Paint job for the old Iron Trunk aqueduct

The survey of the Iron Trunk has started

Standing over the Great Ouse for 200 years, the Iron Trunk aqueduct will soon be getting a well-deserved lick of paint.

To celebrate the bicentenary of the aqueduct, which carries the Grand Union Canal across the river on its route between Milton Keynes and Cosgrove, British Waterways (BW) yesterday started a £300,000, year-long programme of improvement works to bring this feat of Georgian engineering back to its former glory.

The Iron Trunk Aqueduct is a popular landmark with boaters and visitors to the waterway, and BW will be giving the important historic structureamuch-needed refurbishment, including repainting.

Before the repainting can start, BW needs to establish the original paint specification, including the colour scheme, when it officially opened on January 21, 1811, so yesterday contractors abseiled from the top of the 40ft-high aqueduct to take paint samples from various sections.

Once the original colour and composition of the paint has been scientifically analysed, the repainting will take place later in the year.

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The Iron Trunk aqueduct

BW’s regeneration manager James Clifton said: “It’s great that we have the opportunity to refurbish this wonderful aqueduct to mark this very special birthday.

“It is of great historic significance, so we are analysing the paint to be absolutely certain we are using the right colours in the right places.

“As well as repainting and repairing sections of the aqueduct, BW is planning to involve local schools and organisations in research for new information panels, giving visitors and boaters an insight into the aqueduct’s history, and also use existing footpaths to create ‘waterway walks’, which incorporate the canal and this magnificent structure.”

The aqueduct’s regeneration will mean it needs to be ‘dewatered’ for repairs, which involves first slotting stop planks into grooves at various points along the canal, before pulling three plugs out of the aquaduct and allowing the water to fall into the river below.

Since it was built, there have only been two previous occasions when it was dewatered for repairs – the first in 1921, and again in 1986.

Designed and built by canal engineer Benjamin Beavan, the current 31-metre cast iron structure replaces a previous brickbuilt aqueduct, which collapsed in 1808.

The cast iron units were cast at the Ketley foundry at Coalbrookdale and transported by boat along the canal before being fully assembled on site.