Northern Canals Association

The June meeting of the Association took place at Newport, Shropshire, hosted by the Shrewsbury and Newport Canals Trust. Three members gave presentations on the history of canals in the region, the rise and decline of their canals, and the work of their Society towards their restoration.

The Shrewsbury and Newport Canals

Impressed by the success of the Sankey and the Bridgewater Canals in moving materials in bulk, coal owners, quarry owners and business men all over the country began to press for the construction of canals. In the area which is now called Telford a number of canals were built to develop the coalfields and ironworks of the area. The Donnington Wood Canal was opened in 1768 (To the east of Wellington) and over the next 24 years links were established to Coalbrookdale and Coalport in the Severn Valley via the Hay inclined plane. The Canals carried tub-boats which measured 20 feet by 6 feet, carrying 5 to 8 tons of cargo, which were hauled along by horses in trains of up to twenty boats.

In 1797 the network extended to Shrewsbury, whilst a second inclined plane joined the new canal to the Donnington Wood Canal at Trench. The plane raised boats 75 feet to the canal, which was 17 miles in length with 11 locks and a tunnel. Locks were just over 6 feet wide but took up to 4 tub-boats at a time. Some locks were fitted with guillotine tail gates.

This canal amalgamation, isolated from the national network, continued until 1835 when the Newport Branch was opened from the new Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal (now known as the Shropshire Union) at Norbury Junction.

The new branch went westwards from Norbury via a series of locks, through Newport and met the Shropshire Canal at Wappenshall Junction, where the tub-boast locks were widened to take the narrow boats which had become the basic craft of the Midlands. In 1846 many canals, including the Shrewsbury and Newport Branch were brought under the common ownership of the Shropshire Union Railway and Canal Company which later became part of the London Midland Scottish Railway. Trade on the canals declined, maintenance was reduced, and in 1921 the Trench inclined plane was closed. The last boat reached Shrewsbury in 1936 and Longdon upon Tern in 1939, and in 1944 the canal route from Norbury Junction to Shrewsbury was officially abandoned, eventually passing into the ownership of the nationalised British Waterways.

In the 1960s BW began selling off much of the line of the canal. The Shrewsbury and Newport Canal Society was formed in 1965 but it was too late, the canal was sold, so the Society turned its attentions elsewhere. Many of the locks were buried, no fewer than sixteen canal bridges were demolished, an aqueduct was destroyed and even the unique metal aqueduct at Longdon upon Tern was threatened with removal but was fortunately left standing. (This structure was the trial run by Telford for his famous aqueduct at Pontcysyllte.) Many sections of the canals simply disappeared from the landscape, leaving only map evidence. (Photo: Longdon aqueduct. From John Todd's web site)

In 1988 the Society met again to consider the restoration of the Shrewsbury and Newport branches. A study revealed that there were no insurmountable problems and a few projects went ahead. Wappenshall Bridge was repaired by the County Council, sections of the canal were dug out as nature pools and a short stretch was included within a conservation area. In 1994 the canal through Newport was renovated and in 2000 the County repaired the unique skew bridge at Forton.

Also in 1994 the Society changed its name to become the Shropshire Union Canal Society (SUCS), committed to the restoration of the two branches, with the backing of Shropshire County Council, and to recreating an access route to the national canal network.

Much of the early work of the Society has focussed on the development of contacts and seeking the support of local authorities and other bodies which could contribute. The land ownership of the canal's course is complex, and some landowners are far from supportive. Lowered road levels at bridging points and new road construction since abandonment mean that simply digging out the canal is not always possible.

£22,000 was raised for a feasibility study, and the final report was published in January 2004. This included provision for the re-excavation of the canal channel where this is practicable, re-routing the canal to avoid clashes with land owners and to avoid obstacles like dual carriageways and railway lines, and the construction of drop locks where road and canal levels are close. A common problem with canal projects was water supply. It will be necessary to use back pumping to maintain levels in the restored canal, but this is catered for in the study. For a newly formed group, the Trust is to be commended for the progress made and the rate of work carried out.

As is usual at these meetings, representatives of the various canal societies present reported on their own schemes. In all cases comments were very positive and the local group were most grateful for the encouragement given and the offers of support in the future.

Northern Canals Association : Site Visits

The NCA meetings usually include a site visit. In many cases this is to a site already known to the representatives present but on this occasion the objective was known to few outside the local Trust. Cramming into a convoy of cars, members travelled to the site of Wappenshall Junction, the junction of the Shrewsbury and the Newport Branch Canals. Here there was the usual roving-bridge to allow horses to cross the branch without casting off their tow lines. This has survived and is a fine piece of engineering, constructed of finely cut stone blocks on a skew pattern.

The horse bridge has been incorporated into a wider road bridge to give access to property on both sides of the canal. Although it has suffered some damage, the bridge has been restored by the County with European funding. (Pic from: Tony Clayton' web site: www.tclayton.demon.co.uk/pics/canal/shr3.html.)

Alongside the bridge is a three-story canal warehouse straddling an arm which would have allowed boats to have been unloaded under cover. Self-closing trap doors in the floors show how cargo would be hoisted straight up from the boats. Even some of the winding mechanism has survived, with large and small winding drums to increase the efficiency of the warehousemen doing the winding. The long curved piece of wood used as a brake on the winding drum was still in situ, simple but effective.

There were no rooms at canal level, only a long tunnel-like structure with water up the centre between dock sides. The walls were pierced at intervals by arches but some were in a poor state of repair and had been bricked up for safety reasons. Cart access to the warehouse was at first floor level where the road across the bridge was craftily constructed to actually pass through the end of the warehouse as it climbed to reach the apex of the bridge. At right-angles to this warehouse was another, with large doors to the ground floor and an exterior staircase to the upper floor. There was also a hand powered crane still in position outside the building.

Both structures were built of very coarse clay bricks , probably of local origin, with some of them crumbling apart to show the stones and pebbles contained within them. The slate roofs are in very good repair whilst the actual timber-work of the roof beams is in excellent condition. The floors of the first warehouse, across the canal, have obviously suffered greatly with usage over the years and displayed some damage. The other building, possibly in use for maintenance and administration had not suffered to the same degree.

The convoy reformed and travelled back to Newport where the group walked down to inspect the Newport Branch Canal where it passes below the main road through the town. To the east of the road the canal is in water for a short distance before narrowing to Newport Town Lock. This has no gates but has been partially filled as a safety measure, with the water ponded back behind a concrete barrier. There is a through-flow of water and this is conducted below the road bridge in a narrow channel, less than a metre wide, to join the next section of canal in water to the west. This is the only section of the canal to retain its water thanks to the foresight of Newport Council members who bought it when the opportunity presented itself, considering it to be a valuable amenity rather than an eyesore. Their optimism has been clearly rewarded, since there was a constant procession of local people walking and cycling the tow path, clearly enjoying a facility which they would otherwise have had to have travelled many miles to find.

Index for this issue     Index of all Canal Cuttings issues      Home Page

Site design and content © 2002 - 2005 Sankey Canal Restoration Society
Site design by Phil D.Long