Researching History
Historical book
A book about the Chester Canal has been published and includes a walking guide to the canal. Some of the funding from the Local Heritage Initiative (LHI) and Nationwide Building Society was allocated for the production of this historic book.
Gordon Emery has overseen the production and editing, and it includes contributions from Gordon, as Writer in Residence, Terry Kavanagh, Geoff Taylor and Stewart Shuttleworth. Some of the illustrations have been produced by Tony Lewery, and Ray Buss has written and researched the walking guide.
It will be available from shops for £13.95 from October or from the Trust.
Historic Canal walks & talks
June 2004 - Saw us take part in a Historical canal walk from Cow Lane Bridge to the River Dee, in Chester
February 2005 - brought us Maureen Shaw from Wardle Lock Cottage to talk about her life on the canal. Maureen had been brought up on a Clayton's boat on the canal, and told us how hard it had been, but also the fun they had.
March 2005 - saw us collecting a hire boat from Anglo Welsh Hire Boats at Bunbury. They loaned us a boat for a week and we again had the use of Towy, so we filmed a family based on the Berridges (who used to operate Towy) in 1952, and a family on a modern day hire boat. Gingerbean Video Productions did the filming and will produce the final interactive DVD by incorporating other footage from the length of the canal and historical information. Towy was built by Fellows, Morton & Clayton at Uxbridge in 1938. She was one of a batch of eight wooden motor boats designed to work between Stanlow Oil Refinery on the Manchester Ship Canal and Oldbury in the Midlands, replacing earlier horse boats. The well-known carrying firm of Thomas Clayton of Oldbury owned Towy and her seven sisters.
July 6th 2005 - saw a Canal Walk with David Haynes at Beeston, which will start at Bunbury locks.
History of Chester Canal
The Chester Canal is the Shropshire Union Canal from the River Dee, near Sealand Road in Chester, to Nantwich.
The Shropshire Union Canal originally applied to an extensive network of over 200 miles of waterways once owned by the Shropshire Union Railways & Canal Company, it is now known as the Llangollen Canal, the Montgomery Canal, the Shropshire Union Main Line, the Shropshire Union Middlewich Branch plus various other arms and branches, many of these are now long lost.
The Shropshire Union Main Line from Autherley to Ellesmere Port is based on Telford's Birmingham & Liverpool Junction Canal between Autherley and Nantwich, opened in 1835, and incorporates the wider Chester Canal that had opened from Nantwich to Chester in 1774. The Wirral Line of the Ellesmere Canal continued the route to Netherpool, later to become Ellesmere Port, and the short Dee Branch afforded access to the River Dee at Chester. The Middlewich Branch at Barbridge connected this network with the Trent & Mersey Canal.
Within a few years of the Birmingham & Liverpool Junction Canal, opening the threat from railways was already looming large and individual companies began working together. In the 1840’s The Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company was formed. Their intention was to move into rail freight by building tracks along the canal beds. with the intention of moving into rail freight by building tracks along the canal beds. Luckily this never took place and the waterway remained generally profitable until the company abandoned canal carrying after World War I. By the time of a catastrophic breach in the Shropshire Union's Montgomery line in 1936, traffic had already begun to dwindle: but trade including metal, coal, chocolate and oil derivatives remained substantial on the main line, and continued beyond the 1960s.
What is now the Shropshire Union Canal survived the transition from commerce to leisure and is a popular holiday route. It remains largely rural and the towpath forms part of several long distance walks. The Llangollen Canal is now considered a canal in its own right and has become one of the busiest pleasure waterways on the network, especially in the high season. The Montgomery Canal, once hopelessly lost, is being restored and several miles of navigation have already been reinstated.
If you would like to become involved in the research elements of the Trust's work please either e-mail us or contact us at the address shown on the contact sheet