GRAND TRUNK Barnton Slippage at Soot Hill See pp. 12/13 May/June 2021 www.trentandmerseycanalsociety.org.uk Chairman’s Bit As you can read on page 14, our canal has finally been reopened at Soot Hill near Anderton. We can personally report that passage both ways was easy, having just been though (and back) on a return cruise to Worsley. There are signs asking you to proceed at tick-over, a buoyed channel, and two CRT staff to explain why you need to be careful. The landslip is quite spectacular! Let us hope that the earth doesn’t move again, or there could be a renewed closure! On our return trip we were delayed deep within Barnton Tunnel. We were about half-way through when another boat came in towards us. Despite much honking (from both boats) we eventually stopped “bow to bow”. Apparently, they hadn’t seen that we were already in the tunnel! They were surprised to find that they couldn’t pass us inside the tunnel, and horrified to realise that they would have to reverse back out (as we were already ¾ of the way through). Ten minutes later (and in the open air) we politely said “Thank you”, they were full of apologies, and we parted without any hard feelings. Cheshire Lock working parties resumed in April, unfortunately without one stalwart (see page 17). It was great to be at work again, enjoying the open air, the sunshine and chatting to fellow workers (at the regulation Covid-19 distance of course!). Sorry that there is no news yet about our Winter Season of talks for 2021-22. Gillian Watson plans to contact Red Bull Public House once it has fully reopened, to discuss potential plans with the landlord (always subject to Boris changing the rules again of course). Hopefully there will be more news in the next issue, including dates and topics. Don’t forget that we still need a new Social Secretary to organ- ise future talks seasons (see page 18). Page 2 Grand Trunk Editorial Welcome to Spring everyone! We are finally allowed to not only cruise, buy stay out overnight. We started by at- tending the first Cheshire Locks Work Party by boat, and taking a short trip up the Macclesfield Canal (which is, of course, closed further up). We returned home for a few days and booked our long-awaited passage down the Montgomery Canal. The culvert problems at Hurleston meant that once again we were thwarted. Plan B was a trip around The Four Counties Ring, except that Stanthorne Lock on the Middlewich Branch had to be closed for emergency repairs. We consider this our own special lock, which has been woefully neglected of late. As you can see on page 14, we decided to investigate the Soot Hill land- slide, and headed for The Bridgewater Canal. We had to reverse down to Wardle Lock (as we had been neatly positioned ready to tackle Hurleston), which we accomplished in a zigzag fashion (good job there were no fishermen). On navigating the Bridgewater we were met by astonished cries of ‘have you really come from Middlewich?’. We enjoyed boating to the work party so much that we intend to repeat the process next month, hopefully carrying on to complete the ring– I’ll keep you posted. If you haven’t paid your subs this year, you will find a reminder with this magazine. I do realise that in the current (covid) situation some members may wish to resign, (although I hope not) but please let me know so that I can keep our records up to date. Margaret English Please send contributions for the next issue to me, Margaret English, by e- mail to [email protected], by post, or by hand. Remember, this is your magazine. Contributions from the South especially welcome! Last date for inclusion in the July/August 2021 edition is 18/06/2021. May/June 2021 Page 3 Another canal linked to the Trent & Mersey which is no longer with us…. The Derby Canal The Derby Canal ran 14 miles (23 km) from the Trent and Mersey Canal at Swarkestone to Derby and Little Eaton, and to the Erewash Canal at Sandi- acre, in Derbyshire. The canal was authorised by an Act of Parliament in 1793 and was fully completed in 1796. It featured a level crossing of the River Derwent in the centre of Derby. An early tramroad, known as the Little Eaton Gangway, linked Little Eaton to coal mines at Denby. The canal's main cargo was coal, and it was relatively successful until the arrival of the railways in 1840. It gradually declined, with the gangway closing in 1908 and the Little Eaton Branch in 1935. Early attempts at restoration were thwarted by the closure of the whole canal in 1964. The canal