This is the first canal breach post since 29th January 2026 when the last one was done! However I have kept a continual monitor upon what has been happening and made lots of notes and screencaps and links to various videos and the different stages of the work to begin to set up the Whitchurch site in terms of a substantial works compound and the long task ahead in order to remove the disastrous sandy embankment and begin the job of reconstructing the canal. The breach has significantly impacted local tourism and navigation, with the Canal & River Trust undertaking fundraising in order to assist with the costs of repair.
There’s no doubt the repairs for the December 2025 breach on the Llangollen Canal near Whitchurch (Shropshire) will continue throughout most of 2026, and costing millions of pounds. The works are (in theory) expected to take until November 2026 – for this is when temporary restrictions on the by-pass to the west of the site are to end. The Whitchurch by-pass now forms the major access route to a new, and temporary, roadway that leads down into the breach site area itself.
The Whitchurch breach site just a couple of weeks or so ago. Screencap from You Tube – Kieran and Lottie Photography.
The LLangollen canal and towpath are closed between Morris’s Bridge and Grindley Brook, hence there is navigation only on the eastern section from Hurleston to Wrenbury for larger narrowboats and beyond for smaller narrowboats. And then navigation is available from the winding hole just past Whitchurch Marina to the current end of navigation at Crickheath bridge via Frankton and the partially restored Montgomery canal, as well as the main canal route to Llangollen. There are estimates decreeing that around 350 wagon loads of material will be needed to rebuild the breach. That all depends on the final plans that will be made. Whether it will be a traditional embankment or a concrete channel or a bit of both is not known exactly yet.
The Canal & River Trust (CRT) is managing the entire repair operation using various contractors. This involves extensive earthworks, then rebuilding the embankment, and reinforcing the structure to prevent future failures. CRT have undertook inviestigation works at some of the canal’s other embankments, although it seems these (including Whitchurch and Hampden Bank) are some of the canal’s far lesser examples – and that because the Llangollen canal has what are the most massive embankments ever to be built on Britain’s waterway system! If one of those very examples were to go it would be a far worse calamity than the one at Whitchurch.
Key Aspects of the Repair Plan (2025-2026):
- Site Stabilization: Temporary dams have been installed to secure the site and reduce the amount of water lost.
- Investigation: The cause of the collapse is currently under investigation, with possibilities including heavy rain or structural degradation.
- Reconstruction Strategy: Following the removal of affected narrowboats, work involves rebuilding the embankment using compacted layers of material. The breach, which is in a section of sandy ground, requires significant engineering work to rebuild the embankment.
- Site Challenges: The repair requires moving roughly 7,000 cubic metres of material, potentially requiring over 350 wagon loads due to the scale of the damage.
- Timeline & Cost: Repairs are estimated to take most of 2026, with costs likely running into several million pounds.
- Infrastructure Improvements: The Trust is exploring making the embankment wider and more resilient than the original 1790s structure.
- Immediate Actions: Following the 22 December 2025, collapse, initial steps focused on installing dams, securing the site, and recovering boats.
What appears to be a marked out route (highlighted by the author) for contractors to reach the Bridgewater canal site. Screencap from Youtube – Explore with Ant.
The breaches at Whitchurch and Dunham Massey have now been joined by one on the Rochdale Canal at Miles Platting. So there’s a lot happening in terms of waterways about the Cheshire Plains! What is happening with the Miles Plating one isn’t certain at the moment. however those at Whitchurch (Llangollen canal) and Dunham (Bridgewater canal) now both seem to be getting underway – although the Llangollen one has been continually progressive since the new year. Its now getting to a stage where the whole site has been altered beyond recognition, whilst the Bridgewater one has been a mark of extremely slow progress with little being done for weeks on end – although at the time of writing (this being the end of April 2026) contractors have now moved in to begin construction of a lengthy roadway that will cross the various fields in order to reach the central sections of the breach site. They can be seen on the alignment depicted in the image above, working to install posts and markers alongside the projected roadway at Youtube – Explore with Ant.
The culvert that’s no longer a mystery! I discussed this culvert on Xmas Day 2025 – many refuted the culvert even existed! Now everyone accepts it exists! Screencap from You Tube – Kieran and Lottie Photography.
Again, in terms of Whitchurch, well there’s that the mysterious culvert – which I spoke of just three days after the actual breach. Many asserted there wasn’t even another culvert under the canal at all. In the new year CRT did confirm there was a second culvert yet many missed that and continued to question the existence of such a culvert.
I even discussed how the embankments were built of sand as a cheap method and pointed to an old document basically saying these had to be done in a sort of non-approved way because it just wasn’t really the thing to build embankments entirely of sand. I also indicated where the sand for Whitchurch was got from. That is important because the sand couldn’t simply be built up into such vast quantities so extra had to be brought in. So many have, very late in the day been exclaiming just how much sand was to be found in the structure. In terms of the Bridgewater canal’s embankment at Dunham which breached at the start of 2025, that was practically one of the first to be built with sand – so we have sand built canal embankments from the early canal building period (the 1770s) to the end of the first phase of canal mania around the early 1800s that have breached considerably.
The whole world has however gone about as if its all somehow completely new stuff etc etc! Anyway that culvert has now been uncovered and there’s definitely a substantial puzzle about it. Whilst CRT and the contractors did acknowledge it’s existence before it was actually uncovered – the notion was it didn’t have anything to do with the breach itself – because its not even sited where that calamity happened but is perhaps ten metres away from the centre of the breach itself.
The culvert most certainly drains water but it doesn’t come out the other end so it appears it might be draining away elsewhere. It may well be that this is an anomaly has either been directly or indirectly connected with the huge breach that occurred on December 22nd 2025. It may indicate there is another drainage route beneath the embankment (being one that would have egressed over time through water permeation) and that might have caused the embankment’s eventual collapse. CRT have already made a preliminary report giving their initial findings on the cause of the breach – but in light of this anomaly, their analysis may well have to change to take this culvert into account.
There is in fact a third culvert underneath the embankment but so far no-one has mentioned it. Its well outside the affected area however and could well be redundant. However I think CRT ought to rebuild the entire embankment right round to the Whitchurch by-pass bridge in order to provide a consistent watercourse right across the valley crossed here – but judging from what is being envisaged, its just the centre portion which will be dealt with. So there will be the ‘translation’ from a traditional, older, embankment to a newer one that may well provide for further problems.
Video channels worth watching re the Llangollen Breach:
Kieran and Lottie
Riley Robey
CCOverview
Video channels worth watching re the Bridgwater Breach:
The main feature image has been changed to one showing workers at the mouth of the ‘missing’ Whitchurch culvert. Screencap from Youtube – Kieran and Lottie.
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