SWH praised for work on Topsham Goat Walk

South West Highways has received excellent feedback after completing restoration works on Goat Walk in Topsham, a vital linking pedestrian route that is also of great historic value.

During the heavy storms at the end of January 2014, the historic walk was badly damaged with large sections of the wall collapsing, the concrete slabs making up the surface being displaced and broken and fill material being washed out with every subsequent high tide.

The existing concrete slabs had been cast on top of the stone walls which had left an unsightly edge. To carry out the repair work using the same method would have been slow, due to the necessity of erecting formwork, and again this would have left an unsightly edge.

In order to overcome this problem, it was decided that as the stonework was rebuilt it would be topped with red brick at the seaward edge. This is a detail that was already in use for a very short section of the Topsham end and would not only work as formwork speeding up the repair process, but would also give a visible edge demarcation thus reducing the fall risk.

A condition of the funding was that the Goat Walk would be opened for Easter Weekend and SWH were able to temporarily open, thanks to the installation of temporary surfacing and edge protection through the partially completed sections. According to a local resident there were approximately 3000 users over the Bank Holiday period, which reinforces the importance of the walk as well as its popularity.

Miranda Stephenson, a local resident who has lived in Topsham for over 30 years said, “SWH had an excellent team of men doing the repairs to the Goat Walk in Topsham. I use the walk a few times a day to walk my dog and I spoke to the workers on several occasions. I was struck by what a cheerful group of guys they were, doing an excellent job in all weathers”.

A big thank you must go to Miranda, as she kindly went the extra mile to congratulate our men on their fantastic job – even writing a poem to demonstrate her appreciation.