Uttoxeter Canal

The Uttoxeter Canal was a thirteen-mile extension of the Caldon Canal running from Froghall as far as Uttoxeter in Staffordshire, England. It was authorised in 1797, but did not open until 1811. With the exception of the first lock and basin at Froghall, it closed in 1849, in order that the Churnett Valley Railway could be constructed along its length. The railway has since been dismantled and there are plans to reinstate the canal.

History

The Uttoxeter Canal was promoted by the Trent and Mersey Canal Company and authorised by an Act of Parliament in 1797. [http://www.jim-shead.com/waterways/Canal-to-Nowhere.html Canal to Nowhere, Jim Shead, Waterways World March 2006] ] This was a political move, designed to prevent a rival scheme for a canal to Uttoxeter. The planned Commercial Canal was intended to link the Chester Canal at Nantwich to the Ashby Canal at Moira, passing through Stoke on Trent and Uttoxeter, and would have had a serious impact on the profitablity of the Trent and Mersey Company if it had been built.Richard Dean, (1997), "Canals of North Staffordshire", (Historical map), M & M Baldwin, ISBN 0-947712-32-1]

Powers to alter the proposed route at Alton were included in an act of Parliament obtained in 1802, but because the new canal was not expected to be profitable, construction was delayed. Ten years after the Act was passed, work began under the direction of the canal engineer John Rennie, with the convert|13|mi|km|adj=on canal opening on 3 September 1811. [http://www.cuct.org.uk/uttoxeter/history.shtml Caldon and Uttoxeter Canals Trust: History] ] It is sometimes referred to as a branch of the Caldon Canal. 19 locks were required to drop the level of the canal as it passed down the valley of the River Churnet.

There was a proposal to construct a branch to Ashbourne, and another in 1839 to extend the canal along the Dove Valley to link up with the Trent and Mersey Canal, but no details of the precise routes have survived. The canal was not a financial success, and the Trent and Mersey Company made plans to close it. However, the Company was taken over by the North Staffordshire Railway, and with the exception of the first lock and the basin at Froghall, which remained in use until about 1930, the canal was closed by the railway company on 15 January 1849. A large part of it was subsequently filled in, and used for the route of the Churnet Valley Railway (which incidentally, although it is now dismantled, 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 Canal still exist, with the occasional milepost, and Uttoxeter still has an area called "The Wharf".

Restoration

The Caldon and Uttoxeter Canals Trust are looking at the feasibility of restoring the canal from Froghall to Uttoxeter. The situation is complicated by the fact that the revived Churnet Valley Railway terminates at Froghall, and they were originally going to reopen the railway to Oakamoor, but they are currently engaged in extending their line at the opposite end towards Leek. [ [http://www.cvr-extra.wanadoo.co.uk Churnet Valley Railway: Introduction] ] If the canal is reopened, the original route is now occupied by a JCB factory at Rocester, and so there is a proposal to construct a new route from Denstone which would follow the River Churnet more closely to a new terminus near the Uttoxeter gravel pits, which are nearly worked out. [http://www.cuct.org.uk/uttoxeter/guide.shtml Caldon and Uttoxeter Canals Trust: Guide] ] [http://www.cuct.org.uk/uttoxeter/index.shtml Caldon and Uttoxeter Canals Trust: Index] ] The first lock and Frogall basin have been restored and were opened in July 2005.

References

ee also

*Canals of Great Britain
*History of the British canal system

External links

*See the Caldon & Uttoxeter Canals Trust's restoration progress of the Uttoxeter Canal at http://www.cuct.org.uk/