Cruise to Crickheath

Montgomery Canal just as boats were allowed down to Crickheath for the first time boat was just mooring up in Maesbury, having made it all the way to Crickheath, winded and come back; they did say that another boat had followed them down. When we got to the winding hole, there was indeed another boat there and he was already winded and mooring up (this is the nearest boat to the bridge in the picture. Unfortunately I didn’t get the name of either the boat or the owner), so we gave him a hand and stopped for a chat. It turns out that he moors on the arm at Crofts Mill, he saw the other boat going past on its way to Crickheath and realised that the navigation was now open, so he quickly got under way so that he could be the second boat to get there. He told us that he had phoned his friend from Liverpool, who also has a boat moored at Maesbury, and he was planning to come down that evening.

Thursday 11th May dawned bright and sunny. Once my crew was also up and about we slipped our mooring and headed down to Crickheath. The section from Gronwen Wharf to Redwith Bridge was tough going, as it was full of lillies and various weeds due to being in water but undisturbed for a number of years (we assumed that the early opening to navigation was to allow this to be chopped up by propellers ahead of the official opening). As we passed the farmhouse near Redwith Bridge a lady was walking past the big picture window: she actually stepped back and did a double-take before giving us a wave. Once past Redwith Bridge the water got steadily clearer and in the end you could see the bottom and all of the fish swimming around. Once we got to Crickheath we winded and moored up, making Rowington only the 4th boat to get there, the 3rd to wind and the 3rd to moor in nearly 90 years. We chatted to a number of locals who were passing by (including the chap who runs the trip boat at Llanymynech), all of whom said it was lovely to see boats along there at last. It seems that the towpath telegraph was doing its thing and word was quickly getting around. Afterwards we went up to Queens Head to moor up for the night, from where we could make our booked passage at Frankton on the Friday, and caught the bus into Oswestry for a couple of hours. No sooner had we got on the bus than the heavens opened, with a thunderstorm that went on for 2.5 hours, but then that’s another story...

Jeff Buck, nb Rowington

The Montgomery Canal: History

What canal restorers nowadays usually refer to as the Montgomery Canal was built as four separate sections. The first was a short length from Frankton Junction down Frankton Locks, built as part of the original intended main line of the Ellesmere Canal, which was to run from the Mersey at Ellesmere Port via Chester, Ruabon and Frankton to the Severn at Shrewsbury. In the event, neither the routes north to Chester nor southeast to Shrewsbury were ever completed - and most of what was built ended up as what’s known today as the Llangollen Canal.

The second section was a branch of the Ellesmere Canal which left this line below Frankton Locks and headed south westwards via Aston Locks to serve the mines at Llanymynech.

Thirdly, from Llanymynech onwards the Montgomeryshire Canal was begun, with the aim of continuing on to Newtown. However it had only reached Garthmyl when the money ran out.

Finally the Montgomeryshire Canal (Wester n Branch) was built to complete the route to from Garthmyl to Newtown.

All four became part of the Shropshire Union Railways & Canal Co amalgamation. Originally the Shropshire Union’s plan was to convert many of its canals into railways, but in the event they continued to operated as canals. The Montg omery route remained open until a breach below Frankton closed it in 1936. The owners (by then the London Midland & Scottish Railway) never repaired it, the canal was legally abandoned in 1944, the southernmost two miles were sold off, and numerous bridges were demolished between then and the start of restoration in 1969.