Works To Path Area at Ironmills Steps - Midlothian Council Ground

I did suggest to the council that they try to keep folks up to date with what is happening at Ironmills Steps. Other than the decision made by the council committee to spend a sum of money on the repairs to the steps, there's very little info to be found.

So here is what I know about.

1. On Dec 1st the contractor (Crummock Ltd) will be digging a drainage track on the path from the old opening of the steps as far along as I guess the line of the landslip, heading towards the bowling club. The works will mean that the path will be closed to all for access at this time. God only knows why the council didn't do this 2 years ago, it is the singularly most sensible action required to assess the ground conditions at the top of the land slip.

2. The drainage track will be dug to look for any old water pipes, or perhaps live water pipes, that exist in this area. The information held on file seems to suggest that there is a live water pipe but Scottish Water wouldn't agree with that. Its a long story......

3 (a) After the repair to the road drains recently (one out of 3 drains was found to be leaking) the collector chamber manhole is now to be replaced with 2 new proper manholes. The existing manhole is also leaking, probably has been leaking since it was put in some time ago. That's because its a traffic light box!!!! with a concrete base - and its not integral. Road drain water running into this chamber may find its way into one of 2 pipes leading out of this manhole but not all the water will go into the pipes because the construction is not "sealed" either at the exit point of the pipes nor at its base. Hard to believe, or is it. 

the interceptor chamber below ground.

- and above ground on a wet day. squelch.

UPDATE 17/12. The new replacement drainage pot.

Some 20 times larger than the interceptor chamber.

3 (b) Road Gulley

There are 3 road gulleys and the one nearest our house was found to be defective. The bottom had been cut off the gulley pot and concrete had been used in its place. The pot didn't hold water although that had never really been noticed and nor did it cause any obvious problems. Until these recent works allowed the dry drain to be the conduit of the septic tank smells!

                                                             The new gulley pot in place. 8th Oct 2014

4. There's a repair due to the pipe taking the water from the manhole to the outlet of the septic tank. An interceptor trap (think u bend under your sink) that existed was blocked and was only partially functioning. The trap was replaced with a straight section but I think that still needs to be sorted properly. Not sure.

5. Gerry and I have been asking the council to document the drainage conditions that have been discovered. We are still waiting. We would also like Ironside Farrar to take the drainage conditions into account in their assessment of the land slip failure mode. Amazingly none of the drainage info recently "unearthed" was available to IF when they made their assessment prior to their geotechnical survey.

6. Around the path area outside our house - the SP Energy Networks sub station has been re fenced after I asked SP E N to paint the old metal fence. 

                                   - the lads removing the metal fencing.

Instead of painting it they came along and offered to re fence in wood. It is beautiful, blends in so well and it hides the ugly sub station contraption behind. 



7. Plants in front of the Heras fence. These are my plants. When the Heras fencing is removed (imminently said the council) I will imminently remove my plants. The Heras fencing will soon celebrate its second birthday.

8. Wood chip spread on the path area. That's my doing as well. An opportunity last week to have some wood chip was welcomed. It keeps the path dry-ish. I think the long term plans are to put down grey type 1 path material (yeuch!). In the past the path area here was red whin dust. It was lovely.  

9. The stone wall. I have been asking for years now to have a tree removed from the wall! yes, a tree. It was a fair size, I used to cut it back as much as I could and it was damaging the wall. In a fit of "lets get this sorted" (I probably finally wore them down) the council asked the cemetery boys to remove the tree and all the ivy that was growing there as well. Job done, but it looks a little barren now. 

                                     
                                         Before

                                   After - the break in the stone cope is where the tree root had taken over

Justin Venton seemed keen on the idea of planting some native cotoneaster on the path side of the wall and I offered to buy some of that to make sure it happens. It could look really lovely in a few years time, what with the new fence at the sub station, the wall cleaned up and the path material sorted. 


Fingers crossed.

Think that's it, other than plans to have a public meeting with the council to hear what is happening at the steps and the footbridge. That's being planned between Eskbank & Newbattle community council with Dalkeith community council. Hopefully soon.

Extract from IF Report on Ironmills Steps. Vegetation Assessment

VEGETATION ASSESSMENT

General

As part of the study, a vegetation assessment was undertaken to identify whether the existing vegetation was contributing to or negating against failure of the slope and whether there was opportunity for landscape related works to contribute towards a potential solution. The following section summarises the results of this assessment.

Roger Clark MCLI, a Technical Director of Ironside Farrar with over 20 years practical experience, visited the site on 21st March. Weather conditions were dry following heavy rain earlier in the day.

