'Stoke Locks' - No 36 lock on the Trent & Mersey Canal at Stoke Town

'Stoke Locks' - No 36 lock on the Trent & Mersey Canal at Stoke Town

'Stoke Locks' - No 36 lock on the Trent & Mersey Canal at Stoke Town c. 1968
photo: Ken & Joan Davis

From the two photographs it can be seen how much the scene at lock 36 on the Trent & Mersey Canal has changed over the past 40 years.
All that is recognisable is the canal and the railway gantries on the right of the photo.
The canal lock was improved in the early 1970's as part of the Queensway section of the A500 "D Road" road construction.
The buildings on the left were demolished to make way for the A500.
In the distance the large gas holder of Etruria Gasworks which was dismantled in the mid 1980's.

No 36 lock in November 2011
the house and trees on the right obscure the railway line

a freight train carrying Cornish china clay can be seen on the spur line to Cliffe Vale
at one time Stoke Pottery was on the left of the lock and a timber yard on the right

lock 36 on the canal is marked by the purple star
Dark Blue line: Trent & Mersey Canal
Light Blue line: Caldon Canal
Yellow: Stoke-on-Trent railway station
Green: The location of the old Etruria Gasworks - only one smaller redundant gas holder remains

the Trent & Mersey Canal with Lock 36
Bottom left is the A500 dual carriageway - top right is the West Coast Main Line railway
the spur line to Cliffe Vale, a few 100 meters away, can be seen

the terminus of the spur line ends at the ECC (English China Clays) works at Cliffe Vale
this spur line takes freight trains carrying Cornish clay for use in the cities pottery industry
- at the bottom right is the A500 dual carriageway -