Your floating hotel on the Canals and Rivers of the UK

Our guide to the waterways of the UK in detail.

Pictures of the Trent & Mersey Canal.

Hardings Wood Junction to Eturia.

This was the first true canal to be built in the UK. Previously rivers had been made navigable, then the Bridgewater canal was built as the first water route which did not follow the course of a river. The Trent & Mersey had locks, a summit and a tunnel to enable it to travel from the watershed of the Mersey over to the watershed of the Trent this was an important innovation.

It is ninety-five miles long from Derwent mouth to the Bridgewater canal at the north end of Preston Brook tunnel. In has seventy-six locks four great tunnels. Eight other navigations join it so sections of it are included in many of our cruises. .

The summit from Eturia to Hardins Wood is just six miles long. The first four miles are through Stoke on Trent. The huge steel works which till recently dominated the area are now being totally cleared away. There are still traces of the pottery industry which was the first industry here, one of the major reasons for the creation of this canal. A few areas are now being well restored to show what was once so common. Today there is still some industry but there is also parkland and Westport Lake alongside the canal.

The last two miles are underground. Two canal tunnels have been cut through the hill. The original is now closed, due to subsidence created by coal mining. The replacement, designed to speed up traffic at this bottleneck is itself very very low in the middle, we have to take all flowers and fittings off the roof of the boats to get through. It also has huge fans to keep the air clear. At 2,926 yards it is one of the longest tunnels on the canals of the UK as well as being one of the lowest.

As we emerge from the North end the water of the canal in this area is stained bright orange by the ironstone still to be found in the tunnel. At the north end we come to Hardings Wood Junction where the Macclesfield canal joins on the south and immediately crosses over the Trent & Mersey on an aqueduct to go off to the North.

Harecastle tunnel	Middleport wharf	Restored bottle kilns.

More pictures of this canal?

Preston Brook to Middlewich / Middlewich to Hardings Wood Junction

Eturia to Great Haywood / Fradley to Shardlow

A history of this canal. / General information on the canal.

Find our information about other canals and rivers on the canal index page.

If you have any questions then do ring us on 07977 229103
or email us at martinreed@reedboats.co.uk