Shropshire Union Canal
|
The Shropshire Union Canal near Norbury Junction |
The
Shropshire Union Canal is a
canal linking
Wolverhampton (and the
Birmingham Canal Navigations) with the River
Mersey. It has been described as the last trunk canal route to be built in England, being completed in
1835, and it was the last major
civil engineering accomplishment of
Thomas Telford.
Most of the canal (the stretch south of the
Cheshire town of
Nantwich) was originally constructed as the
Birmingham and
Liverpool Junction Canal. At Nantwich, it links with what was then known as the
Chester Canal started in 1772; north of
Chester, the route to the Mersey was completed by the Wirral Line of 1805: the northern extremity of the
Ellesmere Canal.
The stretch at Nantwich is notable for a long sweeping embankment incorporating an
aqueduct carrying the canal across the main A534 Nantwich-Chester road. Further south there are substantial lengths of embankment through the
Staffordshire village of
Knighton and south of
Norbury Junction, deep cuttings at
Loynton, near
Woodseaves and
Grub Street, south of
High Offley, plus a 690 yard (631 m) tunnel near
Gnosall.
From Norbury Junction, a branch ran south-west through
Newport to connect with the
Shrewsbury Canal at
Wappenshall. This branch was opened in
1841. In
1846, the
Shrewsbury Canal and other canals in the east Shropshire network (linking modern-day
Telford with the
River Severn to the south at
Coalport) were acquired by the
Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company. Then (in
1847), the latter was taken over by the
London and North Western Railway Company, which allowed the Shrewsbury Canal and the branch from Norbury Junction to decline.
Near
Brewood the canal is fed from
Belvide Reservoir, and passes by
aqueduct over the
A5 road.
*Gordon Emery -
The Old Chester Canal (2005) ISBN 187226588X
*
Shropshire Union Canal Society*
Old Photographs & Drawings of Chester & Liverpool, The Chester Canal Area part 1
