The Lost Canals of Newcastle under Lyme The town of Newcastle under Lyme in North Staffordshire lies to the west of Stoke on Trent, the centre of the pottery industry. By 1777 the Trent & Mersey or ‘Grand Trunk’ Canal was fully open throughout its length providing a route to the ports of Liverpool and Hull. The Staffs and Worcs, completed in 1772, provided an outlet to Bristol via the River Severn; the Coventry Canal, via the Oxford Canal would eventually give a through route to London. Newcastle under Lyme - despite a petition to Parliament in 1765 - was bypassed, it being considered at that time to be too expensive to construct a branch. Sir Nigel Gresley (1725-1787) and his son Nigel Bowyer Gresley (1753-1808) decided to construct a canal at their own expense from their coal-mines at Apedale, north west of Newcastle. This gave them a monopoly for the sale of coal in the town for forty-two years.Thecanalwascompletedin1776andwassome three miles in length without locks. In 1856 a railway branch was constructed and what remained of the canal fell into disuse. At Apedale remnants of the canal can be found: in particular traces of the northern basin at Burley, the site of one of the collieries.
Feature (2) The little-known Newcastle Under Lyme Canals In 1796, some thirty-one years after the Trent & Mersey opening, a canal branch was finally made to Newcastle connecting it to the main network. The Newcastle Canal was four miles in length and level throughout its length. It left the Trent & Mersey at Stoke, north of the Glebe Street Bridge (No.113). It ran west to Trent Vale before turning north running parallel to the present day A34 to Newcastle. It was never a profitable canal, its main cargo being lime for kilns at Newcastle. The lack of a link between it and Gresley’s Canal presented a problem particularly with the transportation of coal. Again with the coming of the railway it fell into disuse. The North Staffordshire Railway Company leased the canal from 1863 but little trade used it. In 1921 the section from Trent Vale to Newcastle had been filled and in 1935 Stoke on Trent Corporation began to fill the remainder in bit by bit. A small section can still be traced behind the bowling club on London Road Newcastle, near to the entrance of the City General Hospital.
The Newcastle junction Canal was a sorry affair. It was originally intended as a link between the Gresley and Newcastle canals. It received royal assent on 26th May 1798 and ran for just over a mile. An inclined plane had been proposed to make the final link down the slope to the Newcastle Canal at its Brook Lane basin. This Surviving remains of the Newcastle canals: Above remnants of inclined plane was never built and trade the northern basin of Gresley's Canal at Burley Pit; Below the on the canal was very poor resulting in Newcastle Canal behind London Road Bowling Club off the A34 partial closure. Part of the canal was near the City General Hospital. Photos by David Butler drained and used as the bed for the Silverdale-Newcastle railway and by 1864 the canal had ceased to exist. These three canals had they survived could have provided Newcastle and the surrounding towns with a valuable resource. Canals are very popular today as a recreational and historical facility. If only - with hindsight - someone could have realised their potential all those years back, maybe they may have survived and provided many people with the opportunity to use them. David Butler
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