Sir Nigel Gresley's Canal

The origins of the Gresley Canal:

Until the mid 1770s coal came into to Newcastle-under-Lyme by road. Manufacturers and other large consumers sent their servants to local collieries to order and collect the coal.

A 1772 newspaper notice listed the following collieries in the area:

"Collieries at Halmerend, Grubbers Ash, Lycett, Heys-wood, Roggin-Row, Bignall Hill, and B [illegible] Hall, within the Parishes of Audley, Keel, Wolstanton and Madeley, in the County of Stafford"

Sir Nigel Gresley of Knypersley Hall at Biddulph owned a large estate at Apedale in the parish of Audley, totalling about 1550 acres, which contained a number of collieries. In February 1775 he and his son Nigel Bowyer Gresley petitioned Parliament for permission to construct a canal from their collieries to Newcastle-under-Lyme.

John Sparrow, attorney of Newcastle-under-Lyme, and clerk to the Trent and Mersey Canal Company, gave evidence in support of the petition and the bill for constructing the canal went through Parliament without opposition. The measure received royal assent on 15 April 1775.

The Gresleys were given permission to construct the canal at their own expense and were authorized to sell coal to the inhabitants of the town and that part of the parish of Stoke-upon-Trent adjoining the Mill Pool for a period of 21 years at not more than 5s per ton, and for a further term of 21 years at 5s 6d per ton.

They subsequently built the canal from Apedale to a terminus at a coal wharf on Liverpool Road.

Apedale 1960 - 1975 (c.)

Apedale looking towards the Wedgwood monument, prior to it being damaged in a storm.
The Wedgwood Monument was erected in 1850 and was a memorial to John Wedgwood (1760-1839) who had been a local colliery owner. The monument was damaged in a gale on 2nd January 1976 and now stands a quarter of its original height.

The estate of Apedale has a long history, going back to the Romans. The area was worked for iron ore and coal for many years until the industries general demise. Apedale has now been redeveloped as a country park and Heritage Centre.

View from Alsager's Bank (1999)

A watercolour by Lesley Miller, commissioned for the Millennium by Newcastle-under-Lyme Museum and Art Gallery.

Apedale Country Park
This shot is from the park is towards Wood Lane

"Hard to believe that around 25 odd years ago this park was an opencast mining area that scarred the landscape.
However great work by various organisations and conservationists have since created a natural park with a myriad of tracks and pathways within it. Much of the of the planted trees have yet to mature but the original woodland (Springbank Wood) was preserved and is home to a great deal of wildlife.
The Grasses, Thistle and Clover are a haven for around a dozen species of Butterflies with Peacock and Meadow Browns the most abundant. There are several pools and ponds within the park, some original and some created that attract a great deal of Damsel and Dragonflies, some quite rare.
Kestrels hover over the clearings late in the day and there's Sparrow hawks around the woods. Large flocks of Finches gather in the park in the late autumn.
There's also a mining museum and a memorial site in the park. You can also book a trip down a drift mine. Well worth a visit if you live locally".