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Great
Salopians: Thomas Telford
Builder of the Shrewsbury Canal, Telford was responsible for
the creation of a whole new profession.
Canals
were built in response to the growing industry in Shropshire,
including the mines in the county. To find out more, see our
feature on mining in Shropshire.
Memory
Lane Gallery
Take a look at our photography gallery showing Shrewsbury
in the 1950's and 60's.
A Shrewsbury gallery has just opened a new exhibition of photographs
of old Shropshire. See
our feature about it.
Day
Star Theatre Company write and perform their own plays
on the banks of the Shropshire Union Canal, using their narrowboat,
the Angry Bull.
Mystery
of Ironbridge Historians have finally uncovered the
great mystery of Ironbridge - how it was built.
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is the driving force behind
the proposed restoration of the canal. Its website also includes
some fascinating pictures of the route shortly after it closed..
Enthusiast,
John Todd, has a and other examples of canal engineering.
The 大象传媒 is not responsible for the content
of external websites.
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| FACTS |
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Longdon
upon Tern aqueduct was actually only the second iron aqueduct
to be built in the world. Another was completed in Derbyshire
just weeks before Telford's structure was built, but it no
longer exists.
The
first canals got round the problems of changing elevations
by following contours around hillsides.
But
Thomas Telford was among the first to start incorporating
cuttings, embankments and tunnels in his canals. This technique
is most obvious on the Shropshire Union, which is well-known
for its spooky cuttings, but the technique allowed canals
to be built along more direct routes, and cut journey times.
Ellesmere
Port is named after the Shropshire town of Ellesmere. The
port was built at the mouth of what was then the Ellesmere
Canal, and later became the Shropshire Union.
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Its
main cargo was coal from Oakengates and other goods carried included
bricks, pig iron, dairy products, fruit, furniture, glass, coffee,
building materials and even gunpowder.
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Shrewsbury
& Newport Canal
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A
brief history
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But
instead of the narrowboats used on most canals, the Shrewsbury Canal
used tub boats. These were six feet wide, 20 feet long and carried
5-8 tons of cargo. They would be pulled in trains of up to 20, often
by a single horse.
Apart
from the Longdon on Tern aqueduct, the canal also featured several
other pioneering features. The Berwick Tunnel was the first in Britain
to include a towpath, allowing the horses to pull their tub boat
trains through it. Unfortunately the towpath was made of wood and
was removed in 1819.
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The
overgrown entrance to Berwick Tunnel
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In
other tunnels on the canal network, the boat crews would have to
'leg' their way through a tunnel, which meant lying on their backs
and using their feet on the tunnel ceiling to get through it.
Berwick
Tunnel also wasn't straight, so that it was easily possible for
two boats to meet each other in the middle. This must have led to
some interesting scenes as the crews argued over which of them would
have to go back the way they came to let the other past.
In
the 1820s a plan was finally hatched to link up Shrewsbury and the
network of colliery and ironworks canals in the Telford area to
the national network. This involved building a new 10.5 mile stretch
from Wappenshall on the Shrewsbury Canal, through Newport and connecting
with the Birmingham & Liverpool Canal (later the Shropshire
Union) at Norbury.
At
the same time the canal between Wappenshall and Shrewsbury was widened
so that it would take narrowboats, and the Shrewsbury Canal became
part of the national network in 1835.
These
were the most profitable times for the Shrewsbury canal. But they
were short-lived.
The
railways were coming, and the fate of the canals was sealed.
By
1846 the Shropshire canals had passed into the ownership of the
London and North Western Railway. Under the railways the Shropshire
canals continued to expand, although at a slower rate than before
in the face of the railway competition. The writing was on the wall,
though, and gradually all the canals in East Shropshire fell into
disuse.
The
Shrewsbury Canal continued to survive, although in a run down state,
into the 20th Century.
Trench
Inclined Plane, the last working inclined plane in Britain, closed
in 1921 and the following year the canal changed hands again - this
time the owners weren't at all interested in keeping it going.
In
fact, the first thing the London, Midland and Scottish railway did
was shut down numerous canal assets, including the Shrewsbury Basin.
In
1931 the last regular traffic, carrying sulphuric acid for Shrewsbury
gas works, came to an end and 13 years later the LMS was allowed
to officially abandon 175 miles of waterway in England and Wales,
including the Shrewsbury Canal and the Newport branch.
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