Shrewsbury Canal
Encyclopedia
The Shrewsbury Canal was a canal
in Shropshire
, England
. Authorised in 1793, the main line from Trench to Shrewsbury
was fully open by 1797, but it remained isolated from the rest of the canal network until 1835, when the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal built the Newport Branch from Norbury Junction to a new junction with the Shrewsbury Canal at Wappenshall. After ownership passed to a series of railway companies, the canal was officially abandoned in 1944; many sections have disappeared, though some bridge
s and other structures can still be found. There is an active campaign to preserve the remnants of the canal and to restore the Norbury to Shrewsbury line to navigation.
. These canals carried tub boat
s. The first of these was the Donnington Wood Canal
which opened in 1768, to be followed by the Wombridge Canal
and the Ketley Canal
, both opened in 1788, and the Shropshire Canal
, which opened in 1791. The network linked Lilleshall
and Pave Lane in the north to Coalbrookdale
and Coalport
in the south. Following a survey of the route by George Young from Worcester in 1792, an Act of Parliament was obtained in 1793 which authorised the creation of a canal to link the town of Shrewsbury
with the east Shropshire canal network serving coal
mines and iron
works around Oakengates
, Ketley
, Donnington Wood
and Trench
, nowadays part of the new town of Telford
. The act authorised the raising of £50,000 in shares, and an additional £20,000 if necessary. This canal became the Shrewsbury Canal, and incorporated one mile and 88 yards (1.69 km) of the Wombridge Canal
, which were purchased for £840 from William Reynolds to provide access to the Donnington Wood Canal
and the Shropshire Canal
.
Josiah Clowes
was appointed Chief Engineer, but died in 1795 part way through construction. He was succeeded by Thomas Telford
, then just establishing himself as Shropshire's County Surveyor and already engaged on the Ellesmere Canal
slightly further north. The Ellesmere Canal was originally intended to connect Chester
with Shrewsbury
, but never reached the latter - it became the modern Llangollen Canal
and Montgomery Canal
.
over the River Tern
at Longdon-on-Tern
which had been built by Clowes but swept away by floods in February 1795. Telford's stonemason instincts initially led him to consider replacing the original structure with another stone-built aqueduct, but the heavy involvement of iron-masters in the Shrewsbury Canal Company, notably William Reynolds
, led him to reconsider. Instead, it was rebuilt using a 62 yards (56.7 m) cast iron
trough cast in sections at Reynolds' Ketley ironworks and bolted together in 1796. The main trough was 7.5 feet (2.3 m) wide and 4.5 feet (1.4 m) deep, with a narrower trough to one side which formed the towpath. The aqueduct was the world's first large-scale iron navigable aqueduct, though it was narrowly predated by a much smaller 44 feet (13.4 m) structure on the Derby Canal
built by Benjamin Outram
. The aqueduct still stands today, though it is isolated in the middle of a field. This successful use of an iron trough to contain the water of a navigable aqueduct casts the Tern aqueduct in the role of Telford's prototype for the much longer Pontcysyllte Aqueduct
on the Llangollen Canal, where he mounted the iron trough on high masonry arches.
The Shrewsbury Canal was finally finished in 1797, being 17 miles (27 km) long, with 11 locks. At Trench an inclined plane
was built, which was 223 yards (203.9 m) long and raised boats 75 feet (22.9 m) up to the Wombridge Canal
, from where they could travel via the Shropshire Canal
southwards to the River Severn
at Coalport
. The plane consisted of twin railway tracks, each of which held a cradle. Boats would be floated onto the cradles, which had larger wheels at the back to keep the boat level. A third set of wheels were mounted at the front, which ran on extra rails in the dock, to prevent the cradle tipping forwards as it ran over the top cill. Although the plane was partially counterbalanced, with loaded boats going down the plane pulling empty boats up, a steam engine was also provided, to pull the boats over the top cill. The plane opened in 1794, and the engine was replaced in 1842. The plane continued to be used until 1921, making it the last operational plane in Britain.
