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Sir Nigel Gresley (d. 1787) of
Knypersley Hall at Biddulph owned a large estate at Apedale in the parish
of Audley. The estate amounted to about 1550 acres and contained a number
of collieries.
the route of Gresley's Canal
map from: Canals of North
Staffordshire
It was a 3
mile level private canal from Sir Nigel Gresley's collieries at Aperdale
to Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Authorised by an Act of
Parliament in 1775, closed in c.1857
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The three
Newcastle canals:
There were three canals
built in the Newcastle-under-Lyme area....
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1 |
The first was the Newcastle Upper
Canal (otherwise known as Gresley's Canal) it was around three
miles long, built around 1776 and served to bring coal from
Gresley's mines at Apedale to Newcastle.
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The second was authorised in 1795
and competed about 1800, known as the Newcastle-under-Lyme Canal
was built to join Newcastle to the Trent and Mersey Canal in
Stoke.
It ran for about four along the Lyme Valley and then Oakhill and
Boothen into Stoke.
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There would be a gap of about 1
mile between the existing Gresley Canal and the proposed canal
from Newcastle to Stoke.
So in 1798 a junction canal was authorised. This canal was
built, it had a junction with the Upper Canal and ran through
the Brampton to Stubbs Walks.
The termination of the Junction
Canal was about 60 feet higher than the Lyme Valley where the
Newcastle to Stoke canal ran, a short inclined railway was
originally planned to join the two. In the end lack of funds
meant that this was not built and there was only road connection
between the canals.
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