More surprises at Stanton

Monday 29 April 

Just Alastair and Dave in today and they started off by tackling one of the jobs that has been on the list for a while. One of the chambers in Winchcombe Yard had a knock by machine last year. The top 2 courses of brick were dislodged so they have been removed to make the structure safe until it can be rebuilt. 

Winchcombe Yard Chamber
(Photo: Alastair)

Dislodged bricks
(Photo: Alastair)

Dave tides the wall top
(Photo: Alastair)

Lids back on and high visibility fence added 
(Photo: Alastair)

The bricks were taken back to add to the recycling pile. Being hollows, these can't be reused they will just go for backfill somewhere. 

Wasted bricks
(Photo: Alastair)

To round the day off another set of concrete lids was manufactured. 

Dave prepares the moulds
(Photo: Alastair) 

(Photo: Alastair) 

Thursday 2 May 

Back to Stanton to see if the weather would allow the chamber builds to carry on. Michael managed to complete Chamber 2 headers and then moved on to Chamber 3. 

Chamber 2 nears completion
(Photo: Alastair) 

Recycling the bricks on Chamber 3
(Photo: Alastair) 

Andrew started on the excavation of the collapsed pipe from the crest down to the cess. As usual, this proved not to be a straightforward job. The stub pipe from the cess chamber and the pipe down the slope were offset by 300 mm, with no sign that they had ever been connected. Why anyone would dream of installing this arrangement beggars belief, but they did. 

Andrew starts the excavation
(Photo: Alastair)  

The hole gets wider 
(Photo: Alastair)  

Roger, meanwhile, finished off the headers on wall 4 (it only has 3 sides so it's not technically a chamber and as the pipe run through the wing wall it's not a headwall). 

Construction at Wall 4 and Chamber 3
(Photo: Alastair) 

Fearing they might miss out on a spot of digging, everyone had a go in the down pipe excavation. 

Michael, Roger and Andrew looking for the pipe end
(Photo: Alastair) 

The end of the pipe down the slope (Photo: Alastair)  

Slope pipe internal view
(Photo: Alastair) 

The rains came in at this point which encouraged the team to head for home. 

Saturday 4 May 

Chambers 1 and 2 on the down crest at Stanton are now completed, lids on, backfilled and landscaped. A great team effort has seen the cess dry out and the incoming flow diverted. 

Chambers 1 and 2 Down side crest
(Photo: Alastair) 

Wall 4 is finished and backfilled, the last job for Roger was to clear the end of the stream under the fence. 

Roger clearing out the incoming steam
(Photo: Alastair) 

The focus now was on the pipe down from the crest to the cess. The pipe was located and all it needed was digging out to the last good pipe section. Easier said than done as the pipe was covered with large slag blocks that had become set in clay 

Roger clearing up the slope
(Photo: Alastair) 

Alastair takes a turn at digging
(Photo: Hand unknown) 

Another pipe section removed
(Photo: Alastair) 

This is why the pipe is coming out
(Photo: Alastair) 

The eventual size of the dig
(Photo: Alastair) 

Michael managed to get more done on the repair of chamber 3. 

Painstaking work on Chamber 3
(Photo: Alastair) 

Single skin on the back wall to avoid a root
(Photo: Alastair) 

By the end of the day a section of 225 mm plastic pipe had been added to the end of the pipe down the slope, this will be routed round to the chamber stub, probably completing what was originally intended when the pipe was installed. 

Replacement pipe will be routed round into the cess chamber
(Photo: Alastair)