WILTSHIRE and Berkshire Canal Trust have ticked another box on their mission to restore the canal through Melksham, following archaeological digs in the Berryfield area.
Before any further plans could be made for the restoration of the canal, Wiltshire and Berkshire Canal Trust were ordered to dig 15 trenches on the proposed areas, to give a more in-depth archaeological evidence.
Seven of the trenches have been successfully examined by the archaeologist but the remaining eight have crops growing on them so will have to be dug out in the autumn, however, the archaeologist has given the go-ahead to the trust to start to making plans for the restoration.
Trust secretary Paul Lenaerts said, “I’m very pleased that the archaeologists are happy for us to progress. It ticks another box for us, which means we can progress with the planning.
“There turned out to be a neolithic trench in one of the fields, in which there were what are thought to be remains of early bronze age, iron age, and Roman pottery. Experts can usually tell the era just by looking at it!
“It’s not uncommon for this area; we would probably have been more surprised if we’d found nothing.”
With this good news, the Trust says that financial considerations have to be taken into account but they are confident that once the planning permission has been given, developers will come forward and invest.
Now all the studies have to be compiled into a report and sent back to the council which is expected to be done by September. Then the project will go back to consultation.
“We’d like to thank the landowners for letting us dig up their fields! It’s great that we can keep pushing forward with the project and show people that the canal will return in our lifetimes,” added Paul Lenaerts.
