Great Ouse Aqueduct on BBC Look East

image grabbed from the film, ©BBC

Last Wednesday BBC Look East did a story on the iron trunk aqueduct over the Great Ouse between Cosgrove and Wolverton on the Grand Union (for viewers in the west of the BBC East region). Samples of paint were being gathered by a BW contractor abseiling from the parapet.

"Is it dangerous?" asks reporter Jozef Hall of Dean Blagg, the abseiler.
"Nowhere near as dangerous as it looks."

The idea is that new paint will be made up to match the old, and the ironwork will be repainted in time for the aqueduct's bicentenary. See the 1'20" film here (it's on the BBC's Beds, Bucks and Herts page, so it might remain available beyond iPlayer's usual one week).

The aqueduct officially opened on January 21st 1811, so it won't be repainted in time for the anniversary. There's more information on Waterscape here, including the snippet:

Since it was built, there have only been two occasions when the aqueduct was de-watered for repairs - the first in 1921, and again in 1986.