Portal:Cheshire/Selected article/33



Chester Canal is a former canal linking the River Dee at Chester with Nantwich. It now forms part of the Shropshire Union Canal.

The original intention was to construct a main line from Chester to Middlewich, with a branch to Nantwich, but Francis Egerton, Duke of Bridgewater, opposed a direct link with the Trent and Mersey Canal at Middlewich. Construction began in 1772, and the route was opened through to Nantwich in 1779. At first unsuccessful, it was linked first to the Ellesmere Canal in 1797 and then the Llangollen Canal in 1805, so that the original Chester Canal formed the middle section of a profitable canal. The Middlewich Branch finally opened in 1833, and the canal operated successfully into the 20th century.

The canal passes alongside Chester city walls in a deep, vertical red sandstone cutting, and the route then runs broadly south-east, passing via Christleton, Beeston and Bunbury before reaching Nantwich Basin. It crosses the River Gowy via an aqueduct. Beeston Iron Lock, built using cast iron plates by Thomas Telford in 1828, is unique in England.

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