The canal included a 970 yards (887 m) tunnel at Berwick, which was 10 feet (3 m) wide, but included a wooden towpath, supported by bearers which were attached to the wall. The towpath lasted until 1819, when it was removed. By 1904, there was a white line painted in the middle of the tunnel, and if boats travelling in opposite directions met in the tunnel, the one which had passed the mark had right of way.
The canal was originally built as a narrow canal intended for horse-drawn trains of tub boats which were 20 feet (6.1 m) long and no wider than 6 in 4 in (1.93 m). However, in preparation for the Newport
branch of the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal
to Wappenshall the section from there to Shrewsbury was surveyed in 1831 and subsequently widened to take standard 7 feet (2.1 m) narrow boats. This heralded the canal's most profitable period, though it was short-lived. With the opening of the Newport Branch in 1835, the Shrewsbury Canal was no longer isolated from the rest of the national canal network. The branch linked Norbury Junction
to Wappenshall Junction
, passing through Newport
, and included 23 locks.
In 1844 the Humber Arm was constructed. This short branch ran to Lubstree Wharf, which was owned by the Duke of Sutherland. Tramways ran from the end of the branch to various works owned by the Lilleshall Company
, who shipped cargoes of pig iron, coal and limestone for use as a flux in the production of iron. Much of this trade had previously used the Donnington Wood Canal
, but the new arm provided a more direct connection to the canal network, and the transfer of trade was a factor in the closure of the Donnington Wood Canal. Lubstree wharf was leased to the Shropshire Union Railways & Canal Co. in 1870, by the third Duke of Sutherland, and closed in 1922 by the fifth Duke.
bought most of the east Shropshire canal network, including the Shrewsbury Canal. The London and North Western Railway
Company (LNWR) took control shortly afterwards and allowed the canal to decline. In 1922, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
took over the canal and the basin in Shrewsbury was closed. The LMS finally abandoned the canal network in 1944, when they obtained an Act of Abandonment.
system, the Shrewsbury Canal is the only one which has no part open or under restoration. The Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust
was created in 2000 to preserve and restore the waterway.
In 2007, the canalside buildings at Wappenshall, including a trans-shipment warehouse which has been little altered since it ceased to be used in the 1930s, and retains many original features, were put up for sale. They were eventually purchased, along with a length of the canal and the Wappenshall basin, by Telford and Wrekin Council, who are working with the Trust to allow repairs to the buildings to be undertaken, with the aim of providing a museum and heritage centre for the canal, a cafe, and offices for the Canals Trust.
Today the short stretch of canal to the first lock is used as moorings, while the lock itself is used as a dry-dock.
at Norbury Junction, passing under a stone bridge which carried the Shropshire Union towpath over the branch. The bridge is a Grade II listed structure. The section to the first lock is still in water as it is used for moorings, while the first lock is used as a dry dock. The lock was the first in a flight of 17, which lowered the canal down the hillside as it passed through Oulton and to the south of Sutton and Forton. At the bottom of the flight, the canal and a minor road crossed the River Meese on the Forton aqueduct, before passing under a skew bridge which carries the road over the canal. The aqueduct is a scheduled ancient monument. The River Meese feeds the Aquelate Mere, which is a National Nature Reserve and the largest lake in the West Midlands region, covering 214.4 hectares (529.8 acre). Soon afterwards, the route of the canal has been cut by the building of the A41 Newport
bypass.
Beyond the bypass, Meretown lock marks the start of a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) watered section, which passes through Newport and included another five locks. The Strine Brook passes under the canal at both ends of this section, running parallel to the canal between the two aqueducts. The canal passed under Buttery Bridge, and then over Kinnersley Drive on an aqueduct, before the junction with the Humber Branch, which ran for about 1 miles (1.6 km) to the south, and served the industrial complex of Lilleshall. Two more aqueducts carried it over the Humber Brook and the Crow Brook, before the junction at Wappenshall where the new branch joined the original canal from Trench to Shrewsbury. At the junction, the warehouses, basin and a section of the canal have been bought by Telford and Wrekin Council, and include a Grade II Listed warehouse which straddled a dock, so that goods could be loaded and unloaded through trapdoors in the floor of the upper storey.
