Major incident declared over canal 'sinkhole'
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Chloe Hughes, West Midlands and Ellen Knight, in Whitchurch
    Published    22 December 2025, 09:46 GMT       Updated 17 minutes ago

A major incident has been declared over what police have called a sinkhole at a canal in Shropshire, leaving boats either stricken in a gaping cavity or teetering on the edge of a steep drop.

Pictures appear to show that the structural integrity of a stretch of waterway in the Chemistry area of Whitchurch has completely given way, raising flooding fears.

Two narrowboats are said to have sunk into the hole, into which water looks to have drained completely. Another two are at the edge.

Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service said it was responding to a landslip and confirmed a canal was affected. There are no reports of casualties, according to West Mercia Police.

The force asked people to avoid the area and seek alternate routes.

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There were no reports of any casualties, West Mercia Police said

A major incident has been declared over what police have called a sinkhole at a canal in Shropshire, leaving boats either stricken in a gaping cavity or teetering on the edge of a drop.

Pictures appear to show that the structural integrity of a stretch of waterway in Whitchurch has completely given way, raising flooding fears.

Two narrowboats at the scene were said to have sunk into the hole shortly after 04:00 GMT, with another two at the edge. Water there looks to have drained away completely.

Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) said it was responding to a landslip and confirmed a canal was affected. Scott Hurford, area manager at SFRS, which sent 50 firefighters, said crews received reports at about 04:20 GMT that a canal bank had collapsed and there were large volumes of water in surrounding fields.

According to West Mercia Police, there are no reports of casualties at the scene, in an area of Whitchurch called Chemistry. The force asked people to avoid the area and seek alternate routes.

The Canal and River Trust described the incident as a breach on the canal, and said its priority was the safety of boaters and those in the immediate area. "We are carrying out initial investigations into the possible cause of the breach and will provide more details in due course," it said. "We will also seek to return water levels either side of the breach as soon as possible and are providing support to the boaters affected and those in the immediate area either side of the breach."

Mr Hurford told BBC Shropshire: "The information we've had back is that the canal bank failed and that's what put the emergency call in. The water from the canal has leaked out of the canal into the surrounding fields… There are up to 15 people who had to be moved out of the way to safety, and there's a number of canal boats that have been affected, some of those have gone into the field and some are at the bottom of the canal." He added: "Our job is the response phase, so we're there to save life, protect property and the environment, but we will support in the recovery phase."

Andy Hall, a councillor in Whitchurch, said: "We've got two boats at the bottom of the sink hole that have fallen down, and we've got two boats that are teetering on the edge that could go in at any time," he told the BBC. "Obviously [the fire service is] going to make those safe." He added: "[People] thought that there was an earthquake. To the right, we've got the field which has taken probably about a million gallons of water out of the canal." He said the fire service had put in a flood gate to stop the flow of more from the compromised waterway.

"The most important thing is that the canal itself has been secured by fire and rescue," he said. "Their biggest worry was that the canal was going to burst even more and flood residents in the town." He said that no one was on board "the two boats that went down", adding that people on the boats "teetering over the edge" had been helped to safety by fire crews. He said that contrary to speculation on social media, there had been no bridge collapse.

Lorraine Barlow, who lives on a boat called The Singing Kettle and was moored near the site, said: "About 04:20 this morning I could feel that there was something amiss, there seemed to be a current coming from underneath the boat, and bubbling, it sounded really unusual. Then I was tilting to the middle of the canal, I could feel the ropes were getting tight." She said she left the boat and could see the fire service as well as search and rescue teams. "There was no water on the canal," she said. "I was worried about the ropes and about my canal boat hanging there. It's an awful thing, I was worried about the other people."

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Police have asked people to avoid the area

This never happened on Rosie and Jim

Looks like a mega-money repair will be needed.  Not sure what recourse to funds the C&RT has, these days.  I imagine they're not all that well off

Boat stranded on canal hole edge pulled to safety

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The Pacemaker was left perilously close to tipping into the large hole

A narrowboat that was left teetering on the edge of a giant hole after part of a canal in Shropshire collapsed has been pulled to safety.

Paul Stowe's boat, the Pacemaker, was perilously close to falling into the hole on the Llangollen Canal in Whitchurch, which opened up on Monday after an "embankment failure". Mr Stowe, originally from Solihull, escaped barefoot with his wife, son, and two cats at about 04:10 GMT after he woke and heard rushing water "equivalent to the Niagara Falls".

