Historic canal breach Perivale Grand Union Canal??

[Dovetail]

Working with a field archaeologist in Perivale and the local knowledge is referring to a major breach of the Grand Union Canal causing severe flooding in the eighties? apparently this was following some severe wet weather. I cannot find any evidence to back this up and think at best the canal may have overflowed at that point and not the cause of the flooding.

 

Does anyone know if there are records or any way of verifying right or wrong if this breach happened or not.

 

For those who don't know this part of the system this is a huge pound several miles between locks and the land falls away down a slope so any breach would have been a big event.

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

1976- In the summer of 1976 Britain experienced its worst drought since records began; with Water Companies declaring it would take six or seven years for their empty, dry reservoirs to fill again. However, in August the following year, torrential rain not only filled but overwhelmed the Brent reservoir again, forcing the sluice gate to be opened to their fullest extent. It carried on raining heavily throughout the night. Even before the river broke its banks, the drains had started to overflow with sewerage. People awoke during the night to find their homes being flooded. Commuters set for to work in the morning to find the North London streets grid-locked due to wide spread flooding of the Brent river. Trains could not run. Hundreds ended up homeless and hundreds of shops and businesses had to close to clear up the mess. Roads that were unaffected by the water and sewage were awash with the dozens and dozens of news-crews covering the mayhem.

 

Nearest I can find (from: London's Lost Rivers)

[Dovetail]

Thanks. I have read about the River Brent flooding but does not feed this particular stretch of canal as that only happens from below the Hanwell flight and many miles away. However it does add weight to the flooding caused by severe weather and not a breach of the canal.

[mark99]

Did not the dredger pull out a plug over North Circular?

 

ETA

 

http://www.20thcenturylondon.org.uk/brnt-2606

Edited September 7, 2016 by mark99

[WJM]

The pound that includes Perivale is over twenty miles long - it includes the mainline from Cowley to Norwood, the whole of the Slough Branch and the Paddington Arm as far as Camden. A breach anywhere would be catastrophic. The old wartime stop-gates that are dotted along the length look completely rotted now so it looks like there is little or no preparation for a breach now.

[nbfiresprite]

Ealing Council has done some prepartion, Page 21 gives a small account of the GU overtopping it banks iin the Green lane area in 77 and the flooding at Brentford in 92.

 

https://www.ealing.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/766/item_8_-_ealing_multi_agency_flood_plan_2010.pdf

[Phil Ambrose]

1976- In the summer of 1976 Britain experienced its worst drought since records began; with Water Companies declaring it would take six or seven years for their empty, dry reservoirs to fill again. However, in August the following year, torrential rain not only filled but overwhelmed the Brent reservoir again, forcing the sluice gate to be opened to their fullest extent. It carried on raining heavily throughout the night. Even before the river broke its banks, the drains had started to overflow with sewerage. People awoke during the night to find their homes being flooded. Commuters set for to work in the morning to find the North London streets grid-locked due to wide spread flooding of the Brent river. Trains could not run. Hundreds ended up homeless and hundreds of shops and businesses had to close to clear up the mess. Roads that were unaffected by the water and sewage were awash with the dozens and dozens of news-crews covering the mayhem.

 

Nearest I can find (from: London's Lost Rivers)

 

One of my favourite books. Yes the river Brent did flood and as I well remember it did rather foul things up travelwise. The GU did have a breach that I remember but that was in the 60's, the aquaduct over the North Circular road (A406) sprung a substantial leak and the water was channeled by sandbags to flow into the river Brent which ran at right angles a couple of hundred yards away.

The breach was where the IRA had bombed it a couple of decades before, their attempt to destroy the aquaduct failed but some serious repair work was required and it was this repair that failed.

I well remember the pound draining as I worked nearby and was amazed at the number of safes sitting on the bottom.

Phil

[Tim Lewis]

Did not the dredger pull out a plug over North Circular?

 

ETA

 

http://www.20thcenturylondon.org.uk/brnt-2606

The IRA also tried to blow up the aqueduct in 1939!

 

Tim

[Dovetail]

Thanks everyone very interesting and will pass it on as it seems these archeologists like all this background information if it only confirms or explains local stories that can sometimes get a bit mixed up.

[Dunno]

Deleted

Edited December 26, 2021 by Dunno