Shropshire Union Canal getting £600,000 winter makeover

The Canal & River Trust will be carrying out a five-month project to repair or replace 11 worn-out lock gates, missing brickwork, masonry, culverts and lock ladders along the 66-mile canal through Shropshire and Cheshire.

Before each separate lock or section is drained, fish will be rescued and transported to another part of the canal which remains in water.

All the new lock gates are hand-crafted in oak at a special Canal & River Trust workshop using traditional skills. The old gates will generally be craned out and the new gates craned in as part of a spectacular lift movement.

Work includes installing new gates and carrying out repairs at Locks 8,9,10 and 15 in Audlem near Market Drayton.

The replacement of two lock gates at Tyrley Lock 2, south of Market Drayton, will also be carried out.

Ged King, construction manager with the Canal & River Trust, said: “This canal repair project is really important. We’ll be emptying millions of litres of water from the canal, moving thousands of fish and lifting multi-tonne lock gates through the air into place.

Wellbeing

“Although the Shropshire Union Canal is nearly 200 years old, it is just as relevant today as in Victorian times, when it was constructed to move goods between the West Midlands and the port of Liverpool on the River Mersey.

“Today the canal has reinvented itself as a leisure destination and a haven for wildlife. Modern canals offer an amazing, tranquil space, where everything slows down – a great place to escape the pressures of modern life.

"We know from research that people are happier and more relaxed when they’re by water, and activities such as walking, cycling, boating, fishing, canoeing and paddle boarding improve people’s mental and physical wellbeing.

“The beautiful rural Shropshire Union Canal is one of the most popular waterways in the country with boaters. Its wooden lock gates typically last around 25 years and allow thousands of boats to travel from place to place each year. Each new gate is made to measure, weighs several tonnes, and is handcrafted from seasoned oak so that it fits perfectly in the lock chamber. Once in place, the new lock gates will help the trust conserve water and keep boats moving along the waterway.”

The Shropshire Union Canal runs through Cheshire, Shropshire and Staffordshire.

Opened in 1835, it was the last major engineering project completed by the famous canal engineer Thomas Telford.

For more information on the Canal & River Trust’s winter waterway repair programme and public open days, visit canalrivertrust.org.uk/about-us/our-campaigns/open-days

Engineer Thomas Telford’s last major project

• Opened in 1835, it was the last major engineering project completed by the famous canal engineer Thomas Telford.

• The Shropshire Union Canal runs through Cheshire, Shropshire and Staffordshire. It runs from Autherley Junction, near Wolverhampton, on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal, to the Manchester Ship Canal at Ellesmere Port.

• The Llangollen and Montgomery canals are modern names for two branches of the canal.

• The main line of the canal is 66.5 miles long and has 47 locks.

• The canal was one of the last built and borrowed from the latest railway building methods, taking a direct line cross country, on embankments and through cuttings.

• The name ‘Shropshire Union’ comes from the amalgamation of the various component companies – Ellesmere Canal, Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal, Montgomeryshire Canal – that came together to form the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company.

• To promote the interest in, use of and restoration of parts of the waterway, the Shropshire Union Canal Society was formed. Today its main conservation activities are on the Montgomery Canal, which is slowly being restored into Wales.

• The Canal & River Trust is a national waterways and wellbeing charity which cares for and brings to life 2,000 miles of canals and rivers across England and Wales.