Posted on December 14, 2022
A major dredging operation taking place on a lake at Blenheim Palace has been put on hold until spring. The project involves removing 300,000 cubic metres of silt – enough to fill Wembley Stadium – from the palace’s Queen Pool.
The dredge is believed to be one of the largest civil engineering projects ever undertaken at a UK heritage site. It will return the ‘Capability’ Brown-designed lake to its original depth of two metres from its current shallows of 30cm.
Blenheim has now confirmed that Land & Water, the contractor carrying out the work, is pausing the scheme over Christmas and intends to restart in 2023. It said the decision was taken due to the weather, as mild conditions over recent weeks combined with heavy rainfall have resulted in areas becoming waterlogged.
“While the work is on hold visitors will once again be able to access the walking loop around the Queen Pool,” Blenheim said. Estate director Roy Cox added: “The dredging is progressing well and Land & Water is approaching the halfway point of what is a hugely ambitious project.
“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.”
A flotilla of diggers have been removing silt which is then taken to shore on specially designed hoppers and deposited into a fleet of vehicles. These then transport the silt to an area of the estate known as Great Park where it is being used to create a new 16-hectare grassland mound.
Project manager Charlie Oakes said: “During the winter months Land & Water is pausing the Blenheim dredge with a view to returning in the spring to complete the project. 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.”
The last major dredging operation was in 1895-1897 when 150,000 cubic metres 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.