The Trench branch rose through 9 locks from the junction, which were called Wappenshall, Britton, Wheat Leasons, Shucks, Peaty, Hadley Park, Turnip, Baker's and Trench lock. Wappenshall Lock was demolished to make way for a weir which is part of a storm drain. Hadley Park and Turnip locks are Grade II listed structures, as is the bridge immediately downstream of Hadley Park lock, and both locks still have their original guillotine mechanism in situ. Beyond Trench lock, which was demolished in 1977 as part of a roadworks scheme, the Trench Pool was the main water supply for the canal, after which the Trench incline carried boats another 75 feet (22.9 m) upwards. The building of an incline, rather than a flight of locks was dictated by the lack of an adequate water supply at the higher level. The locks on the Trench Branch, and the two Eyton locks, had guillotine gates at the lower end. They were 81 feet (24.7 m) long, and although Thomas Telford
wrote in 1797 that they had a third set of gates, so that they could be used by a single 20 feet (6.1 m) tub-boat in the short section, a train of three tub-boats in the longer section, or a train of four boats if the outer gates were used, there is no evidence that the middle gates were ever fitted.
After Wappenshall junction the canal dropped down through the two Eyton locks, which were widened when the Newport Branch was built, passing to the north of Eyton upon the Weald Moors and through Sleapford, before crossing the River Tern
on the aqueduct at Longdon-on-Tern
. The canal then headed south-west, skirting the southern edge of Rodington
, where it crossed the River Roden
on an aqueduct which was demolished in January 1971, and the eastern and southern edge of Withington
, where there was a wharf. It passed under the Shrewsbury to Telford railway line south of Upton Magna, where the new line of the A5 road has blocked the line of the canal, to reach Berwick Wharf. Here it turned north-west, to enter the 970 yards (887 m) Berwick Tunnel
. At the time of its construction, this was the longest canal tunnel in Britain, and the first equipped with a towpath
through it. From the northern portal of the tunnel, it passed under the railway and the A5 road again, heading north to Uffington
, after which it followed the large horseshoe bend in the River Severn
to reach Shrewsbury where it terminated at Castle Foregate Basin adjacent to the Buttermarket building.
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
in Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Authorised in 1793, the main line from Trench to Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is a civil parish home to some 70,000 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council...
was fully open by 1797, but it remained isolated from the rest of the canal network until 1835, when the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal built the Newport Branch from Norbury Junction to a new junction with the Shrewsbury Canal at Wappenshall. After ownership passed to a series of railway companies, the canal was officially abandoned in 1944; many sections have disappeared, though some bridge
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
s and other structures can still be found. There is an active campaign to preserve the remnants of the canal and to restore the Norbury to Shrewsbury line to navigation.
History
From 1768 several small canals were built in the area of what is now TelfordTelford
Telford is a large new town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, approximately east of Shrewsbury, and west of Birmingham...
. These canals carried tub boat
Tub boat
A tub boat was a type of unpowered cargo boat used on a number of the early English and German canals. The English boats were typically long and wide and generally carried to of cargo, though some extra deep ones could carry up to . They are also called compartment boats or container boats.The...
s. The first of these was the Donnington Wood Canal
Donnington Wood Canal
The Donnington Wood Canal was a private canal in East Shropshire, England, which ran from coal pits owned by Earl Gower at Donnington Wood to Pave Lane on the Wolverhampton to Newport Turnpike Road. It was completed in about 1767 and abandoned in 1904...
which opened in 1768, to be followed by the Wombridge Canal
Wombridge Canal
The Wombridge Canal was a tub-boat canal in Shropshire, England, built to carry coal and iron ore from mines in the area to the furnaces where the iron was extracted.- History :...
and the Ketley Canal
Ketley Canal
The Ketley Canal was a tub boat canal that ran about 1.5 miles from Oakengates to Ketley works in Shropshire, England. The canal was built about 1788 and featured the first inclined plane in Britain. The main cargo of the canal was coal and ironstone .-History:The canal was constructed in 1788 by...
