| Barbridge Junction | |
|---|---|
 Narrowboats at Barbridge Junction | |
| Specifications | |
| Status | Open |
| Navigation authority | British Waterways |
| History | |
| Date completed | 1833 |
Barbridge Junction (grid reference SJ612570 ) is the name of the canal junction located at Barbridge, Cheshire, where the Shropshire Union Canal Middlewich Branch terminates and meets the Shropshire Union Canal main line.
The Chester Canal was conceived in 1771, to provide a link between the Trent and Mersey Canal, then being built, and the River Dee, to prevent the likely demise of the Dee and of Chester as a port once the Trent and Mersey was completed. An Act of Parliament was obtained in 1772 for a narrow canal from Chester to Middlewich, with a branch to Nantwich. As a result of objections by the Duke of Bridgewater and the Trent and Mersey Canal, it had to finish 100 yards (91 m) away from the Trent and Mersey, with no connection between the two. The proprietors built a wide canal, suitable for boats 80 by 14.75 feet (24.38 by 4.50 m), which ran from Chester to Nantwich. There were difficulties, and by the time Nantwich was reached in 1779, there was no money left to build a branch to Middlewich. The canal was a failure, and the company resolved to abandon the canal in 1781. However, they managed to keep going somehow, [1] until construction of the Ellesmere Canal began. The Chester Canal became part of a larger network, which generated more traffic, and the two companies amalgamated in 1813, to become the Ellesmere and Chester Canal. [2]
Further hope was generated by the prospects of the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal opening their line between Nantwich the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal at Autherley Junction, from where there was a connection into the Birmingham Canal Navigations. The need for the branch to Middlewich was now more important, as it would enable traffic on the new canal to reach Manchester. [3] After the Earl of Bridgewater died in 1824, the company again approached the Trent and Mersey and the Bridgewater Canal about a possible link between Nantwich and Middlewich. The Bridgewater Trustees approved of the scheme, but the Trent and Mersey would not sanction it until the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal was officially authorised by an Act of Parliament. This occurred in 1826, and the Ellesmere and Chester obtained their own Act to authorise their canal in 1827. The Trent and Mersey built the short Wardle Canal with one lock, to maintain control of the junction, and imposed high tolls for traffic using it, but the work went ahead, and the Middlewich Branch was opened on 1 September 1833, having cost £129,000. [4]
The work included the building of transhipment warehouses and wharves at Barbridge Junction, although the branch saw little traffic until the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal finally opened in 1835. [5] Just ten years later, the two companies amalgamated, and the joint system became the Shropshire Union Canal network in 1846. [6]
From Barbridge Junction, the original Chester Canal heads north-west, and is level for 2.8 miles (4.5 km), before the first of the two Bunbury Locks is reached on the descent to Chester. In the opposite direction, the canal is level for 5.5 miles (8.9 km) before it reaches the two Hack Green Locks. Along the Middlewich Branch, which heads north-east, the first lock is Cholmondeston Lock, 1.4 miles (2.3 km) from the junction. Just 2 miles (3.2 km) to the south of the junction on the main line is Hurleston Junction, where another branch of the Shropshire Union network, now rebranded the Llangollen Canal, turns off to head towards Llangollen and the Montgomery Canal. [7]
The Trent and Mersey Canal is a 93 1⁄2-mile (150 km) canal in Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire in north-central England. It is a "narrow canal" for the vast majority of its length, but at the extremities to the east of Burton upon Trent and north of Middlewich, it is a wide canal.
The Ellesmere Canal was a waterway in England and Wales that was planned to carry boat traffic between the rivers Mersey and Severn. The proposal would create a link between the Port of Liverpool and the mineral industries in north east Wales and the manufacturing centres in the West Midlands. However, the canal was never completed as intended because of its rising costs and failure to generate the expected commercial traffic.
The Llangollen Canal is a navigable canal crossing the border between England and Wales. The waterway links Llangollen in Denbighshire, north Wales, with Hurleston in south Cheshire, via the town of Ellesmere, Shropshire. The name, which was coined in the 1980s, is a modern designation for parts of the historic Ellesmere Canal and the Llangollen navigable feeder, both of which became part of the Shropshire Union Canals in 1846.
The Shropshire Union Canal, nicknamed the "Shroppie", is a navigable canal in England. The Llangollen and Montgomery canals are the modern names of branches of the Shropshire Union (SU) system and lie partially in Wales.