Shropshire Council said the boat, which the family live on, was rescued at about 22:00 on Tuesday using a specialist winch operation. Once in location, the winch was able to haul the boat along the drained canal away from the breach hole," the authority said in a statement. "The boat is now safely located next to the lift bridge," the council said, adding that it would be refloated in the new year, when a dam would be constructed beyond the boat.

Overnight, water was pumped into dammed sections created by the Canal and River Trust on Tuesday, and as of 06:00 on Wednesday, water levels were recovering. "This means that one of the boats near to the breach site, plus six further up the canal, are now beginning to refloat," it said. "They are expected to be fully afloat by later today."

Mr Stowe previously told the BBC that all of his and his family's possessions were on the boat, and that they had escaped with only the clothes on their backs. He said they had no phones or credit cards, and added his birthday was on Christmas Day. "I'm not sure I'll ever moor in this area again, I'm not sure I'll ever moor on an embankment again," he said. "I'll be honest with you, it's very debatable [that] I'll ever want to go on a boat again."

The authority added that investigations had begun into what caused the collapse. "This will continue after the new year together with the initial plans to recover the two boats in the breach hole and the long and costly process of rebuilding and reinstating the canal."

"Now the initial emergency response, including the concern for boaters' immediate safety, has passed, our teams have been working hard to refill the Llangollen Canal around the site of the breach," said Campbell Robb, chief executive of the Canal and River Trust. "This will mean the boats in the immediate area are refloating, and navigation along other affected areas will be restored."

He said the trust would be providing regular updates and assurance to the local community and boating community in the coming weeks. "Thankfully, breaches of this scale are relatively rare, but, when they do occur, they're expensive and complicated to fix," he said.

The trust previously told the BBC that repairs could take months.

Workers attempt to rescue three narrowboats dragged to the depths by canal collapse

Workers have attempted to salvage three narrowboats that were dragged to the depths of a gaping canal collapse in Shropshire.

Aerial pictures show the vessels submerged in mud with bits of debris scattered round them and a long stretch of corrugated metal draped over.

At least 10 people were rescued on Monday last week when the crater, around 50 meters by 50 metres in size, began to form at 4.22am in the Chemistry area of Whitchurch.

Firefighters arrived on scene shortly after 4.40am when the section of the canal mooring three boats completely drained of water.

Two narrowboats had fallen into the hole and were left sitting on the canal bed, while one remained teetering over the edge.

This morning, emergency workers in orange high-vis vests were pictured positioning boat turners in a bid to winch the stranded vessels to safety.

Pumps were put in place to keep water levels normal and to prevent further catastrophic flooding.

Workers were also seen positioning a boat turner amid the rescue operation

Canal and River Trust chief executive Campbell Robb said: 'Now the initial emergency response, including the concern for boaters' immediate safety, has passed, our teams have been working hard to refill the Llangollen Canal around the site of the breach.

'This will mean the boats in the immediate area are refloating, and navigation along other affected areas will be restored.'We are also delighted to have been able to recover narrowboat Pacemaker from the edge of the breach overnight.

'Alongside this, our engineers are continuing their investigations into why the canal embankment was undermined and will be drawing up plans for its repair.

'We'll be providing regular updates and assurance to the local and boating community in the weeks ahead.

'Thankfully, breaches of this scale are relatively rare, but, when they do occur, they're expensive and complicated to fix.'

Mr Robb added he was thankful initial support had been in place for all people 'and pets' caught up in the 'disaster'.

'With most of the boats now refloating, we'll continue to support those affected,' he said.

Last week crews battled through 'unstable ground and rapidly moving water' as they began to rescue 14 members of the public.

The canal bank collapsed leaving large volumes of water escaping into the surrounding land.

Residents were urged to avoid the area, while emergency services responded to the incident.

A 'multi-agency' response was set up but no injuries were reported.

Errr....why is this here & not in the canals thread? Took an age to find it....

Sorry, I'm in the middle of moving it: it's a specific infrastructure issue in the UK, not a viable alternative means of travel.

There isn't a specific board for 'canals': perhaps there should be?

