Canal Towpath Trail
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Canal Towpath Trail river mersey 1 Manchester Ship Canal 2 1 2 Boat Museum Stanlow Refinery Complex 3 N P Officially opened in 1894, the 'Big Ditch' allowed ocean-going Powell’s 146 This occupies much of the former In 1924 Shell opened a small vessels to reach Manchester via massive locks at Eastham on 147 manchester ship canal historic terminus of the Wirral Line of bitumen plant here next to the the River Mersey. Its construction meant that the Shropshire Bridge 3 the canal. From the 1790s this Manchester Ship Canal. The area Union Canal connected with this great waterway rather than 70 TRAIN Freeman's Copse developed as a major transhipment has grown into a vast petroleum directly with the River Mersey (as it did previously). The Ship complex for both goods and complex refining some 12 million Canal is still a working seaway used by Cromwell Rd passengers. A tonnes of crude some 3,000 ships per year. It became, in Ellesmere Port 145 rich canalscape oil per year. effect, a 36 mile linear port between Bridge remains. This Refined products Eastham and Manchester Docks, including BUS includes basins, are now Ellesmere Port and Stanlow. A platform Whitby locks, former distributed by next to The Boat Museum car park 144 warehouses, pipeline and road provides spectacular views of the Ship canal workshops tanker as well as Canal and beyond it the Mersey Estuary. Weaver's and stables. by ship. 142 A5032 Cheshire Oaks Bridge Outlet Village A5117 In rural sections the canal is punctuated An area with a When built in Blue Planet by picturesque humped back bridges. Aquarium rich canalscape. 1322, this tower These were built in the 18th century to Here the stood as a M53 allow landowners to access their land Shropshire Union fortification in the either side of the new waterway and to Main Line is waters of the Dee. provide passage for local traffic and farm joined by the Then it was animals. These brick bridges (such as short Dee known as the New those at Stoak) still retain some of their 4 Branch that links Tower. Its purpose traditional grey paint characteristic of the Shropshire Union. Stoak 136 the canal to the River Dee. Here was to protect the harbour and city Not all the bridges take this form, for example, the 'Pretty Stoak there are locks, a working boatyard from a ship-borne attack. It has long Nature Park Bridge' at Caughall which has a wrought ironwork span. All the M56 and dry dock, and a former since been left high and dry. The tower bridges along the canal have been numbered by the canal warehouse converted into a bar, stands testimony to the changing company: Egg Bridge is No.119 and Pretty Bridge is No.134. restaurant and arts venue. course of the river over the ages. 135 70 4 Humped Back Bridges 5 Tower Wharf Water Tower 6 Backford 'Pretty' (Caughall) M53 134 A41 7 Dee Lock Bridge 8 Northgate Locks Bridge of Sighs 9 56 70 Wervin The canal was linked directly to the River Dee by a tidal 71 When the Chester Canal was built in North of Chester the canal passes basin. In 1801 the lock was constructed so that craft in 133 the 1770s a staircase of five locks through a deep sandstone ravine. High the basin could remain afloat when the river was at negotiated the change of level here. above is the slender 'Bridge of Sighs'. low tide. Today the basin has been largely filled in In the 1790s this became the present Condemned prisoners once crossed and redeveloped. From Roman times the river flight of three. They lift (or lower) this from the city gaol (located in the had made Chester an important port. However, boats more than medieval over time trade declined 10 metres. The Northgate which 56 as the river could not Mollington Chester lock chambers still existed when take the increasingly Moston Zoo are cut from solid the canal was larger ships. Also, sandstone and built) to receive the build up of silt Knolls were the largest their last rites in remained a 131 in Britain when the chapel on the problem. Bridge constructed. other side. A540 Upton Wayside Markers It is said that Ten sculptures The so-called I 130 King Charles along the towpath 'Steam Mill', now A5116 stood at the provide directions offices, was top of this between Ellesmere formerly a seed tower on 24th Bache Port and Chester. warehouse. The September TRAIN 'real' steam flour 1645 and 128B mill was on the watched his Chester adjacent site. army flee from the Parliamentary Blacon 5 The original mill was powered by one forces after its defeat at the Battle 5 of the first ten of James Watt's ground- A56 of Rowton Moor. Here the canal Hoole breaking rotative ('sun and planet') passes under the tower's massive Cambrian Rd steam engines, a technology patented Cow Lane sandstone ramparts. 126E Hoole Lane Tarvin Road in 1782. Bridge 123E 123A 123 10 Bridge TRAIN 11 King Charles Tower A548 Bridge Bridge Steam Mill 12 5 10 A51 9 13 8 7 11 6 BUS 14 Other Sculptures 89 Seller St A5115 122 These include this 123C canalside sculpture Bridge 122B near to Hoole Lane 12 Lead Shot Tower Bridge (No. 123A), which is inspired by This is the only remaining historic shot river dee Christleton canal boat tillers. tower in Britain. It was built in 1800 to Key produce shot for British muskets during 15 the Napoleonic Wars. Molten lead was canal Egg A55 poured through a sieve at the top of Rowton 119 A41 the tower and fell towpath trail 120 Bridge 70 linking cycle under gravity into Bridge a tank of water at 136 bridge number network route its base. As it fell wayside markers 16 the molten lead BUS bus station 1km Waverton became spherical P 70 P free car parks 1mile in 'free-fall' to (Boat Museum & 71 TRAIN train station solidify as shot. Waverton) Locations and distances are indicative and not precise. Refer to OS maps for detail. Ropemarks An example of a This round A working mill until A survivor of a Curious finds along pound lock (having building is located the 1970s, when it former cluster of the trail include gates at the top next to Tarvin produced mainly commercial ropemarks - here in and bottom of a Lock. It was the animal feedstuffs. premises that had metal posts on the chamber). A hut used by a However, it had developed around side of Seller Street bypass weir (which 'lengthsman', who previously had its Egg Bridge in Bridge (No.123C) in here passes under was the person own bakery. Now Waverton. Now Chester. They were the former lock who looked after a residential residential made by the taut keeper's cottage) drains surplus water length of canal. It stored tools and apartments, the building retains a apartments, this building was once a towline between the from the canal above the lock into the materials used to maintain and repair wooden gantry that overhangs the mill where flour was ground from grain via horse and boat section below it. It is named after a the lengthsman's section of canal and canal. From this a hoist once lifted brought Ellesmere Port. Previously repeatedly passing factory that produced the chemical towpath. Alongside it is the narrow grain from boats that had travelled nearby were coal, tile and cement over such nearby naphtha, which once stood nearby. channel of the bypass weir. from Ellesmere Port. depots anda rubber works . structures. 13 Chemistry Lock Lengthsman's Hut 14 15 Butler's Mill, Christleton Victoria Mill, Waverton 16 OS mapping base Local Information c Crown copyright. All rights reserved. Licence number 100023277 About connectingCycle Routes visit: www.cheshire.gov.uk/countryside/cycling, and the National Cycle Network visit: www.sustrans.org.uk Designed and produced by Chester City Council 2007 About localBuses and Trains contact Cheshire Traveline on: 01244 602666 or visit: www.cheshire.gov.uk/transport; and aboutCar Parks in Chester visit: www.chester.gov.uk Tourist Information Centres: Ellesmere Port contact: 0151 356 7879 and Chester contact: 01244 402111. Printedby Synergy (Prenton, Wirral) on totally chlorine free paper made from 50% recycled fibres.