Dredging of the Queen Pool at Blenheim will be paused over Christmas and re-start in the spring.

The decision to temporarily halt the dredge, which is being carried out by leading wet civil engineering contractor, Land & Water, was taken due to weather conditions.

The mild conditions over recent weeks, combined with heavy rainfall have resulted in areas around the work site becoming waterlogged.

In addition to significantly slowing down the dredging process it was felt the pause would also minimise the risk of any potential damage to the parkland.

While the work is on hold visitors will once again be able to access the walking loop around the Queen Pool.

READ ALSO: Oxfordshire County Council advise on icy lakes after Solihull deaths

On completion, the dredging project will have removed 300,000 cubic metres of silt from the ‘Capability’ Brown-designed lake - enough to fill Wembley Stadium.

The dredge, which is believed to be one of the largest civil engineering projects ever undertaken at a UK heritage site, will return the lake to its original depth of two metres from its current shallows of 30cm.

“The dredging is progressing well and Land & Water is approaching the halfway point of what is a hugely ambitious project,” said Blenheim Estate Director Roy Cox. 

“Rather than risk potentially damaging the parkland and have the team working at a slower pace than normal, it was decided to halt operations, let the excess water drain away and recommence work in the spring when conditions will be more favourable,” he added.

A flotilla of diggers carefully removes silt from the lake which is then taken to shore on specially designed hoppers and deposited into a fleet of vehicles which then transport it to an area of the estate known as Great Park where it is being used to create a new 16-hectare grassland mound.

READ ALSO: Traditional breaking ground celebration at A40 park and ride

"During the winter months Land & Water is pausing the Blenheim dredge with a view to returning in the spring to complete the project,” said Project Manager Charlie Oakes.

“This decision has been made in conjunction with the Blenheim project management team and is made in an effort to reduce the downtime and inefficiency of working during the winter and minimise the damage to the park caused by working in extremely wet conditions,” he added.

The last major dredging operation was in 1895-1897 when 150,000m3 of silt was removed.

Queen Pool is the upper lake at Blenheim and was created by ‘Capability’ Brown around 1763 as part of his extensive re-landscaping of the Park and Gardens. 

The man-made lake gets its name from a 14th century fish pool that was known to be a favourite place of Queen Philippa, wife of Edward III.

 

 

A message from our Editor

Thank you for reading this story and supporting the Oxford Mail.

If you like what we do please consider getting a subscription for the Oxford Mail and in return we’ll give you unrestricted access with less adverts across our website from the latest news, investigations, features, and sport.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok for more. 

You can also join the conversation in our Facebook groups: stay ahead of traffic alerts here, keep up to date with the latest from court here, share your favourite memories of Oxford here, get your daily dose of celebrity news here and take some time out with news that will make you smile. 

If you’ve got a story for our reporters, send us your news here. You can also list an event for free here. 

 

Subscriptions from Oxford Mail Subscribe to the Oxford Mail