Eton Community Association - Together making Eton even better
The Barnes Pool Watercourse Restoration
An exciting project is underway to investigate whether the old culvert that runs to Barnes Pool can be restored and get the water flowing again under Barnes Bridge.
The project to restore water to the South Meadow brook and Barnes Pool in Eton is progressing well. The water used to flow from the Thames near The Clump on the Brocas and within a brick built culvert since the 1840s, beneath the Brocas hedgerow and South Meadow Lane then into the open brook in the north-east corner of South Meadow and on to Barnes Pool. From Barnes Pool, in another brick built culvert, it flows back to the Thames entering just below Romney Weir.
In August, for those who have walked across Baldwin’s Bridge and looked down, you will have noticed that it now looks much clearer - see the images here! The next stage is for us to agree a tree plan and a landscaping plan with various stakeholders including RBWM. But where is the water, I hear you say? The answer is that the brick pipe (culvert) that brings the water from the Thames near the edge of the Brocas down through the brook and onto Barnes Pool under the bridge….has been almost cleared of silt. However, we have inserted a large rubber balloon in the culvert so that there is no flow yet…..it will come! The outbound culvert is clear, which will bring the flow back out into the Thames opposite and facing Romney Lock.
Almost 400m. of culvert in South Meadow Lane has been cleaned of silt and other debris by a high pressure jetter leaving just over 100m across the Brocas to complete.
A remote operated camera is sent along the culvert after cleaning to ensure it completely clear and to look for any damage and a video is recorded for later observations.
The Working Group Met on the 5th January 2018 at 2.00pm to discuss generally what had been discovered in the last 8 months. The delay was due mainly because of waiting for RBWM to investigate the drains in South Meadow Lane so we could find out exactly where and what condition the culvert is in. Volker Highways, the Borough contractor, investigated the drains at the end of November and they kindly allowed Peter Eaton to go along and inspect the manholes and take photos while they were doing the work.
A full explanation of the findings of this exciting project can be found in this document which contains the note of the recent meeting.