History of the Trent & Mersey Canal

The Trent & Mersey Canal was engineered by James Brindley as part of his visionary 'Grand Cross' scheme to link the rivers Thames, Severn, Mersey and Humber by inland waterways - though it was not completed until some five years after his death in 1772. It runs for 93 miles from the Trent Navigation at Shardlow to the Bridgewater Canal at Preston Brook, and is also referred to as the Grand Trunk Canal on account of early hopes that many branches would break off from its main line.

No less than Josiah Wedgwood was one of the main promoters of the Trent & Mersey Canal, and its branch the Caldon Canal. The waterways allowed fragile porcelain and china to be transported without breaking on bumpy roads: and once the products had been delivered, the narrowboats could be filled with West Country China Clay for their return trip. Potteries are still to be found along the Trent & Mersey and Caldon canals in Stoke.

Indeed, the canal led directly to the development of the area subsequently known as the Potteries. Traffic was heavy and freight movement was still considerable into the 1960s, with cargoes including coal, salt, beer and, of course, pottery. Nowadays the canal is an essential element in both the Cheshire and the Four Counties cruising rings.

Major offshoots include the Caldon, which has since earned the title of a canal in its own right; and the Hall Green Branch, which connects the Trent & Mersey Canal to the Macclesfield Canal but is now generally considered to be part of the Macclesfield.

It also makes connections with the Coventry Canal, Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal, the Shropshire Union Canal's Middlewich Branch, and, via the restored Anderton Lift, the Weaver Navigation. The derelict Derby & Sandiacre Canal that connected at Swarkestone is under restoration, but the former Bond End Canal at Shobnall, Burton-on-Trent, is largely lost. Burton-on-Trent was the Midlands' brewing capital for many years and the industry continues there today.

Although the Trent & Mersey was built as a single canal, it was one of Brindley's most ambitious undertakings and exhibits different characteristics throughout its length - not least the variance in lock dimensions. Several of the Cheshire Locks were duplicated in an effort to avoid congestion.