, both opened in 1788, and the Shropshire Canal
Shropshire Canal
The Shropshire Canal was a tub boat canal built to supply coal, ore and limestone to the industrial region of east Shropshire, England, that adjoined the River Severn at Coalbrookdale...
, which opened in 1791. The network linked Lilleshall
Lilleshall
Lilleshall is a village in Shropshire, England.It lies between the towns of Telford and Newport, on the A518, in the Telford and Wrekin borough and the Wrekin constituency....
and Pave Lane in the north to Coalbrookdale
Coalbrookdale
Coalbrookdale is a village in the Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting. This is where iron ore was first smelted by Abraham Darby using easily mined "coking coal". The coal was drawn from drift mines in the sides...
and Coalport
Coalport
Coalport is a village in Shropshire, now part of the new town of Telford. It is located on the River Severn at , a mile downstream of Ironbridge...
in the south. Following a survey of the route by George Young from Worcester in 1792, an Act of Parliament was obtained in 1793 which authorised the creation of a canal to link the town of Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is a civil parish home to some 70,000 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council...
with the east Shropshire canal network serving coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
mines and iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
works around Oakengates
Oakengates
Oakengates is a town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, and now forms part of the new town of Telford...
, Ketley
Ketley
Ketley is a suburb of the new town of Telford in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England. It is a civil parish. East Ketley is currently being re-developed as part of the Telford Millennium Community, part of the Millennium Communities Programme...
, Donnington Wood
Donnington Wood
Donnington Wood is part of the new town of Telford in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England.Famous former jockey, Sir Gordon Richards was born here. A local pub in nearby Donnington, was named after him, "The Champion Jockey". This was replaced firstly by...
and Trench
Trench, Telford
Trench is a suburb of the new town of Telford in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, on the north side of the town, north of Oakengates.-Canal Inclined Plane:...
, nowadays part of the new town of Telford
Telford
Telford is a large new town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, approximately east of Shrewsbury, and west of Birmingham...
. The act authorised the raising of £50,000 in shares, and an additional £20,000 if necessary. This canal became the Shrewsbury Canal, and incorporated one mile and 88 yards (1.69 km) of the Wombridge Canal
Wombridge Canal
The Wombridge Canal was a tub-boat canal in Shropshire, England, built to carry coal and iron ore from mines in the area to the furnaces where the iron was extracted.- History :...
, which were purchased for £840 from William Reynolds to provide access to the Donnington Wood Canal
Donnington Wood Canal
The Donnington Wood Canal was a private canal in East Shropshire, England, which ran from coal pits owned by Earl Gower at Donnington Wood to Pave Lane on the Wolverhampton to Newport Turnpike Road. It was completed in about 1767 and abandoned in 1904...
and the Shropshire Canal
Shropshire Canal
The Shropshire Canal was a tub boat canal built to supply coal, ore and limestone to the industrial region of east Shropshire, England, that adjoined the River Severn at Coalbrookdale...
.
Josiah Clowes
Josiah Clowes
Josiah Clowes was a noted civil engineer and canal builder.Clowes was appointed head engineer, surveyor and carpenter to the Thames and Severn Canal in 1783 to assist Robert Whitworth. Clowes became resident engineer and was paid £300 per year. Clowes' work on the canal developed him a reputation...
was appointed Chief Engineer, but died in 1795 part way through construction. He was succeeded by Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE was a Scottish civil engineer, architect and stonemason, and a noted road, bridge and canal builder.-Early career:...
