Look back at River Tone dredging (From This is The West Country)

Look back at River Tone dredging

7:00am Saturday 9th March 2013 in News By Daniel Milligan

DREDGING of the rivers is a hot topic on the Somerset Levels but here is how they used to do it more than 80 years ago.

Reader Peter Rossiter, from Langport, brought in this photo of workers dredging the River Tone at Curload, near Stoke St Gregory, in 1930.

Peter was the area engineer and worked on the rivers Tone, Parrett and Yeo, among others, to help clear the silt from the river bed and reduce the risk of flooding.

The workmen, pictured, were employed by the Somerset River Board which changed its’ name a handful of times before becoming the Environment Agency in 1996.

Workers would throw the silt from the bottom to the top of the bank and then carry it in wheelbarrows to be deposited.

l You can always share your old photo memories with us by emailing them to newsdesk@countygazette.co.uk