Caldon Canal

The Caldon Canal (or more properly, the Caldon Branch of the Trent & Mersey Canal), opened in 1779, runs 18 miles from Etruria, in Stoke-on-Trent where it leaves the Trent and Mersey Canal at the summit level, to Froghall, Staffordshire. The canal has 17 locks and the 69 metre long Froghall Tunnel.

History

The Caldon Canal was promoted and built by the proprietors of the Trent & Mersey Canal Company, and as such is more properly called the Caldon Branch of that canal.

The Canal obtained its Act of Parliament in 1776 and was completed in 1779. It was built to carry limestone from Caldon Low Quarries. It was subject to considerable mining subsidence in the Etruria area, which eventually led to the need for an entirely new lock, Planet Lock, with a rise of just three feet, in order to adjust the levels.

Although the canal was never legally closed, by the 1960s it was almost unusable. In one of the UK's first major canal restoration projects, the canal was restored between 1970 and 1974. The main line from Etruria to Froghall and the Leek Branch were two of seven stretches of canal, formally designated as remainder waterways, which were re-classified by the British Waterways Act of 8 February 1983. Under the act, a total of 82 route miles (132km) were upgraded to Cruising Waterway Standard. [Lewis A. Edwards, (1985), "Inland Waterways of Great Britain", 6th Ed, Imray Laurie Norie & Wilson, ISBN 0-85288-081-2]

Water to the canal is supplied by Rudyard (via the Leek branch) and Knypersley reservoirs. Since the Caldon joins the summit level of the Trent and Mersey system, this constitutes a valuable summit supply for that canal too.

In 2003, many years of restoration work came to a close as Froghall Wharf, the southern terminus, was reopened to vessels. The work included a new wharf, refurbished toilet facilities and a brand new visitor centre. A disused lock, actually the first lock on the Uttoxeter Branch (see below), was reopened, as was the basin below it, and moorings for several boats were created. Because the roof of Froghall tunnel has always been extremely low, the 2003 restoration included lowering the water level in the pound after dredging, and thus the headroom in the tunnel was improved. Unfortunately the new moorings remain relatively little used, as many modern boats still cannot pass through.

Much of the work was undertaken with volunteer aid, and funded in part by contributions from the European Regional Development Fund.

Description

The canal commences at Etruria, immediately adjacent to the top lock of the Stoke flight on the Trent & Mersey canal. It follows the course of the infant Trent, and climbs to a summit level at Stockton Brook, which carries it over the watershed between the Trent and Churnet Valleys. Thereafter the canal descends through locks at Hazelhurst and then Cheddleton, into an initially broad flood plain.

At about a mile above Consall Forge, at Oak Meadow Ford Lock, the canal locks down into the River Churnet for about a mile; the reason for this is that the valley at this point is too narrow to accommodate both canal and river. cite book |title=Britain's lost waterways |first=Michael E |last=Ware |publisher=Moorland Pub.Co. |year=1989 |pages=page 64 |isbn=0-86190-327-7] .

At Consall Forge, river and canal part company again, and the canal continues its rural journey to Froghall.

Branches

Leek

The canal has one branch, the Leek Branch, which runs for 3 miles and includes the 118 metre long Leek Tunnel. The Leek Branch, opened in 1797, meets the main line at Hazelhurst Junction, after crossing the main line on Hazelhurst Aqueduct gbmapping|SJ954536. Currently the branch ends disappointingly some way off Leek town centre. (When it appeared that Harecastle tunnel, on the Trent and Mersey Canal, might have to close permanently because of mining subsidence, a bypassing connection between the Leek Branch and the Macclesfield Canal at Bosley was mooted; fortunately Harecastle tunnel remains open to navigation.) A survey has been commissioned to investigate the possibility of extending the branch back into Leek. [ cite web |title=Leek Post and Times|url=http://www.cuct.org.uk/news/070718_leek_post_and_times_article.shtml]

Uttoxeter Canal

Originally, the canal also had a further 13 mile branch, which opened in 1811. Sometimes referred to as the Uttoxeter Canal, it ran from Froghall as far south as Uttoxeter in Staffordshire and had 17 locks. In 1849, much of this canal was filled in by the North Staffordshire Railway Company, and converted into a railway line. This line is still open as far south as Oakamoor, as a preserved railway, the Churnet Valley Railway. Further south, at Denstone, several buildings including a church have been built on the line of the canal. Incidentally this branch line had the first automatic, train-operated level-crossing in the UK, at Spath, just outside Uttoxeter. [ [http://www.railblue.com/pages/Related%20Rail%20Blue%20Info/first_b.htm First BR Automatic Level Crossing Barriers] ] A few bridges from the Uttoxeter branch remain, with the occasional 'milepost', and Uttoxeter still has an area called "The Wharf". The Caldon & Uttoxeter Canals Trust has put forward plans to re-open the Uttoxeter Branch.

Foxley

Another much shorter branch of the Caldon main line, the Foxley, ran from Milton in the north east of Stoke-on-Trent through Sneyd Green to Ford Green near Smallthorne. What little remains of the Foxley can be found in the Holden Lane Pools nature reserve, as well as alongside the footpath from the reserve to the Elizabethan Ford Green Hall. The position of the former junction is marked, on a sharp bend in the canal, at a pub called 'The Foxley' in Milton.

External links

Caldon & Uttoxeter Canals Trust: http://www.cuct.org.uk/

References

ee also

*Canals of Great Britain