Chester Canal
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.
The Ellesmere Canal was also building branches in North Wales, which were intended to link up to the River Dee at Chester, but eventually linked to the Chester Canal at Hurleston Junction, just to the north of Nantwich, in 1805. The canal then became the middle section of a much longer and more profitable canal. The two companies merged in 1813, becoming the Ellesmere and Chester Canal. When the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal was proposed in 1826, which would provide a link from Nantwich to Wolverhampton and the Birmingham canal system, the company saw it as an opportunity to build the Middlewich Branch, which would provide a connection to Manchester and the Potteries. The branch opened in 1833, and the Junction Canal opened in 1835. Amalgamation followed in 1845, with the new company retaining the name of the Ellesmere and Chester Canal. The following year, the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company was formed from the Ellesmere and Chester company, which also took over a number of canals which joined theirs. Plans to convert some of the canals to railways were put on hold in 1847, when the canal company was leased to the London and North Western Railway. Under railway control, the canals continued to operate successfully, but decline set in during the 20th century, and when many of the adjoining canals were closed in 1944, the sections which had been the Ellesmere and Chester Canal and the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal, together with the Middlewich Branch, were retained.
The canals were nationalised in 1948, and long-distance commercial traffic had all but ended by 1958. In 1963, the British Waterways Board was formed and the canal ceased to be operated by railway interests for the first time in over 100 years. It was designated as a cruising waterway in the Transport Act 1968, with potential for leisure use, and since then, it has been enjoyed by recreational boaters, by walkers and by fishermen. In 1997, the Chester Canal Heritage Trust was formed and has worked to promote the canal and its heritage. Responsibility for the canal passed from British Waterways to the newly formed Canal & River Trust in 2012.
History
In 1771, the people of Chester, fearing that the construction of the Trent and Mersey Canal would divert trade away from their city to Liverpool, announced in the Press that they would be applying to build a canal between Middlewich, on the Trent and Mersey, and Chester. The city was at the time served by the River Dee, and the River Dee Company had recently spent £80,000 on improvements to the river, but they realised that without a connection to the growing canal network, there was little future for the river or the Port of Chester. The idea had first been raised three years earlier, when merchants suggested a line from the Trent and Mersey to near Runcorn. There were no objections from the Corporation of Liverpool, but the canal company was non-committal. By 1770, the plans were a little clearer, with a main line from Chester to Middlewich and a branch to Nantwich. Although the Corporation of Chester subscribed £100 towards the scheme, and the societies and clubs of Chester put up another £2,000, there was little enthusiasm for it. Neither the Weaver Navigation nor the Trent and Mersey were supportive, as both might have lost some trade if the canal were built, and when the Duke of Bridgewater was approached for support, he replied that provided the canal did not physically link with the Trent and Mersey at Middlewich, he would not oppose the plans. Despite attempts at flattery, the Duke would not alter his position, and so the company promoting the bill in Parliament began with a serious disadvantage.The bill became an act of Parliament, ', on 1 April 1772, authorising the construction of a canal to run "from the River Dee, within the liberties of the city of Chester, to or near Middlewich and Nantwich". The act allowed the company to raise £42,000 by issuing £100 shares, and an additional £20,000 if necessary. Of this, only £28,000 had been subscribed at the time of the act, but construction began near Chester, with Samual Weston acting as engineer and John Lawton working as his assistant. Weston had previously worked as a surveyor, and had been involved in excavating canals as a contractor, but had no experience of managing a major engineering project. The Mayor of Chester cut the first sod at the end of April. There were concerns that while the canal was being constructed past Northgate Gardens, prisoners from Northgate Prison might escape, and the company had to give a bond against this possibility. The canal was conceived as a broad canal, designed with locks which were by suitable for broad-beam barges. Most of the Trent and Mersey Canal north of the proposed junction was suitable for barges which were wide, but the final three locks in Middlewich, and all of those south of the junction, are only suitable for narrow-beam barges.
The project was hampered by financial and engineering problems, and so progress was slow. At the Chester end, the River Dee Company had managed to insert a clause into the act of Parliament which restricted the width of the final lock into the river to. Although the lock was built, and some narrow boats capable of using it were constructed, agreement was reached on a wider connection after four years of argument. The solution adopted was a single pair of gates, which provided a entrance into a basin from which the canal rose to the Northgate level. The land on which the basin was built was owned by the River Dee Company, who therefore charged tolls on all traffic using it. In 1774, part of an aqueduct collapsed, and had to be dismantled and repaired.
Soon afterwards, Weston left the project, and Thomas Morris was recalled from Ireland to take over. He had previous experience building the extension of the Bridgewater Canal to Runcorn. Under his direction, the canal opened from Chester to Huxley Aqueduct on 16 January 1775, and to Beeston in June. Morris was sacked in September, to be replaced by Josiah Clowes. He too was sacked, and was followed by Moon, who had previously acted as assistant to Morris. The canal was completed under the direction of Joseph Taylor. In September 1776, the junction with the Dee was opened, but the project was now in financial difficulties. By late 1777, they had spent all of the share capital of £42,000 and another £19,000, which had been raised as a loan guaranteed by Samuel Egerton of Tatton. He was a shareholder in the company and related to the Duke of Bridgewater. They applied for another act of Parliament, the ', which allowed them to raise another £25,000, by additional calls on existing shareholders, and to borrow £30,000 as a mortgage. They succeeded in raising £6,000 by making additional calls, and borrowed £4,000 from Richard Reynolds, an ironmaster from Ketley, who was responsible for several of the East Shropshire Canals, including the Wombridge Canal and the Ketley Canal.
