A towpath journey: Shropshire Union Canal
High cuttings and flying boats
BEFORE engines were invented, horses sped along the Shropshire Union Canal transporting boats of perishable food.
The Shropshire Union Canal, also known as the ‘Shroppie’, was built by the great engineer, Thomas Telford. His aim was to speed up transportation of cargo between the Midlands and the North West, so he decided on the shortest possible route – rather than taking a ‘contour’ route like many other canals, he built embankments, deep long cuttings through hills and flights of locks in short bursts such as at Audlem.
These embankments caused many problems which delayed the build so much that Telford died before the canal was complete.
The Shropshire Union Canal starts at Autherley Junction where it meets the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal. After the first lock, a lazy lock-free eightmile pound takes the canal through blissfully uninterrupted countryside, with villages scattered here and there for interest.
After Wheaton Aston, the route puts its feet up for a while with a 17-mile lock-free stretch as far as the five Tyrley Locks by Market Drayton, a pretty town with black and white timber frame architecture and a noble claim to be the home of gingerbread. Cuttings and embankments spice the route and wide-stretching views make a fresh and uplifting journey. From the water level, many of the bridges over the canal seem extraordinarily high since the canal cuttings created a dramatic landscape.
Almost immediately after Adderley’s five locks, 15 locks take the canal down through the award-winning village of Audlem, from Shropshire into Cheshire. There’s a fascinating canal shop and craft hub housed in the former canalside mill here.
The canal crosses the stunning Grade II*-listed cast-iron aqueduct, designed by Thomas Telford in 1826, just outside Nantwich. First established in Roman times, it was mostly rebuilt after a brewer accidentally started the ‘great fire of Nantwich’ in 1583, which destroyed more than 150 buildings.
Such was the uproar that Queen Elizabeth I and her privy council ordered a national fundraising appeal and even donated £1000 herself (about £150,000 today) to help rebuild the town, resulting in the many beautiful black and white beamed Elizabethan buildings throughout the town. The Queen’s generosity is marked by a plaque on a building now called Queen’s Aid House in Nantwich Square.
At Hurleston Junction, the Llangollen Canal heads off up Hurleston Locks, then a mile or so further north, the Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire Union heads off eastwards at Barbridge Junction to meet the Trent & Mersey Canal. Bunbury Staircase Locks are the first of the wide locks towards Chester. There are two locks at Beeston, one made of stone, the other rather unusually of cast-iron plates – hence its name, Beeston Iron Lock. The ruins of the 14th-century Beeston Castle, now cared for by English Heritage, overlook the canal from the top of its steep rocky crag. Known as the Castle of the Rock, legend has it that the lost treasure of Richard II was buried at the bottom of its deep well in 1399.
The canal goes through Rowton Moor, scene of one of the final battles of the Civil War in 1645, also known as the Battle of Rowton Heath. After retreating to Chester, the Royalists (known as Cavaliers) were defeated by the Parliamentarians (known as Roundheads), with high numbers of casualties and prisoners, and then abandoned by King Charles I, who withdrew with the remnants of his cavalry force to fight another day.
The historic city of Chester was known as Deva in Roman times, and there is much to explore, not least its cathedral, zoo and museums. It’s possible to walk round the majority of the city from the top of its almost complete city walls, a fascinating circuit of two miles past old city gates and defensive turrets. Chester is also famed for the Rows, its distinctive and unique medieval shopping walkways. There are shops on both ground and first floor, and the wooden-floored balconies seem to come from a different age.