today From Swarkestone the line of the canal can be followed into Derby as far as Wilmorton although the only recognisable canal features are the chambers of Fullen's and Shelton Locks and the bridges under Chellaston Road (pictured) and London Road. Route 6 of the National Cycle Network (NCN 6) follows this part of the canal. Although traces of the canal through Derby city centre remained until the late twentieth century (the ice factory on what was the Cockpit island drew its water from the canal), it has all been covered by development, mainly the inner ring road and Pride Parkway. New building at Pride Park has obliterat- ed all traces of the canal in that area. The weir built across the river to form the Derwent Basin still exists behind the Council House, downstream of the Exeter Bridge, and the timber cause- way on trestles, which was used as the towpath, remained until 1959. The Holmes Aqueduct was removed in 1971, and after a period in storage at a council depot, was sold for scrap. The remains of the towpath are visible at a bridge under the railway immedi- ately north of Derby railway station. An unused span of the railway bridge over Old Nottingham Road once crossed the canal. Steel girders set into the kerb edge of Old Nottingham Road near its junction with Stores Road are the remains of a bridge over the Little Eaton line. The Little Eaton line and the Page 4 Grand Trunk gangway have also disappeared, apart from the Wharf Building at Little Eaton, in the present day trading estate, and a couple of bridges. The clock house is a grade II listed structure, built for the canal's agent at the junction between the canal and the Little Eaton gangway. It is an L-shaped building, constructed of red bricks with a tiled roof in about 1795. The A52 Brian Clough Way was built upon the canal between the Pentagon and Spondon. From Spondon the line can be traced to Sandiacre. NCN 6 uses the canal route between Borrowash and Breaston. One of the few original bridges is situated between the A6005 Derby Road and the railway at Bor- rowash. It is constructed of red brick with stone dressings, and is grade II listed. The lock-keepers cottage at Sandiacre Lock also dates from around the time of the opening of the canal, and although it has additional windows added in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, most of it is original. The former canal at Shelton Lock Now a cycleway From Derbyshire Live archive More about the Derby Canal on pages 20-22. Can any of our Southern members provide more information? May/JuneNovember/December2020 2021 Page 5 A swimming squirrel and a cost-cutting cow on the T&M It was good to see part of the Trent and Mersey Canal featured on the televi- sion programme “Great Canal Journeys” last March with Giles Brandreth and Sheila Hancock cruising through Staffordshire. During the programme we saw some old haunts that we had visited and cruised by while we were moored in Cheshire during the eighties and nineties. During 1993 our two-week holiday saw us cruise from Anderton to Coventry and as we left Stoke on Trent we saw our first-ever swimming squirrel. They aren’t the greatest swimmers but do so when necessary and do the “doggy paddle” stroke and use their tail as a rudder. The squirrel was origi- nally going along the towpath but as we were passing it a lad appeared on a bike charging down the path. The poor squirrel took off along the towpath as there was no other direction for it to go. As the lad on the bike got closer, in desperation, the squirrel took a flying leap from the bank and landed half way across the canal. It then quickly swam to safety on the opposite bank. Continuing south we spent a night moored below Colwich lock and the following morn- ing we awoke to find a cow munching its way along the towpath next to a British Wa- terways maintenance boat. We wondered whether it was one of the ways BW were trying to make savings on their expenditure by reducing the use of grass-mowing teams working their way along the towpath! The swimming squirrel was too fast to catch on camera but we did get a photo of the towpath-trimming cow. Annette and Terry NB Emily and Steamboat Sidney Kennet & Avon Canal Page 6 Grand Trunk The Leopard Public House Plans have been unveiled to reopen Stoke-on-Trent's 'most haunted pub' with part of the building being turned into luxury apartments. It is said to be the place where Josiah Wedgwood and James Brindley met to discuss the Trent and Mersey Canal in 1765.