Weaver Aqueduct

Weaver Aqueduct

Shropshire Union

November 2010

The Shropshire Union crosses the River Weaver just  below the Audlem locks.

Even this high up the Weaver is still a substantial watercourse, so substantial that during the War plans were laid to extend the Weaver Navigation to Audlem and then upgrade the Shropshire Union to broad guage to allow larger craft to pass from Manchester to Birmingham.

The plan never came to pass and instead the Weaver continues to flow beneath the single arch of the Shroppie.

Shebdon Aqueduct

Shebdon Aqueduct

Shropshire Union

April 2010

Shebdon aqueduct may not be well known, but the nearby Wharf Inn is a feature of the Shropshire Union Canal.

RIver Weaver Aqueduct

River Weaver Aqueduct

Middlewich Branch Canal (SUC)

22.4.10

A recent trip along the Middlewich Branch Canal afforded an opportunity to have a goof look at the River Weaver Aqueduct.

Weaver Aqueduct - North

The descent down a very high and steep embankment was a bit perilous but afforded me a good view of the big central arch, and the two smaller flood relief arches.

Weaver Aqueduct - south

Lickily the water level was down so I walked through the western flood relief arch and capturesshots of both fides of this impressive blue brick construction.

Flood relief channel

Market Drayton Aqueduct

Market Drayton Aqueduct
Shropshire Union
9th January 2010

Its nice to have fellow bloggers out there thinking about me.

Adam from nb Debdale managed to squeeze in a short festive cruise, just before the ice of January 2010 closed in seriously. In fact, he returned to his Norbury base on the last day cruising was possible.

Whilst he was out on the Shropshire Union he stopped at Market Drayton just long enough to grrab a photo of its aqueduct, which is built in the stone style so typical of the area.

Thanks Adam.

Spring Coppice Aqueduct at Shelmore Embankment

Spring Coppice Aqueduct at Shelmore embankment

Shropshire Union

For those in doubt, the Shelmore Embankment is the long high embankment immediately to the south of Norbury Junction. It's not the embankment which breached in August 2009 - that one is the equally impressive Shebdon Embakment a few miles to the north. I mention this only  because I get the two muddled up!

Spring Coppice Aqueduct - west

The Shelmore Embankment has two aqueducts, one at each end. I have no idea what the southern one is called locally, but as it lies next to Spring Coppice I have assumed that the aqueduct bears the same name.

Spring Coppice Aqueduct - east

It's a quality structure, with a lofty barrel arch and dressed stone portals. The aqueduct carries a busy but narrow country lane and can be easily  found if you listen out for regular car horn tooting, as vehicles approach it's blind entrances. Mooring to take a look as this structure is problematic, given the incredibly shallow margins in the area. The only realistic way of stopping is to hover in the narrows which contains the flood control gate, and hope no other boats arrive.  I was lucky - I had the place to myself but was amused to see a narrowboat steam round the corner from Norbury just as I got underway again!

Moat Brook Aqueduct at Pendeford Bridge

Moat Brook Aqueduct at Pendeford Bridge
Shropshire Union

Whilst the Moat Brook is technically a tributary of the Penk, at the point it crosses the line of the Shropshire Union Canal it is a much more significant watercourse, demanding a far more substantial aqueduct.

Pendeford Bridge Aqueduct

In contrast to it's disappointing southerly neighbour, this aqueduct is much more dramatic, with a well constructed archway and dressed stone portals.

Wheaton Aston Aqueduct

Wheaton Aston Aqueduct
Shropshire Union

Just below Wheaton Aston's solitary lock and just before the BW service block, the Whiston Brook makes its way under the Shropshire Union Canal via a substantial brick archway. This is a pretty normal aqueduct structure for the Shropshire Union.

Wheaton Aston Aqueduct

If you didn't know it was there you would never even notice it.

Ryehill Aqueduct

Ryehill Aqueduct

Shropshire Union

Aqueduct hunting sometimes throws up surprises, and this is one of them. The Ryehill Aqueduct (if that is what is is called) is a mystery structure, which is overlooked by both Pearson and GeoMaps - which is very strange given the latter's attention to detail.

Ryehill Aqueduct west portal

Sure, the both recognise the passage of Marston Brook further south under the Wheaton Aston Embankment, but neither feature this most illuminating structure.

Ryehill Aqueduct, central channel profile

The Ryehill Aqueduct carries a disused access track under the northerly end on the Wheaton Aston Embankment via ha high vaulted archway. The really interesting feature it that within the tunnel the profile of the canal bed is visible in inch thick cast iron. I had always attributed the shallow sloping margins of the Shropshire Union to recent leak control measures, but this cast iron section suggests that the saucer shaped profile is original, and was therefore part of Telford's design.

Ryehill Aqueduct, eastern portal

And the overhead channel isn't the only mystery the aqueduct presents. Pinned high along its sides are chunky electrical cables, now disconnected and sagging down. Why have such a substantial power supply in the middle of nowhere? The answer probably lies in the brick structures in the adjacent fields, the remains of a world war two airfield. I assume that the tunnel and aqueduct served to connect two parts of the aerodrome, which was also the likely target of the bombers which hit a narrowboat in Wheaton Aston lock carrying unsheeted aluminium at night.