It is noted the existing topographic survey records the position of areas of slippage but does not record the position and girth of all trees in the study area. This will be required if the project progresses to a further stage together with a tree survey to record species and condition.

Site Assessment

The site is steep with a path down to the river and sits over an exposed rock face gorged out by the River Esk. Tree cover is not particularly dense and comprises mix of mature specimens over 1.5m girth with some new growth. There are a few intermediate sized trees.

Most trees are deciduous, and although a few conifers and evergreen species are present in the area, new growth appears to be mainly birch. Understorey vegetation is well developed, notably ivy. Many trees are in poor condition and much deadwood was noted, but this is not seen as a contributor to the slope stability issue.

The paths are enclosed by fences. These are in the main concrete post and wire, although some vertical bar fences are also present. It was noted that the mature tree at the upper dogleg bend appears to have arrested further slippage from above by the way the vertical bar fence and path have both slewed into the side of the tree. See photograph overleaf. The immediate area to the downslope side of the tree showed no sign of slippage, suggesting the tree was stable when the slip occurred.

Conclusions

Felling the trees will not assist in overcoming slope stability problems at this locus as the soil is not stable. Trees are not the problem and are possibly assisting in maintaining ground stability, particularly on slopes less than 50% (1:2).

There is nothing to suggest that the trees are a problem on the steeper slopes (80%) above the dogleg path where there is at present no slippage visible.

It is considered that removing trees may increase the potential for slippage to occur as an unvegetated slope offers far more opportunity for surface water runoff to develop momentum which may lead to scour of the surface and different type of stability problems.

Trees will always fall off the cliff face into the river as the overlying clayey sands and gravels erode and slide toward the cliff. This is a naturally occurring feature of gorges overlaid by softer material.

It is recognised that trees in good health may have better root systems than those in poor condition and dead wooding and canopy thinning of mature trees may assist in promoting healthy vigorous roots and stimulate regeneration. Coppicing of smaller suitable trees such as birch may also assist in stimulating root development.

Bioengineering techniques should also be considered such as brush layering at the base of slip areas using live willow whips possibly in conjunction with live willow stakes and fascines made from woodland thinnings. There has been a resurgence in the use of this traditional and low cost method of stabilising ground in recent years. Drawing 8162_701 identifies a typical arrangement for this type of technique.

The photograph below shows a rudimentary facine made by utilising the concrete post and wire fence and woodland thinnings already exists at the base of the steep slope above the dogleg path. ***

Recommendations

- No felling of trees to occur.

- Dead wooding and crown thinning of mature trees is recommended.

- Coppicing of smaller trees less than 500mm girth is recommended

- Bioengineering opportunities to be further examined for implementation in next plant dormant season (autumn).



*** - this is the wood pile created on water tower wood…….ahead of our time! photograph could not be copied over though.

Update from Midlothian Council re Ironmills Steps

Council agrees Ironmills steps repairs

The council has agreed to spend around £58,000 in total to tackle the continued landslip problems affecting the steps at Ironmills Park in Dalkeith. 

Published on 23 September 2014

At a full council meeting today (Tuesday), councillors heard the findings of a report by a specialist engineer, Ironside Farrar on the state of the slope and possible options for the reinstatement of the steps and path.

 Councillor Derek Rosie, cabinet member with responsibility for parks, said: “The steps have been closed and off limits to pedestrians since March 2013.

 “We’d like to thank pedestrians for their patience as this is the main pedestrian access route from Cemetery Road in Dalkeith to the park.

 “Hopefully, we are now on our way to tackling the issue of this closed access route. As the landslip is currently still moving, it is not possible to put a definite timescale on when the steps will reopen, however we are hopeful that the work can be completed by early summer 2015.”

 The money will be spent on halting the landslip and fixing the steps.

 Councillors were told there were three options, the first was to do nothing, the second was to spend a total of around £58,000 on carrying out a series of smaller works (localised solutions) while the third option was to spend between £225,000 and £675,000 on a full engineered solution to the landslip.

 Councillors agreed the second option was the way forward as the third option was beyond the £50,000 initial repair estimate and would also look unsightly in an important historical area.

Dying Sycamore Tree - Herbicide Poisoning?

Sad to report that the most significant sycamore tree in the woodland looks to be dead. It has a tree protection order (TPO) because it is so significant and lovely.

