Historic Telford dam wall could be repaired by Christmas
Bob the Builder may be able to stand down after it was revealed Horsehay’s historic dam will be repaired before Christmas, Telford & Wrekin Council has said.
A mystery resident attached a ‘Bob’ scarecrow to a protective fence around the damaged wall in Horsehay, which broke when a tree fell through it a year ago.
Residents were planning a protest over the broken wall, which stands next to part of the Telford 50-mile walk, which was first established last year. Bob the Builder was put up by someone who lives in the area as part of the first Horsehay scarecrow festival.
A sign put up next to scarecrow said: “Bob, can you help the council fix our wall please? They are taking ages! In fact, it’s nearly a whole year since the wall fell down.”
Today, the Telford & Wrekin Council said that despite few changes on site, the team had been working behind the scenes on the difficult project.
“Apologies this has taken some time but despite not much action on site, we have been working behind the scenes to progress this,” a council spokesman said.
“It is not a simple quick fix job as it involves a historic dam wall, open water and buried services.
“The dam wall was made safe at the time of collapse, the tree was then removed in several operations and further work to clear debris.
“Structural investigations were then completed to determine what the engineering solution was.
"A nominal budget was secured to make good the dam wall in May/June and Balfour Beatty were engaged to price the repair in August.
Ruins
"There is a technical issue the team have been working to overcome related to a suspended BT duct.
"A meeting occurred with BT this week to agree temporary works to support and protect the BT duct during the construction project.
“We are anticipating a price for the works to be submitted by Balfour Beatty in the next few weeks.
“This will be considered against the existing budget which will then determine potential construction date to repair the wall.
“I would hope that we can get the repair completed before Christmas.”
The dam wall was left in ruins after a tree smashed through it during Storm Callum in October 2018.
The tree that crashed through the wall was cut down and the area was secured, but the beauty spot was then left untouched.
The pool was created when Abraham Darby II build a blast furnace in the area.
It is believed to be the original pool from which water was drawn to operate the blast furnace. Many large scale projects were created in Horsehay, including the Shifnal railway bridge.
Many of the homes next to the pool were built for workers at the furnace.