The money was used to complete the line to Nantwich, and to build a reservoir at Bunbury Heath. The work was completed in August 1779, and the company hoped to raise enough money to then build the line to Middlewich. They proposed building it with narrow locks, to reduce the cost, but the shareholders were not prepared to support them; instead they concentrated on trying to generate traffic on the line that had been built. They attempted to mine salt at Nantwich, but failed to find any, and tried running boats on the Trent and Mersey, from which goods were carried over land to Nantwich, for onward carriage to Liverpool. They also ran boats for cargo and passengers on the canal itself. By the end of 1781, the company had no money and was unable to meet interest payments on the loans. They decided to forfeit the canal to Egerton, the main mortgagee, but he did not respond to their offer. Angry landowners who had not been paid drained Bunbury reservoir in March 1782, but somehow the committee managed to keep the canal open, by selling boats and land. Disaster struck in November 1787, when Beeston Staircase Locks collapsed, and there was no money to fund repairs.
The impact of the Ellesmere Canal
In 1790 the plans for the Ellesmere Canal were published, and the directors of the Chester Canal saw this as a chance to make the canal profitable again, and to build the Middlewich branch. Following the chairman's report to a meeting of the shareholders, they resolved to try to raise some money to carry out repairs, any by the end of the year reported that the canal was "nearly filled with water and business begins to stir." The Ellesmere scheme was extensive, with a line from the River Mersey at Netherpool to the River Dee near Chester, to give access to the Chester Canal, and branches to Shrewsbury, Ruabon, Llangollen, Bersham, Llanymynech and maybe Whitchurch and Wem. Although William Jessop estimated that the cost would be £196,898, it was the time of the Canal Mania, and 1,234 subscribers offered £967,700. Applications were scaled down and the company accepted £246,500. A rival group were proposing canals to the east, which resulted in the first group proposing a direct link with the Chester Canal from their Whitchurch Branch, and in February 1793, the two groups amalgamated. On 30 April they obtained an act of Parliament, the Ellesmere and Chester Canal Act 1793 authorising them to raise £400,00 with an additional £100,000 if necessary. Jessop was assisted by John Duncombe, Thomas Denson and William Turner, and from 30 October, Thomas Telford was appointed to set out the line and oversee the construction.Work began on the Wirral line from Ellesmere Port to Chester in November 1793, and packet boats began using most of it on 1 July 1795. The locks connecting it to the River Mersey were completed early the following year, and the connection to the Chester Canal opened in January 1797. The line was supplied with water from the Chester Canal, supplemented by a steam engine at Ellesmere Port which pumped water from the Mersey. Passenger boats along the canal proved very popular, with connections from Ellesmere Port to Liverpool provided by larger boats, although passenger services from Chester to Nantwich lasted for less than a year. Commercial traffic also grew steadily, helped by the construction of new basins at Chester and the provision of a tide lock into the Dee, which made access into the lower basin possible at all times, and helped to keep it free from silt.
The Ellesmere Canal Company had been constructing canals to the west, linking Llangollen to Frankton, but the route from there to Chester had not been decided. In 1796, they obtained an act of Parliament, the Ellesmere and Chester Canal Act 1796, authorising a line from near the great aqueduct at Pontcysyllte running roughly northwards through Ruabon, Bersham, Gwersyllt and Pulford to join the River Dee opposite the canal basin at Chester. The Chester Canal Company, who were trying to put their financial affairs into order, noticed that the 1796 act failed to mention a connection with their canal. They decided to obtain an act of Parliament to enforce a connection, and to stop supplying water to the Wirral line. The Ellesmere company responded quickly, agreeing to make changes to their act of Parliament, and the Chester company continued to supply water. On the strength of this, they were also able to raise some money to put the canal into good order and to repay some of their debts. The Ellesmere company extended their canal eastwards from Frankton to Whitchurch, and in 1802, the two companies reached agreement on a line from near Whitchurch to Hurleston Junction, just to the north of Nantwich. It opened on 25 March 1805, and water supply was enhanced by the construction of a navigable feeder through Llangollen to Horseshoe Falls on the River Dee at Llantisilio.
In 1804, the Ellesmere company offered to buy out the Chester Canal for 1,000 of their shares, and to take over debts up to £4,000. The Chester Canal held out for more, and the negotiations failed. Three years later, the financial position of the Chester Canal was better, and they began paying off their debts. Finally in 1813, they agreed to amalgamate, and the action was authorised by a further act of Parliament, the . The Ellesmere company paid just half of their 1804 offer, and the 500 Ellesmere shares were distributed between the various Chester shareholders. The Ellesmere and Chester Canal Company took over on 1 July 1813. A new section of canal and an iron lock were built at Beeston in 1827, to resolve continual problems with leakage there.