THE mammoth task of removing the remains of a lock gate from the entrance to a heritage harbour in Cornwall has been successfully completed.

Photographer Paul Williams, who watched the operation unfold, said: “It was a triumph for the exhausted harbour crew and engineers at Charlestown harbour as the 41-ton lock gate, installed in 1971 and out of action for the past seven months following storm damage, was finally removed.

“After the searing heat of the day before and on a day that started at dawn, the crew winched it up from its horizontal resting place and then placed it down onto a specially-designed floating pontoon.”

The old lock gate will be recycled and a new gate will be installed later this year.