Drying Blenheim Palace lakes put Vanbrugh Bridge at risk

A bridge that provides “England’s finest view” is under threat of collapse as the lakes it spans are running dry, engineers say. The gardens at Blenheim Palace, Winston Churchill’s birthplace in Oxfordshire, were landscaped by Capability Brown 246 years ago, with the famous Vanbrugh Bridge spanning two lakes as the focal point. Churchill’s father, Lord Randolph Churchill, described the vista as “the finest view in England”.

But the waters have become so shallow they are at risk of drying out and destabilising the 307-yearold Grand Bridge. Engineers are undertaking a £12 million project to save the view by bringing in a fleet of dredgers to remove 400,000 tons of silt – enough to fill Wembley Stadium to its roof – and return the lakes to their original depth of 6ft 7in. Roy Cox, the head of estates at Blenheim Palace, said: “There is an absolute certainty that, if we do not do something radical soon, the view will be lost forever.”