About the Caldon Canal
The Caldon Canal is a branch of the Trent and Mersey Canal that starts at Etruria Junction on the summit level in Stoke on Trent. The main line was authorised by an Act in 1776 and the complete 18 mile canal with 16 locks through to Froghall was finished two years later. The canal accessed the limestone quarries at Cauldon Lowe from Froghall. The first ‘railed way’ proved unsuccessful and the canal was extended through a short tunnel to the present terminus which was a better site for the tramways.
In 1811 the Trent and Mersey Canal Company opened an extension of the Caldon to Uttoxeter. This canal was built to thwart the rival Commercial Canal proposal and had been authorised 14 years earlier. It was never profitable and closed in 1849 with much of the line being used for the North Staffordshire Railway. The first lock of the Uttoxeter Canal remained in use as part of the transhipment operation but now included a rail connection. The Uttoxeter Basin remained in use into the mid 1920s but became derelict with the first lock being filled with dredgings in the 1970s.
[The photo shows the Uttoxeter Basin and restored first lock on the Uttoxeter Canal at Froghall]
