How 'derelict' Caldon Canal was saved from closure to reopen 50 years ago

The 50th anniversary of the reopening of the Caldon Canal will be celebrated this month with an event in Endon. The canal, originally opened 1778, fell into disuse in the early 1950s and was almost unusable by the 1960s, with an official closure threatened in 1961.

In 1963, a campaign was launched to save the canal from closure and, by 1972, work commenced in earnest to restore the canal, which runs from Etruria eastwards through the city and north to Endon, where it turns towards Froghall, reached through the unusually low Froghall tunnel. On September 28, 1974, the canal reopened to navigation after an extensive restoration effort.

On Saturday, September 21, members of the Stoke-on-Trent Boat Club are to throw a celebration at Endon Wharf to mark 50 years since the reopening of the canal.

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Boat Club member Marc Porter, 37, described the state of the canal in the 1960s before renovation work started.

“Before 1974, it was very overgrown,” said Marc. “Parts of it had become dry and some parts of the canal had trees growing in them. All the lock gates were rotten. It was derelict.”

The event features visits from historic boats and classic cars, as well as craft stalls and live music. Also on display will be Sentinel clippings and photographs detailing the campaign to save the Caldon Canal and the eventual reopening.

HANLEY 1963/64 - Caldon Canal: Eastwood St. Johnson’s Pottery, Imperial Pottery looking west. -Credit:Stoke-on-Trent City Archives / Bert Bentley
HANLEY 1963/64 - Caldon Canal: Eastwood St. Johnson’s Pottery, Imperial Pottery looking west. -Credit:Stoke-on-Trent City Archives / Bert Bentley

The canal was built to carry limestone for the iron industry and flints for the potbanks from the Trent and Mersey Canal at Etruria Junction, through the . Before 1849, the canal extended all the way to Uttoxeter, but this extension is now derelict, although first lock at Froghall was restored in 2005 and there has been campaigning to restore the 13-mile canal. The Caldon and Uttoxeter Canals Trust works to restore and maintain the canal.

On the Caldon Canal, which takes in many of Stoke-on-Trent’s finest industrial buildings before breaking into the picturesque North Staffordshire countryside, Marc said: “The canal became disused as trains took over and the potbanks closed. There was a campaign involving Stoke-on-Trent councillors and grants were secured to restore the canal.

“The campaign was to reopen it not as a working canal but for leisure as it is today. It’s really well used.”

Caldon Canal in the latter days of its industrial use.
Caldon Canal in the latter days of its industrial use.

The Stoke-on-Trent Boat Club is now based at Endon after moving from near to the Civic Centre in Stoke when the canal was rerouted to accommodate the D road in the early 1960s. The club has more than 100 members and a social club in Endon. Several events are organised by the club throughout the year.

Marc added: “From Etruria heading north, a lot of the potbanks are in close proximity to the canal. Years ago they would have had all the working boats which were horse-drawn moving all the pottery and coal.”

Today, the canal is busy with narrowboats used for homes and holidays. A boat from Denford takes visitors on trips along the waterway, described by the Canal and River Trust as having “outstanding scenery” and being “steeped in history”.

James Morgan's image of the Caldon Canal at Hanley in the 1970s -Credit:STOKE SENTINEL
James Morgan's image of the Caldon Canal at Hanley in the 1970s -Credit:STOKE SENTINEL

Marc joined the club a year ago, but says he has been passionate about the local history of the canal for some time. He and wife Caroline, 37, bought a narrowboat five years ago, which they named after their dog, Mollie.

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