, then just establishing himself as Shropshire's County Surveyor and already engaged on the Ellesmere Canal
Ellesmere Canal
The Ellesmere Canal was a canal in England and Wales, originally planned to link the Rivers Mersey, Dee, and Severn, by running from Netherpool to Shrewsbury. The canal that was eventually constructed was very different from what was originally envisioned...
slightly further north. The Ellesmere Canal was originally intended to connect Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
with Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is a civil parish home to some 70,000 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council...
, but never reached the latter - it became the modern Llangollen Canal
Llangollen Canal
The Llangollen Canal is a navigable canal crossing the border between England and Wales. The waterway links Llangollen in Denbighshire, north Wales, with Hurleston in south Cheshire, via the town of Ellesmere, Shropshire....
and Montgomery Canal
Montgomery Canal
The Montgomery Canal , known colloquially as "The Monty", is a partially restored canal in Powys, in eastern Wales, and in northwest Shropshire, in western England...
.
Longdon-on-Tern
One of Telford's first tasks was to rebuild a stone aqueductAqueduct
An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....
over the River Tern
River Tern
The River Tern is a river in Shropshire, England. It rises north-east of Market Drayton in the north of the county. The source of the Tern is considered to be the lake in the grounds of Maer Hall, Staffordshire...
at Longdon-on-Tern
Longdon-on-Tern
Longdon-on-Tern is a village in east central Shropshire, England. It is in the unitary district of Telford and Wrekin, and is approximately east of Shrewsbury and north-west of Telford....
which had been built by Clowes but swept away by floods in February 1795. Telford's stonemason instincts initially led him to consider replacing the original structure with another stone-built aqueduct, but the heavy involvement of iron-masters in the Shrewsbury Canal Company, notably William Reynolds
William Reynolds
William Reynolds may refer to:*William Reynolds , American movie and television actor*William Reynolds , English football defender of the 1890s...
, led him to reconsider. Instead, it was rebuilt using a 62 yards (56.7 m) cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
trough cast in sections at Reynolds' Ketley ironworks and bolted together in 1796. The main trough was 7.5 feet (2.3 m) wide and 4.5 feet (1.4 m) deep, with a narrower trough to one side which formed the towpath. The aqueduct was the world's first large-scale iron navigable aqueduct, though it was narrowly predated by a much smaller 44 feet (13.4 m) structure on the Derby Canal
Derby Canal
The Derby Canal ran from the Trent and Mersey Canal at Swarkestone to Derby and Little Eaton, and to the Erewash Canal at Sandiacre, Derbyshire, England. The canal gained its Act of Parliament in 1793 and was fully completed in 1796...
built by Benjamin Outram
Benjamin Outram
Benjamin Outram was an English civil engineer, surveyor and industrialist. He was a pioneer in the building of canals and tramways.-Personal life:...
. The aqueduct still stands today, though it is isolated in the middle of a field. This successful use of an iron trough to contain the water of a navigable aqueduct casts the Tern aqueduct in the role of Telford's prototype for the much longer Pontcysyllte Aqueduct
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct
The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is a navigable aqueduct that carries the Llangollen Canal over the valley of the River Dee in Wrexham in north east Wales....
on the Llangollen Canal, where he mounted the iron trough on high masonry arches.
The Shrewsbury Canal was finally finished in 1797, being 17 miles (27 km) long, with 11 locks. At Trench an inclined plane
Canal inclined plane
An inclined plane is a system used on some canals for raising boats between different water levels. Boats may be conveyed afloat, in caissons, or may be carried in cradles or slings. It can be considered as a specialised type of cable railway....
was built, which was 223 yards (203.9 m) long and raised boats 75 feet (22.9 m) up to the Wombridge Canal
Wombridge Canal
The Wombridge Canal was a tub-boat canal in Shropshire, England, built to carry coal and iron ore from mines in the area to the furnaces where the iron was extracted.- History :...