This is how the tree looks today

- about 80% of the tree has lost it leaves and there's scant sign of any secondary buds. There are no other affected trees in the area although another sycamore stump close by showed similar signs of leaf loss and leaf discolouration. 
The tree officer, Ellen, at first thought of lightning, but that was ruled out when the other tree stump had the same signs. Then sooty bark disease was suggested which could arise later following a fungal infection. Ellen strongly advised me to contact the Forestry Research to investigate and I have done that. Samples have been sent to their office and the pathologist said he would get back to me. I waited.....quite some time before eventually they got back to me. From the conversation I gather there's no indication of any fungus but the office seem very focussed on use/abuse of herbicide. I had to look up what herbicide was. I now know that Round Up is a herbicide and I do use that very sparingly on weeds in the street. Well diluted and in a spray. Not enough to kill a mature tree that's for sure.

A few weeks later I am told another pathologist will be in touch and indeed Steve comes along and manages to take samples from higher up the tree. Once again he asks about herbicide and if perhaps the tennis club have used any. I have no idea but the club was open and I ask if I can look. I take a look around the vicinity adjacent to the ailing sycamore.

I find this.

a cross cut tree stump and it's a sycamore. The only reason to cross cut a stump is to aid the action of a stump killer such as a Roundup. 

I then learn about the possibility for trees of the same species to share a root through some sort of fungal? mycorrhizal? activity which promotes the formation of a shared root. It all sounds a bit hard to believe.

There is no sign of any other reason for the death of the tree. Sycamores are robust trees and rarely succumb to fungal infection, this tree has died suddenly and the decay looks like herbicide damage. And yet not another plant in the vicinity of the tree has been affected. So it can't be from overspray. Hard as it is to believe it does look as if the application of a herbicide to the tennis club tree stump may have been translocated into the adjacent sycamore stump and the dying mature sycamore. If this is the case, we need to write this up for others to be aware of the potential for mature healthy trees to be affected by application of herbicide to tree stumps. 

If anyone else has any idea what might have caused the loss of this sycamore I am interested to hear. If anyone else has experience of herbicide use in tree stumps affecting nearby same species trees, again, please get in touch.

It does look as if this huge tree is going to have to be felled. Thats (a) expensive and (b) going to produce a huge stock of wood, more than we will need given our current stock piles. 

We will give it every chance to recover, see if it produces new buds, but it is not looking good. The upside for me is that I actually don't particularly like sycamore and I will be able to plant something else. Then there's the increased light. That's good for my garden plants. But somehow the fact that this tree has been "poisoned" albeit not deliberately, is very sad. It is/was a magnificent sycamore.

- lets hope some of my neighbours are not moved to say I deliberately poisoned this tree myself. Why would I think that might be possible I wonder?


PS
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/forestry/tree_biology/roots.html

Useful info on this link.

A Bridge To Nowhere

 

A Bridge To Nowhere - Ironmills Memorial Bridge

March 29th 2014.

Little more than a year since the access steps from Cemetery Road to Iromills Park were restricted for access due to land slip, it is reported that a six figure sum will be required to make good the land erosion. There’s no clear guidance whether that includes the cost of replacing the access steps and associated works.

That leaves the Memorial Footbridge built in 1913 at the bottom of the steps as a “bridge to nowhere”.

Not so very long ago I had hoped that the bridge would be cleaned up and re painted in time for its centenary in 2013. Instead it’s looking as if 2013 could mark its potential demise by lack of use. 

I’m seeking assurance that the bridge will be protected and cared for. Why? Read on. 

Why was the bridge built and what is its history?

The bridge simply connects Ironmills Park to Cemetery Road at one of the steepest part of the gorge cut by the North River Esk. It was built 4 years after the Duke of Buccleuch gifted Ironmills Park to the town on the occasion of His Grace’s Golden Wedding.

Photo from Del Hanlon. Date of photograph 1913

Dedication of the park. Photo 2014.

The bridge was designed by Charles Greig and it was listed as grade B in March 1992 by Historic Scotland, ID 24429. Its post-code is EH22 3BL.

In 1967 there is a report of a subsidence survey to assess possible mining related damage to the bridge. Dated 12/07/1967, the existence of this survey is recorded in the Scottish Mining Museum web site. I have never seen the report.

Photo from the Mining Museum web site. Date of Photograph 1967

To see the bridge throughout time, Canmore Images is a great source of photographs. Here are 2 examples.

The bridge and the water tower

View from the West

Possible Date of Photos.

