Trash strainer and cleaning

George cleans the steps

Our new man came today for his first day. George brought his own pressure washer, so after we had arranged a lot of hoses and mains connections he set about clearing the green slime from the cobbled path, fences and steps.

The cobbles see the light of day!

He then moved on to clearing all the vegetation off the launder piers so we can repoint them when launder rebuilding time comes. Between us we managed to get most of the green stuff off the cobbles under and beyond the launder, too.

The frame for the new trash strainer

Richard and Ray install the frame

Working in his home workshop, Richard has built the fixed frame in which the weir trash strainer will slide. The frame is welded from mild steel bar, and is to be bolted directly onto the inner surface of the take-off channel, and secured by flat bars bolted to the weir-side face of the stonework.


Last week he and Ray painted it, and today they fixed it to the weir stonework. The hope is that larger items will be carried over the weir by the water flowing across the strainer. The trash strainer measurements are to be taken once the frame is in place.

In the process, they found that the second weir is accessible at this time of year, due to the low vegetation, and also found an old mine truck abandoned in the river bank. It looks as though it had been filled with stones and used to reinforce the bank.

The old quarry wagon

The second weir