The Trent and Mersey Canal Company didn't want this canal. The plan to build it came about as a counter to the Commercial Canal: a broad canal proposed in 1796 to run through Uttoxeter and the Potteries.

Froghall Lock 1

This would have hurt trade on the narrow Trent and Mersey, so its owners and their allies used every trick in the book, including the submission of plans for their own canal, to ensure that it wasn't built. Victory left only one problem: the commitment to build a canal that had no prospect of making money.
Various factors, including foot-dragging by the Trent and Mersey Company, delayed the start of construction until 1807. The project was overseen by John Rennie, who also engineered the 1804 Caldon Low Tramroad. The work proceeded in a leisurely fashion, although it was completed to a high standard, and the canal was opened in stages between 1808 and 1811. A branch to Hanging Bridge, near Ashbourne, which was part of the original proposal, was never built.

Limekilns in Oakamoor

Although the canal was, essentially, a white elephant which lost money from the day it opened, it had its users. The main industrial users were the copper works at Oakamoor and Alton and the collieries around Cheadle, which were connected to the canal by the Woodhead Tramroad. In addition, limestone from Caldon Low fed limekilns at Oakamoor, Alton and Uttoxeter. The rest of the traffic was mostly domestic and agricultural.

Froghall Basin Before Restoration

By the late 1840s, when the North Staffordshire Railway Company took over the Trent and Mersey Company, the canal was still losing money. The railwaymen wanted the route, so the canal had to close; though not, one suspects, before transporting many of the construction materials for its replacement. The official end came on 15th January 1849. The only section to escape closure was the first lock and basin at Froghall, which stayed in use until the 1930s.

The only section of canal accessible by boat is the first lock and basin at Froghall. These had lain derelict since the 1930s until the Caldon and Uttoxeter Canals Trust, in conjunction with the Waterways Recovery Group, British Waterways and others, decided to restore it as a first step towards reinstating the canal. After much hard work and a good deal of money, the basin was formally reopened in 2005.

Crumpwood Weir

Elsewhere in the valley, although the railway used the same general route as the canal, it tended to take a more direct line. Isolated sections of canal were, therefore, left intact and are still easily traceable in the landscape today.

Many of these sections are on private land and inaccessible, for now. The Caldon and Uttoxeter Canals Trust would like to rectify this by opening up the old towing path as a footpath. This would showcase the canal, demonstrating to visitors what might be achieved with restoration. It would also improve access to this part of the valley in general, especially between Froghall and Oakamoor.

Many other sections, including surviving bridges and locks, are accessible already, albeit with varying degrees of difficulty. Winter and early spring are the best times to visit, when the undergrowth is minimal and bare trees let the light in.