, from where they could travel via the Shropshire Canal
Shropshire Canal
The Shropshire Canal was a tub boat canal built to supply coal, ore and limestone to the industrial region of east Shropshire, England, that adjoined the River Severn at Coalbrookdale...
southwards to the River Severn
River Severn
The River Severn is the longest river in Great Britain, at about , but the second longest on the British Isles, behind the River Shannon. It rises at an altitude of on Plynlimon, Ceredigion near Llanidloes, Powys, in the Cambrian Mountains of mid Wales...
at Coalport
Coalport
Coalport is a village in Shropshire, now part of the new town of Telford. It is located on the River Severn at , a mile downstream of Ironbridge...
. The plane consisted of twin railway tracks, each of which held a cradle. Boats would be floated onto the cradles, which had larger wheels at the back to keep the boat level. A third set of wheels were mounted at the front, which ran on extra rails in the dock, to prevent the cradle tipping forwards as it ran over the top cill. Although the plane was partially counterbalanced, with loaded boats going down the plane pulling empty boats up, a steam engine was also provided, to pull the boats over the top cill. The plane opened in 1794, and the engine was replaced in 1842. The plane continued to be used until 1921, making it the last operational plane in Britain.
The canal was originally built as a narrow canal intended for horse-drawn trains of tub boats which were 20 feet (6.1 m) long and no wider than 6 in 4 in (1.93 m). However, in preparation for the Newport
Newport, Shropshire
Newport is a market town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England. It lies some north of Telford and some west of Stafford sitting on the Shropshire/Staffordshire border...
branch of the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal
Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal
The Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal was a canal in England which ran from Nantwich, where it joined the Chester Canal, to Autherley, where it joined the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal...
to Wappenshall the section from there to Shrewsbury was surveyed in 1831 and subsequently widened to take standard 7 feet (2.1 m) narrow boats. This heralded the canal's most profitable period, though it was short-lived. With the opening of the Newport Branch in 1835, the Shrewsbury Canal was no longer isolated from the rest of the national canal network. The branch linked Norbury Junction
Norbury Junction
Norbury Junction lies about one mile to the south east of Norbury, Staffordshire, England, UK.The small settlement here is named after the canal junction between the main line of the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal and its Newport Branch which ran south-west through Newport to link to the...
to Wappenshall Junction
Wappenshall Junction
Wappenshall Junction is a canal junction located at Wappenshall, Shropshire. It was created to join the Newport Branch Canal with the Shrewsbury Canal....
, passing through Newport
Newport, Shropshire
Newport is a market town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England. It lies some north of Telford and some west of Stafford sitting on the Shropshire/Staffordshire border...
, and included 23 locks.
In 1844 the Humber Arm was constructed. This short branch ran to Lubstree Wharf, which was owned by the Duke of Sutherland. Tramways ran from the end of the branch to various works owned by the Lilleshall Company
Lilleshall Company
The Lilleshall Company was a large engineering company in Oakengates Shropshire founded in 1802. Its operations included mechanical engineering, coal mining iron and steel making and brickworks. The company was noted for its winding, pumping and blast engines and operated a private railway network...
, who shipped cargoes of pig iron, coal and limestone for use as a flux in the production of iron. Much of this trade had previously used the Donnington Wood Canal
Donnington Wood Canal
The Donnington Wood Canal was a private canal in East Shropshire, England, which ran from coal pits owned by Earl Gower at Donnington Wood to Pave Lane on the Wolverhampton to Newport Turnpike Road. It was completed in about 1767 and abandoned in 1904...
, but the new arm provided a more direct connection to the canal network, and the transfer of trade was a factor in the closure of the Donnington Wood Canal. Lubstree wharf was leased to the Shropshire Union Railways & Canal Co. in 1870, by the third Duke of Sutherland, and closed in 1922 by the fifth Duke.
Decline
In 1846, the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal CompanyShropshire Union Railways and Canal Company
The Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company was a Company in England, formed in 1846, which managed several canals and a railway. It was leased by the London and North Western Railway from 1847, and bought by it in 1922, but continued to act as a semi-autonomous body, managing the canals until...
bought most of the east Shropshire canal network, including the Shrewsbury Canal. The London and North Western Railway
London and North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway...