 - re your request about the photo, I did a bit digging……I reckon that the photos were, almost certainly, taken at the same time,and, probably, by the guy who wrote the 'paper' …….. winter-time, early 70's. They just don't look like early 20th century photos to me, with the combination of image 'quality' and the shape. They also have a 'snapshot' air about them (tower's leaning in the one you posted), which the early photographers couldn't afford to do with their glass plates. Image copyright also belongs to 'John Hume'.

And if I have to be pedantic, I'd say January/February 1973/74 for your photos, given the condition of the trees and how low the sun appears to be.

John.

Any Other Uses?

It is not clear if the bridge was used as a conduit for a water pipe to the Dalkeith Water Tower (built 1879). Water from a bore hole in the park was certainly pumped to the tower in 1910 and it seems reasonable to believe that the conduit used before the bridge was built, continued to be used.

What About The Bridge Nowadays?

Well the bridge is structurally sound but it is looking very tired. Ivy has taken hold and the paintwork is flaky. The council has responsibility for its maintenance but given the economic conditions it is unlikely that this would permit anything more than bare necessities.

In 2009 I hastily organized a centeneray celebration for 100 years of the gift of the park and set about trying to establish a Friends of  Ironmills Park group to assist with refurbishment of the bridge in time for its centenary. It was a good event and the council paid to have 6 trees planted to commemorate the event.

The “ Friends of…” group never established but local councilors committed to use their environmental funds for the cost of cleaning and painting the bridge. Sadly though local elections interfered with progress and then in 2013, land slip started to appear around the steep bank above the bridge.

Any opportunity to celebrate 100 years of the bridge slipped along with the land.

So What Does The Bridge Look Like Now?

Some photos from the last 10 years or so…

 

Post Land Slip – What Now?

Well the local council will assure the future safety of the bridge. At the moment Heras fencing and barbed wire signify “Do Not Enter” although that doesn’t stop everyone. The young, fit and able continue to break through the barriers and use the bridge and the overgrown, land slip affected steps above. The ground has heaved around the path and the corner steps; the hand rail has twisted and almost snapped under the pressure from below. Rust is setting in, ivy is taking hold and the plants will claim the land in due course.

The council has surveyed the land slip; it is still moving. Ironside Farrar have been contracted to assess the reasons for the slip and suggest means of repair. It is not good news. The repair is said to be a 6 figure sum. Not the few thousand anticipated. The reasons why it has slipped have not been made public but speaking to the contractors, it is almost always due to water, probably from more rainfall than usual. Then the weight of the soil above the rock finally gave way. The contractors found Boulder Clay beneath the soil. This stuff is as good as rock. Water does not penetrate but slips along the surface, maybe finding a crack or area to penetrate. Maybe to  saturate a point area to liquefy the sand layer, allowing that layer the free movement that has taken that material into the river Esk last year. The weighty soil above the sand layer clings on thanks to tree roots and shrubs and I guess its weight. Hopefully it clings on for a long time. To safely repair the steps though would require that soil to be removed from the rock and with that the trees and all the roots. The extent of the removal might have to be well beyond the line of the land-slip crack. There’s a lot to be concerned about. A similar event occured on the opposite side of the river at Lugton Brae a couple of years ago. Some 1.9 Million £ later (and that figure could be ecomomic with the whole cost figure) the road at Lugton has been repaired and it has just been re opened to public this week.

But this article is dedicated to the bridge and its long term security and use. The bridge doesn’t seem to be at risk and maybe the public could be allowed to continue to use the bridge as a viewing point. The barrier to the steps above could be made in aesthetically pleasing materials just beyond the bridge and maybe funds could be found to at least remove the ivy and clean up the surfaces. A lick of paint surely wouldn’t go amiss. But I tell you, the last time I muted some paint on the bridge the Health and Safety police took over to make sure no flaky lead filled paint got into the river. A simple strip and paint turned into a suggestion that the railings be removed, sent for shot blasting and then painted and re instated. Consequently nothing happened at all. I'm sure we could have used an old blanket to catch the flaky paint and easily have primed and painted the rails. It wasn't to be.

As for the land slip, time will either heal the slip with the benefit of light and plant growth  (possibly with the gradual reduction of the light stealing, thirsty Sycamore trees on the slope) or funds will be found to scar the area by complete removal of all affected soil and plant life and then make good. It’s all up for discussion and opinion as to what’s the best course of action. I personally would prefer the former rather than drastic major works which might just shake the earth so much that another area of land will slip.

Meantime the bridge and the steps leading to it are starting to look very sad.

and the steps are not good.....

all caused by this.......

Susan Goldwyre March 2014