hungerford.
The mortar jused was a hydraulic lime mortar mixed with sand and a stonedust. — in Hungerford.
The wall was a brick and a half wide and was rebuilt in English Bond.
The area of blue bricks were not totally dismantled, but the cracked area was widened to enable the cracked brickwork to be blended in.
The engineering brick section of the parapet was bullt to the line to achieve the cuts necessary to recreate the orginal profile. — in Hungerford.
Each brick had to be cut out so they could be reused as no replacements were available. They had been bedded in a cement mortar so removal was slow.
The section where there was the historic crack was rebuilt using all original bricks. Hand made red bricks were used at the base and the blue bricks from the Victorian repair were dismantled and individually cleaned and reused at the top of the parapet. Original coping bricks were to be rebedded on this section. — in Hungerford.
As winter approached the parapet was covered to protect it against the weather until the new coping bricks were made and delivered to site. — in Hungerford.
The bridge was finished off in the summer of 2020 by a Canal and Rivers Trust apprentice.
The internal brickwork rebuilt to match the existing, original copings cleaned and reused.
This listed bridge has now been repaired using matching materials and the cement mortar replaced with lime mortar. The historic Barlow rails have been retained and the structural issues resolved. The work was mainly carried out by Canal and River Trust apprentices and volunteers.