New Penstock
Last week you may have seen the penstock being installed where the water runs down the millrace behind the cafe. This is an adjustable mechanism which will allow us to control the flow where Thomas Boulsover’s water wheel once was. In order to fit this, the water level in the dam had to be dropped, which - combined with the lack of rain recently is why it is so low at the moment.
Path Repairs
Work on repairing the collapsed north bank of the dam is expected to commence on Monday 1st August, and should take around 2-3 weeks weather permitting.
It will be left with a useable path, but the finished surfacing will be added in the final stage of work…
Access
A contractor has also been appointed to carry out access improvements which will take place in the early Autumn. These works will include:
Replacement of handrails on the ramp up from the café
Removal of the old white gate
The addition of a safety rail at the spillway drop
Re-tarmacing and levelling up of the footpath around the dam, including under the benches
A new section of unbound surfacing of the path on the far side of the bridge (the path that was used as the diversion)
Resurfacing of the section of bridleway used by Sanctus as their haulage route
Of course, due to the nature of these works, sections of path will need to be closed whilst improvements are carried out. Signage will be added around the site to inform visitors of any closures nearer the time. Unfortunately, we will not be able to place the memorial benches back on the embankment until the new surfacing is added, as the ground is currently very uneven.
Final Stages
We appreciate that not everything may be looking how you expect it to yet, but we are working to ensure the site will be left in an improved state than when we started.
The area of hardcore where Sanctus had their machinery will be scarified to break up the compaction.
The other stages of work mentioned above will involve machinery using this area, so to avoid having to do the resurfacing twice, we are waiting until after all other stages of work are completed.
Any remaining rubbish will be removed, and a woodland grass mix will be seeded, creating an attractive area overlooking the millpond.
Look out for a blog post focussing on the full range of ecological improvements soon.
We hope you are looking forward to seeing the final stages of the project come to fruition, and apologise for any inconvenience that may be caused during this time.
If you have any concerns or questions, please do feel free to get in touch by emailing
with ‘Forge Dam’ in the subject headline.