CfN.  Image not available to guests

Probably because of complaints (from a certain member  Image not available to guests ) that none-travel, none-south-west topics that could dilute the forum's inetrests be kept to one or two places - and "Introductions and Chat" and "And Also" were the two chosen places.  So correct for the thread to be started here, and as it's likely to be a long runner with a number of follow ups, it would get lost and confuse a general canal thread.  


Ah ... where??   I think we both come from the viewpoint that the canals are not really a means of transport these days.

Would the same argument be used for heritage railways?   Just being the Devils Advocate  Image not available to guests

Heritage railways, Railtours, buses, canals, steamships and other public transport based attractions
Railway lines and other public transport attractions, largely separate from the national network. Covers those saved from closure, reinstated or specially built and includes commemorative events.

Thank you for your post, Electric train. Image not available to guests

You make a good point - but one which I would rebut, as follows:

Firstly, we do indeed have a very substantial number of topics relating specifically to heritage railways - of which there are many, throughout the UK, and which carry thousands of (generally leisure) passengers.  Similarly, we have several topics covering ferries, steamships and other public transport based attractions.  These often 'heritage attractions' are generally widely used, judging by the sheer number of posts they generate on the Coffee Shop forum.  Not so much so with 'canals' - which were never much of a 'tourist attraction' - more an historic working environment in the wider infrastructure.

Secondly, (and perhaps more personally), I know that most of the administrator and moderator team here on the forum have something of a 'canal / narrowboat' background (myself included). While we also have active interests in heritage railways, I may perhaps have favoured 'canals' disproportionately in my own posting out on the forum. There is, however, absolutely nothing to say that any of our members should not post anything relevant about canals, heritage railways, or their historic infrastructure (whether on land or over waterways). Image not available to guests

Meanwhile, may I offer best wishes to all of those boatowners, families and others dealing with that Llangollen canal incident. Chris from Nailsea. Image not available to guests

Repairing a canal collapse that left boats swallowed up in a deep trench as water poured out could take most of 2026, authorities have said

First of three stranded narrow boats refloated after Shropshire canal breach

A narrow boat left high and dry by a pre-Christmas canal bank collapse has been successfully refloated by waterways engineers.

The stern of the Pacemaker was left hanging precariously over a 50-metre-long “sinkhole” in Whitchurch, Shropshire, three weeks ago, after an incident its owner likened to being caught in a waterfall.

Two other narrow boats remain stranded in the bottom of the breach, ahead of an operation to winch them clear due to begin later this week.

Engineers from the Canal & River Trust oversaw the operation to refloat the Pacemaker, which saw the craft pulled underneath a movable footbridge and then refloated inside a temporary dam.

Fire crews helped around 12 people to safety after declaring a major incident at 4.22am on December 22 as millions of gallons of water escaped from the canal.

After the Pacemaker was moved using a winch, engineers took just over an hour to fill a newly-dammed area with water, allowing the boat to rejoin the canal network.

The boat’s owner Paul Stowe then stepped on board to inspect the inside.

Mr Stowe, who is currently living in rented accommodation, recalled how he had rescued his cats as he and family members saw a “gaping hole” appear under the boat, having been woken at around 4.05am.

He told the Press Association: “At the moment I don’t feel like the boat’s mine.

“There are an awful lot of people here.

“Once everybody’s gone and once we’ve had it inspected and checked, we’ve had all the repairs done and it’s back in the water, then I’ll feel like it’s my boat.”

Describing the canal breach, Mr Stowe added: “When it actually happened I looked over the stern of the boat and within 20 minutes this went from nothing to an enormous hole in the ground.

“It was almost like an implosion.”

The Canal & River Trust said its teams are ensuring that pipes and pumps are in place to safeguard a continued flow of water around the breach site, so boats downstream on the Llangollen Canal are kept afloat.

Julie Sharman, chief operating officer at the Trust, said: “We know how deeply distressing this breach has been for the boaters and local community.

“After initially making sure everyone was safe, a key area of focus has been recovering the last boats impacted ahead of the long and expensive job of getting the canal rebuilt and back open.

“I’d like to thank all those who have supported, including all who donated to assist the boaters affected, as well as those donating to our longer-term task of getting this historic canal back open in the weeks and months ahead.

“We’re still investigating the likely cause of the breach. The reasons behind earth embankment failures are not always clear, and multiple factors may be involved. We are undertaking a full and robust investigation and will make a summary of the findings publicly available in the coming weeks.”