Thanks to Adam for this picture. He says, ‘That is the River Stert at the bottom of the hole. The Barriers along Stert Street are so they can install manhole covers along the culvert to allow access for maintenance and repairs.’
Stert Street was closed overnight to prepare for work on the culvert beneath. Contractors put up barriers and marked spots for new access holes to make it easier to reach the River Stert culvert underneath the footpath. The maintenance work and improvements will continue until May 16th, with another closure that night to remove the barriers. Traffic on the main road will not be affected, but the parking area outside 35-47 Stert Street (near Masons) will be used to store materials for the work.
For more information about this and other roadworks in Abingdon, view: https://one.network/.
The video ends with four pictures just outside the wood, including one rainbow picture at St Nicolas School.
If people can help identify bird sounds at specific timings in the video I will try to add some birdsong identification tags so we can all learn more bird songs.
As Captainkaos2 predicted work is starting on reinforcing the River Stert culvert that runs under Stert Street. He says “It’s due to last 8 weeks. Only the pavements will be dug up as new, reinforced manholes have already been installed. Looks like we can at last see the back of that dreadful barrier.”
There are 2 large portacabins in Station Yard and two sections have been fenced off. Work on the lower Stert culvert was completed in 2012, but there has been a delay doing the upper part of the culvert.
There are lots of interesting pictures of the Underground Stert at Abingdon Buildings and People.