Editing Thames and Severn Canal (section)

====Phase 1a====
[[File:Gates being fitted to bowbridge lock.JPG|thumb|right|Gates being fitted to Bowbridge Lock as part of phase 1a]]
Phase 1a of the restoration programme covered the length of canal from The Ocean at Stonehouse, on the Stroudwater Navigation, to Brimscombe Port, east of Stroud, on the Thames and Severn Canal – a length of about {{convert|6|mi|0}}. The work included restoration of 10 locks, reconstruction of 10 bridges, and reinstatement of about {{convert|2100|m|yd|order=flip}} of in-filled canal; plus the major reconstruction of Brimscombe Port.<ref name="RestorationPhase1a">{{cite web|title=Cotswold Canals Restoration – Phase 1A |url=http://www.cotswoldcanals.net/phase_1a.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190216071753/https://www.cotswoldcanals.net/phase_1a.php |archive-date=16 February 2019 |url-status=live |publisher=Cotswold Canals in Pictures|access-date=4 May 2015}}</ref> Funding was in place for all of the scheduled work, but increasing costs curtailed the programme. A revised plan – with increased support from volunteer labour – aimed to have restoration completed to Bowbridge by the end of 2015, with all major work eastwards put on hold.<ref name="RestorationPhase1a"/> Phase 1a also included the provision of a multi-user trail between Stonehouse and Saul, but this was held over to Phase 1b.<ref name="RestorationPhase1a"/>

The final section of the canal before it joins the Stroudwater Navigation presented particular problems for restoration, as the channel had been used as part of a flood relief scheme by the [[Environment Agency]]. Water from [[Slad Brook]], which is culverted beneath Stroud, joins the canal a short distance above Lower Wallbridge Lock. [[Painswick Stream]] and [[Ruscombe Brook]] join the channel below the junction and flow through the Dudbridge locks, after which the water is discharged into the River Frome below the A419 Dudbridge Road bridge. As a consequence of its flood relief function, the channel here is classified as a "[[main river]]".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stroudwater.co.uk/cpsn/guides/section%203.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201032137/http://www.stroudwater.co.uk/cpsn/guides/section%203.html |archive-date=1 December 2017 |url-status=live |title=Ebley to Wallbridge |publisher=Proprietors of the Stroudwater Navigation}}</ref> Designs for reinstatement of the canal had to accommodate large flows on this section, and include underground bywash culverts, capable of carrying the full flood flow of the streams.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://community.stroud.gov.uk/_documents/2_Cots_Project_Atlas_Page_62_and_63_Dudbridge_Locks_and_the_Lawns.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314142331/http://community.stroud.gov.uk/_documents/2_Cots_Project_Atlas_Page_62_and_63_Dudbridge_Locks_and_the_Lawns.pdf |archive-date=14 March 2012 |title=Plan 11a Dudbridge Locks |publisher=Cotswold Canals Partnership |url-status=dead}}</ref>

At Capels Mill, the bed of the canal was used as the route for the Stroud Bypass in the 1980s, and so a diversion had to be built at this point. It passes through an area that was used as a landfill site in the 1960s and 1970s. Some {{convert|355|yd|m}} of new channel was constructed, some of it edged with sheet piling. After passing through a railway viaduct, the bank is supported by a series of contiguous concrete piles, which were drilled to a depth of between {{convert|30|ft|m|0}} and {{convert|49|ft|m}} and provide a retaining wall which is {{convert|35|ft|m}} tall at its highest point. As the project neared completion, open days to allow the public to walk along the bottom of the new canal section were held on 10 and 11 May 2013, and were attended by over 1,800 people. Where domestic rubbish had to be removed, it was relocated on the site, covered with {{convert|2|ft|cm|sigfig=1}} of crushed recycled concrete and a layer of Bentomat geotextile, which was topped by [[subsoil]] and topsoil obtained from elsewhere on the site. Tubular vents allow any methane produced by the disturbed rubbish to escape safely. The new section was filled with water and officially completed on 2 June 2013.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cotswoldcanals.com/capels-mill-conclusion-2/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201031151/https://cotswoldcanals.com/capels-mill-conclusion-2/ |archive-date=1 December 2017 |url-status=live |title=Capels Mill - Conclusion |publisher=Cotswold Canals Trust |access-date=9 June 2013}}</ref>

An evaluation cruise was held on 10 November 2017, when the maintenance boat ''Wookey Hole'' carried three assessors from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the chief executive from Stroud District Council and their canal project manager, the Mayor of Stroud, and the Cotswold Canal Trust chief executive and vice-chair. It travelled from The Ocean at Stonebridge eastwards to Bowbridge Lock, with a stop for lunch at Upper Wallbridge Lock. The cruise enabled the HLF assessors to view the work done and to sign off the Phase 1a project, bringing it to a conclusion.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cotswoldcanals.com/heritage-lottery-fund-cruise-report/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201035406/https://cotswoldcanals.com/heritage-lottery-fund-cruise-report/ |archive-date=1 December 2017 |url-status=live |title=Heritage Lottery Fund – Evaluation Cruise |publisher=Cotswold Canals Trust |access-date=21 November 2017}}</ref> An official opening of Wallbridge Lower Lock took place on 2 February 2018, when [[Charles, Prince of Wales|Prince Charles]] cut a ribbon to celebrate the reconnection of the Thames and Severn Canal with the Stroudwater Navigation, and unveiled a commemorative plaque.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cotswoldcanals.com/royal-recognition-of-restoration/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180611032857/https://cotswoldcanals.com/royal-recognition-of-restoration/ |archive-date=11 June 2018 |url-status=live |title=Royal Recognition of Restoration |publisher=Cotswold Canals Trust |access-date=5 February 2018}}</ref>

During the execution of the phase 1a project, it became obvious that there would be a shortfall in funding, caused in part by the development of Brimscombe Port being deferred. Thus the Heritage Lottery funded works ended at Bowbridge Lock, and work up to Hope Mill Lock has been undertaken largely by volunteers. Some work to prepare the Brimscombe Port site for development was funded by a £2&nbsp;million grant from the Homes & Communities Agency given in October 2015.<ref name="RestorationPhase1a"/> Volunteers completed restoration of Griffin's Mill Lock in 2017, but dredging of the intervening channel took rather longer, and the lock was opened on 9 July 2018. Work had already begun on the restoration of Ham Mill Lock, the next one upstream. In a separate development, water supply to the restored section was improved by building a feeder siphon at Gough's Orchard Lock, which takes water from a millpond supplied by the River Frome and feeds it into the lock. The pipeline runs over the top of the canal bank, and a solar-powered pump creates a vacuum within the pipe to allow the siphoning to begin. The volume of water taken is regulated by a gate valve, and is governed by an abstraction licence issued by the Environment Agency.<ref>{{cite journal |title=More Cotswold channel opened |journal=Waterways World |date=October 2018 |issn=0309-1422 |page=29}}</ref>