Company (LNWR) took control shortly afterwards and allowed the canal to decline. In 1922, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
London, Midland and Scottish Railway
The London Midland and Scottish Railway was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railway companies into just four...
took over the canal and the basin in Shrewsbury was closed. The LMS finally abandoned the canal network in 1944, when they obtained an Act of Abandonment.
Restoration
Of all the canals that formed part of the Shropshire Union CanalShropshire Union Canal
The Shropshire Union Canal is a navigable canal in England; the Llangollen and Montgomery canals are the modern names of branches of the Shropshire Union system and lie partially in Wales....
system, the Shrewsbury Canal is the only one which has no part open or under restoration. The Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust
Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust
The Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust is a waterway society and a registered charity which exists to promote the restoration of the Shrewsbury Canal and the Newport Arm of the Shropshire Union Canal...
was created in 2000 to preserve and restore the waterway.
In 2007, the canalside buildings at Wappenshall, including a trans-shipment warehouse which has been little altered since it ceased to be used in the 1930s, and retains many original features, were put up for sale. They were eventually purchased, along with a length of the canal and the Wappenshall basin, by Telford and Wrekin Council, who are working with the Trust to allow repairs to the buildings to be undertaken, with the aim of providing a museum and heritage centre for the canal, a cafe, and offices for the Canals Trust.
Today the short stretch of canal to the first lock is used as moorings, while the lock itself is used as a dry-dock.
Route
The canal branched away from the Shropshire Union CanalShropshire Union Canal
The Shropshire Union Canal is a navigable canal in England; the Llangollen and Montgomery canals are the modern names of branches of the Shropshire Union system and lie partially in Wales....
at Norbury Junction, passing under a stone bridge which carried the Shropshire Union towpath over the branch. The bridge is a Grade II listed structure. The section to the first lock is still in water as it is used for moorings, while the first lock is used as a dry dock. The lock was the first in a flight of 17, which lowered the canal down the hillside as it passed through Oulton and to the south of Sutton and Forton. At the bottom of the flight, the canal and a minor road crossed the River Meese on the Forton aqueduct, before passing under a skew bridge which carries the road over the canal. The aqueduct is a scheduled ancient monument. The River Meese feeds the Aquelate Mere, which is a National Nature Reserve and the largest lake in the West Midlands region, covering 214.4 hectares (529.8 acre). Soon afterwards, the route of the canal has been cut by the building of the A41 Newport
Newport, Shropshire
Newport is a market town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England. It lies some north of Telford and some west of Stafford sitting on the Shropshire/Staffordshire border...
bypass.
Beyond the bypass, Meretown lock marks the start of a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) watered section, which passes through Newport and included another five locks. The Strine Brook passes under the canal at both ends of this section, running parallel to the canal between the two aqueducts. The canal passed under Buttery Bridge, and then over Kinnersley Drive on an aqueduct, before the junction with the Humber Branch, which ran for about 1 miles (1.6 km) to the south, and served the industrial complex of Lilleshall. Two more aqueducts carried it over the Humber Brook and the Crow Brook, before the junction at Wappenshall where the new branch joined the original canal from Trench to Shrewsbury. At the junction, the warehouses, basin and a section of the canal have been bought by Telford and Wrekin Council, and include a Grade II Listed warehouse which straddled a dock, so that goods could be loaded and unloaded through trapdoors in the floor of the upper storey.