The question is: Which came first, the aqueduct or the airfield?

Who says that local history is boring!

Norbury Aqueduct

Norbury Aqueduct

Shropshire Union

I knew that there was an aqueduct at Norbury cos the good book told me so.... but for the life of me I couldnt see it!

I wandered round the junction, peering down the embankment behind the BW office but nothing, not a stream, a road not even a footpath. I was on the point of giving up wen I saw a display board near the entrance to the marina, tracing out a local walk and there it was, about half a mile off to the south.

Norbury Aqueduct west

Well, I had tied up and was in no hurry so I wandered off down the lanes and finally came across it, and a very fine structure it is too, with impressive portals and a high barrel vaulted roof. As it pierces the foot of a very high embankment the tunnel is surprisingly long and so narrow that you wouldn't want to try walking through at the same time as an oncoming tractor.

Norbury Aqueduct, east

Rather than retrace my steps I decided to scale the embankment and return via the towpath - easier said than done. The embankment is on the very edge of what is climbable without crampons, and even then it was only by using all fours from time to time, plus bits of ivy, low hanging branches and sundry weeds.

However, its a good aqueduct and well worth the effort.

River Penk Aquecuct at Pendeford

River Penk Aqueduct at Pendeford

Shropshire Union

The Penk is a significant river, one of four the Staffs and Worcester canal follows along its east west route. You would therefore expect the Shropshire Union's crossing to be a significant event, but in reality the river is so near it's source at Wergs that the resulting aqueduct is exceedingly humble.

River Penk Aqueduct at Pendeford

The watercourse passes through two very modest box culverts immediately to the south of Wolverhampton Boat Club at Pendeford, and were it not for the detail available on the Shropshire Union GeoMap you could very easily overlook it's presence altogether.

Stretton Aqueduct

Stretton Aqueduct

Shropshire Union Canal over A5

This cast iron aqueduct carries what was the Birmingham Junction Canal (and embosed as such on the cast iron plaque) over the A5 at Stretton in an 11ft wide trough, resting on curved brick abutments topped off with some rather beautiful circular stone towers.

http://www.flickr.com/

The aqueduct comprises five sections, each 6ft 6 inches long and supported by two curved cast iron ribs.

The road layout was adapted in 1961/2 by lowering the road surface by four feet, giving some much needed extra headroom beneath the arch. Additional supports were added to the abutments at the same time.

Repairs in 1958

http://www.virtualwaterways.co.uk/

The same scene in October 2009

Presumably the 13' 6" headroom sign displayed in the 1958 photo above would now read 17' 6".

I revisited this aqueduct on a glorious October morning in 2009, capturing the following side on shots:

Stretton Aqueduct east

Stretton Aqueduct west

Brewood Aqueducts

Shropshire Union Canal

An outing on the boat wouldn’t be complete without adding at least one new aqueduct to the collection. The southern end of the Shropshire union strikes off across the top end of the River Penk catchment basin, crossing numerous small tributaries, which trickle under the embankments via an assortment of tunnels and culverts. It’s this sort of terrain that causes trouble for ardent aqueduct hunters. Which of these passageways does one class as an aqueduct and which are mere culverts and therefore to be disregarded? My rule of thumb is that of the passageway is too small to be theoretically shuffled or canoed through, it isn’t a real aqueduct.

Horses Brook Aqueduct, north Brewood

The passage of Horses Brook under the embankment just north of Countrywide Cruisers is right on the cusp of acceptability onto this site, with its diminutive archway being a mere 4 ft high. I think that this tunnel could be negotiated if one had a will to do so, a point to which generations of Brewood youth could probably attest. However, with its sagging centre section and the sonorous drip, drip, drip of water leaking from the canal above ensured that my investigation remained completely external.

Not that an external investigation was easy. First there were the stinging nettles and then a very slippery bank with my descent only slowed by desperate grabs at the overhanging trees. Getting back up wasn’t a whole lot better! The archway is therefore included as proof of my perseverance, even if it could be argued that “it is only a culvert”.

South Brewood Aqueduct, tributory of the Penk

Not content with the northerly aqueduct we also took a walk past the more southerly stream, an unnamed but more substantial watercourse. This stream is accommodated by a substantial brick arch, similar in proportions to a typical canal bridge and probably created around the same former. The growth of seasonal vegetation prevented a descent photograph, with its outline more apparent to the naked eye. I will try and get a better shot of this structure during the winter months.

Nantwich Aqueduct

Nantwich Aqueduct

Shropshire Union Canal

A late Thomas Telford aqueduct spanning the main road to the west out of Nantwich. This cast iron structure comprises five panels with an arch, constructed in 1826 and now a grade two listed structure.

The relative late construction date has resulted in something which looks more like a railway bridge and you could be forgiven for failing to recognise it as an aqueduct, were it not for the copious leaks now apparent through the abutments.

http://www.yourlocalweb.co.uk/

This aqueduct forms one of a family set of three, with the others being over the A5 at Stretton and at Congleton on the Macclesfield.

commons.wikimedia.org

This aqueduct has a headroom of 4.6m, spanning a gap 8.8m using 1.8m square cast iron plates bolted together.

picasaweb.google.com

http://www.saveourwaterways.org/structures/nantwich.htm