Countdown to climax of community project!

This summer, the community project exploring the heritage of Welford and its canal will reach its exciting conclusion, as work to produce walk leaflets, on-site display panels and to conserve the lime kiln site at Welford Wharf will be completed.

This two-year project has been led by a steering group made up of Northants Canal Partnership, Old Union Canals Society, British Waterways and BTCV. Work has been funded mainly by Local Heritage Initiative, with additional support from Northants County Council and Awards for All. The three main aims of the project were to develop new local heritage trails around the village and canal, excavate and understand the lime kilns at Welford Wharf and conserve them for future generations, and to create and perform an original play based on stories and memories from Welford’s past. 

The play, aptly named Dig, was created by Daventry based New Perspectives Theatre Company and two public performances took place at Welford, Sibbertoft and Sulby Endowed School on Friday 6 December 2002. Jacqui Palmer, Project Officer for Northants Canal Partnership said, “Both performances were well attended and enjoyed by the audience. Along with professional actors, local schoolchildren starred in the production and were involved in a week long workshop beforehand. If people missed it this time around though, there’ll be another chance to see it at the Welford Revealed event in September 2003.”

Almost 100 volunteers have been involved in helping the Welford and its canal project, and last summer they worked for nearly 1000 hours excavating the lime kilns. This year, the focus has shifted more to conserving the lime kilns, and with help from British Waterways’ heritage specialists, a key group of volunteers spent time in May learning how to safeguard the brickwork of the kilns using traditional materials like lime mortar. Volunteers from BTCV also worked on the site during April this year, creating a pathway and viewing platforms and installing a permanent fence around the lime kilns site. This has made the lime kilns more accessible, enabling people to view them properly.

Welford Revealed- 7 September

To celebrate the completion of the community project, and to give people the opportunity to come along and see all the improvements, a ‘Welford Revealed’ event is taking place on Sunday 7 September at Welford Wharf, between 10am and 4pm. There will be another chance to see the play Dig in the afternoon, as well as the opportunity to find out how the lime kilns at Welford Wharf would have once worked, by watching a lime burning demonstration, right in front of the real kilns! There will also be displays of objects unearthed in the lime kilns, guided walks along some of the new circular routes which set off at 11am in the morning, boat trips, live music and children’s activities. The event has been funded by a grant from The Waterways Trust and entry is free.

To find out more about this event or the wider project, please contact Lucy Unstead from British Waterways on 01788 890666.