The Trench branch rose through 9 locks from the junction, which were called Wappenshall, Britton, Wheat Leasons, Shucks, Peaty, Hadley Park, Turnip, Baker's and Trench lock. Wappenshall Lock was demolished to make way for a weir which is part of a storm drain. Hadley Park and Turnip locks are Grade II listed structures, as is the bridge immediately downstream of Hadley Park lock, and both locks still have their original guillotine mechanism in situ. Beyond Trench lock, which was demolished in 1977 as part of a roadworks scheme, the Trench Pool was the main water supply for the canal, after which the Trench incline carried boats another 75 feet (22.9 m) upwards. The building of an incline, rather than a flight of locks was dictated by the lack of an adequate water supply at the higher level. The locks on the Trench Branch, and the two Eyton locks, had guillotine gates at the lower end. They were 81 feet (24.7 m) long, and although Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE was a Scottish civil engineer, architect and stonemason, and a noted road, bridge and canal builder.-Early career:...
wrote in 1797 that they had a third set of gates, so that they could be used by a single 20 feet (6.1 m) tub-boat in the short section, a train of three tub-boats in the longer section, or a train of four boats if the outer gates were used, there is no evidence that the middle gates were ever fitted.
After Wappenshall junction the canal dropped down through the two Eyton locks, which were widened when the Newport Branch was built, passing to the north of Eyton upon the Weald Moors and through Sleapford, before crossing the River Tern
River Tern
The River Tern is a river in Shropshire, England. It rises north-east of Market Drayton in the north of the county. The source of the Tern is considered to be the lake in the grounds of Maer Hall, Staffordshire...
on the aqueduct at Longdon-on-Tern
Longdon-on-Tern
Longdon-on-Tern is a village in east central Shropshire, England. It is in the unitary district of Telford and Wrekin, and is approximately east of Shrewsbury and north-west of Telford....
. The canal then headed south-west, skirting the southern edge of Rodington
Rodington, Shropshire
Rodington is a village in Shropshire, England. Situated between the towns of Wellington and Shrewsbury it lies on the relatively level Shropshire plain and just within the borough of Telford & Wrekin....
, where it crossed the River Roden
River Roden, Shropshire
The River Roden is a river in Shropshire, England, which rises near Wem Moss and meets the River Tern at Walcot.Villages and towns it flows through or near to include:*Wem*Lee Brockhurst*Shawbury*Roden*Rodington-Wildlife:...
on an aqueduct which was demolished in January 1971, and the eastern and southern edge of Withington
Withington, Shropshire
Withington is a village and parish in Shropshire, England.The parish is very small and is located on the Shropshire Council/Telford and Wrekin Council boundary.-Saint John the Baptist Church:...
, where there was a wharf. It passed under the Shrewsbury to Telford railway line south of Upton Magna, where the new line of the A5 road has blocked the line of the canal, to reach Berwick Wharf. Here it turned north-west, to enter the 970 yards (887 m) Berwick Tunnel
Berwick Tunnel
Berwick Tunnel is a canal tunnel located on the Shrewsbury Canal, Shropshire, England, UK.At 970 yards long, it was the first tunnel to be constructed with a towpath. This meant that boats did not need to be legged through the tunnel....
. At the time of its construction, this was the longest canal tunnel in Britain, and the first equipped with a towpath
Towpath
A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge...
through it. From the northern portal of the tunnel, it passed under the railway and the A5 road again, heading north to Uffington
Uffington, Shropshire
Uffington is a village in the English county of Shropshire. It lies between Haughmond Hill and the River Severn, 3 miles east from the town centre of Shrewsbury, at .Uffington is home to a church and a pub, the Corbet Arms...
, after which it followed the large horseshoe bend in the River Severn
River Severn
The River Severn is the longest river in Great Britain, at about , but the second longest on the British Isles, behind the River Shannon. It rises at an altitude of on Plynlimon, Ceredigion near Llanidloes, Powys, in the Cambrian Mountains of mid Wales...
to reach Shrewsbury where it terminated at Castle Foregate Basin adjacent to the Buttermarket building.
See also
- Canals of Great Britain
- History of the British canal systemHistory of the British canal systemThe British canal system of water transport played a vital role in the United Kingdom's Industrial Revolution at a time when roads were only just emerging from the medieval mud and long trains of pack horses were the only means of "mass" transit by road of raw materials and finished products The...