The Chester Canal was an English canal linking the south Cheshire town of Nantwich with the River Dee at Chester. It was intended to link Chester to Middlewich, with a branch to Nantwich, but the Trent and Mersey Canal were unco-operative about a junction at Middlewich, and so the route to Nantwich was opened in 1779. There were also difficulties negotiating with the River Dee Company, and with no possibility of through traffic, the canal was uneconomic. Part of it was closed in 1787, when Beeston staircase locks collapsed, and there was no money to fund repairs. When the Ellesmere Canal was proposed in 1790, the company saw it as a ray of hope, and somehow managed to keep the struggling canal open. The Ellesmere Canal provided a link to the River Mersey at Ellesmere Port from 1797, and the fortunes of the Chester Canal began to improve.
Horseshoe Falls is a weir on the River Dee near Llantysilio Hall in Denbighshire, Wales, about 5 kilometres (3 mi) north-west of the town of Llangollen.
The Shrewsbury Canal was a canal in Shropshire, England. Authorised in 1793, the main line from Trench to Shrewsbury was fully open by 1797, but it remained isolated from the rest of the canal network until 1835, when the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal built the Newport Branch from Norbury Junction to a new junction with the Shrewsbury Canal at Wappenshall. After ownership passed to a series of railway companies, the canal was officially abandoned in 1944; many sections have disappeared, though some bridges and other structures can still be found. There is an active campaign to preserve the remnants of the canal and to restore the Norbury to Shrewsbury line to navigation.
Norbury Junction is a canal junction which lies about 1 mile (1.6 km) to the south east of Norbury, in Staffordshire, England. It opened in 1835, and closed in 1944, although the main line of the Shropshire Union Canal still runs through it.
The Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company was a Company in England, formed in 1846, which managed several canals and railways. It intended to convert a number of canals to railways, but was leased by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) from 1847, and although they built one railway in their own right, the LNWR were keen that they did not build any more. They continued to act as a semi-autonomous body, managing the canals under their control, and were critical of the LNWR for not using the powers which the Shropshire Union Company had obtained to achieve domination of the markets in Shropshire and Cheshire by building more railways.
A large number of canals were built in Cheshire, England, during the early phases of the Industrial Revolution to transport goods and raw materials. This resulted in a significant canal network which is now enjoyed by holiday-makers, anglers, walkers, and others.
Autherley Junction is the name of the canal junction where the Shropshire Union Canal terminates and meets the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal near to Oxley, north Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England.
Aldersley Junction is the name of the canal junction where the Birmingham Main Line Canal terminates and meets the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal near to Oxley, north Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It opened in 1772.
The Four Counties Ring is a canal ring which links the four English counties of Cheshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire and the West Midlands.
The Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal is located in Cheshire, in the north west of England, and runs between Middlewich, where it joins the Trent and Mersey Canal, and Barbridge Junction, where it joins the main line of the Shropshire Union Canal. It is 10 miles (16 km) long, and was planned as part of the Chester Canal, which was authorised in 1772, but the company ran out of money, and construction did not begin until 1827. The Trent and Mersey insisted that there should be no direct connection at Middlewich, and instead built the short Wardle Canal to join the two, charging large compensation tolls for traffic passing along it.
Frankton Junction is the name of the canal junction where the Montgomery Canal terminates and meets the Llangollen Canal at Lower Frankton, Shropshire, England.
Hurleston Junction is the name of the canal junction where the Llangollen Canal terminates and meets the Shropshire Union Canal main line at Hurleston, Cheshire, England.
Huddlesford Junction is a canal junction at the original north-eastern limit of the Wyrley and Essington Canal where it met the Coventry Canal, near Lichfield, in Staffordshire, England.
Wappenshall Junction is a British canal junction located at Wappenshall, Shropshire. It was created when the Newport Branch Canal joined the Shrewsbury Canal in 1835, and was closed along with the canal in 1944.
The Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal was a canal in England which ran from Nantwich, where it joined the Chester Canal, to Autherley, where it joined the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. Forming part of a major link between Liverpool and the industrial heartlands of the Midlands, the canal was opened in 1835, and merged with the Ellesmere and Chester Canal Company in 1845, which became the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company in the following year.
Hardings Wood Junction is a canal junction near Kidsgrove, Staffordshire, England and the point at which the Macclesfield Canal joins the Trent and Mersey Canal. It opened in 1831.
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to Barbridge Junction . |
