Work begins next year to reopen over a mile of the waterway and a winding hole
The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has awarded a £2.53 million grant so repair work can get underway on the Montgomery Canal, which runs for 35 miles from Shropshire to eastern Wales.
It is going towards a £4.2 million project to restore a stretch of the picturesque Monty at Crickheath.
Beginning next year, the volunteer-assisted work will reopen one and a quarter miles of waterway and a winding hole, bringing canal boats to the area for the first time in 80 years.
The work is scheduled to be completed by 2020 and will also create new nature reserves and repair almost four miles of towpath between Welshpool and Llanymynech.
The grant has been described by the Canal & River Trust, who led the bid with the support of the Montgomery Canal Partnership, as a major step forward in the 47-year restoration of the historic canal.
Chief executive Richard Parry said: “I would also like to thank the volunteers for their continuing hard work, which has kept the dream alive to restore the canal.”
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