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Canal Ring
A canal ring is the name given to a series of canals that make a complete loop. Etymology There have been canals which formed a ring for more than 200 years, but the term was unknown before the 1960s, when the Inland Waterways Association coined Cheshire Ring as part of its campaign to save the Ashton Canal and Peak Forest Canal from closure. Working boatmen were concerned with getting from A to B as fast as possible, or for the lowest toll, rather than in visiting more of the system, and what are now known as rings were simply alternative routes to them, but circular routes allow leisure boaters to see twice as much of the system as is possible with an "out and back" cruise. Hire companies are keen to promote their proximity to popular cruising rings. Since the Cheshire Ring was born, more rings (and variants of them) have been named. The best-known are those that can be completed in one or two weeks, although some three-week rings (such as the Outer Pennine Ring) have been ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canal
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow under atmospheric pressure, and can be thought of as artificial rivers. In most cases, a canal has a series of dams and locks that create reservoirs of low speed current flow. These reservoirs are referred to as ''slack water levels'', often just called ''levels''. A canal can be called a ''navigation canal'' when it parallels a natural river and shares part of the latter's discharges and drainage basin, and leverages its resources by building dams and locks to increase and lengthen its stretches of slack water levels while staying in its valley. A canal can cut across a drainage divide atop a ridge, generally requiring an external water source above the highest elevation. The best-known example of such a canal is the Panama Can ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birmingham And Fazeley Canal
The Birmingham and Fazeley Canal is a canal of the Birmingham Canal Navigations in the West Midlands of England. Its purpose was to provide a link between the Coventry Canal and Birmingham and thereby connect Birmingham to London via the Oxford Canal. History The story of the Birmingham and Fazeley begins in 1770, when the Birmingham Canal Company was seen as having a monopoly. At the time, the coalfields at Walsall did not have canal access, and a public meeting was held at Lichfield on 18 August to discuss an independent link from Walsall to Fradley Junction on the Trent and Mersey Canal, passing through Lichfield. Opposition from local landowners resulted in the plan being shelved, but a further plan was proposed at a meeting held in Warwick in August 1781, for a canal to run from Wednesbury through Fazeley to Atherstone, which was the end of the Coventry Canal at the time. The plans were changed somewhat in October, but shareholders in the Birmingham Canal saw it as a serio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxford Canal
The Oxford Canal is a narrowboat canal in central England linking the City of Oxford with the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury (just north of Coventry and south of Bedworth) via Banbury and Rugby. Completed in 1790, it connects to the River Thames at Oxford, and links with the Grand Union Canal, which it is combined with for between to the villages of Braunston and Napton-on-the-Hill. The canal is usually divided into the North Oxford Canal (north of Napton, via Rugby to Hawkesbury Junction near Coventry) and the South Oxford Canal, south of Napton to Banbury and Oxford. The canal was for about 15 years the main canal artery of trade between the Midlands and London, via its connection to the Thames, until the Grand Union Canal (then called the Grand Junction Canal) took most of the London-bound traffic following its opening in 1805. The North Oxford Canal (which had been straightened in the 1830s) remained an important artery of trade carrying coal and other commodities until t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
River Soar
The River Soar () is a major tributary of the River Trent in the English East Midlands and is the principal river of Leicestershire. The source of the river is midway between Hinckley and Lutterworth. The river then flows north through Leicester, where it is joined by the Grand Union Canal. Continuing on through the Leicestershire Soar Valley, it passes Loughborough and Kegworth until it reaches the Trent at the county boundary. In the 18th century, the Soar was made navigable, initially between Loughborough and the Trent, and then through to Leicester. It was not until the early 19th century that it was linked by the Grand Union Canal to the wider network to the south and to London. Name The name of the ''Soar'' is included in a family of old river-names derived from a root ''*ser-'' "to flow", alongside (among others) ''Saravus'' (''Soar'', a tributary of the Moselle in Belgium), ''Sera'' (''la Serre'', ''la Cère'' and ''le Séran'', three rivers in France), ''Serantia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leicestershire Ring
Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warwickshire to the south-west, Staffordshire to the west, and Derbyshire to the north-west. The border with most of Warwickshire is Watling Street, the modern A5 road. Leicestershire takes its name from the city of Leicester located at its centre and administered separately from the rest of the county. The ceremonial county – the non-metropolitan county plus the city of Leicester – has a total population of just over 1 million (2016 estimate), more than half of which lives in the Leicester Urban Area. History Leicestershire was recorded in the Domesday Book in four wapentakes: Guthlaxton, Framland, Goscote, and Gartree. These later became hundreds, with the division of Goscote into West Goscote and East Go ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wardle Canal
The Wardle Canal is the shortest canal in the UK, at . The canal, in Middlewich, Cheshire, connects the Trent and Mersey Canal to the Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal, terminating with a single lock known as Wardle Lock. It was built in 1829 so that the navigation authority of the Trent and Mersey Canal could maintain control over the junction. Maureen Shaw Maureen Shaw, a boatwoman who was well known to passing boaters as well as the local and canal community, lived in the Lock Cottage at Wardle Lock for many years, with the result that it was often referred to as "Maureen’s Lock". Following her death in 2012, a memorial panel was placed at the lock in her honour. See also *Canals of Great Britain *History of the British canal system *Four Counties Ring – a canal cruising ring that includes the Wardle Canal References External links Jim Shead's entry on the Wardle Canal Middlewich Transport in Cheshire Canals in Cheshire Trent and Mersey Canal Cana ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Middlewich Branch
The Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal is located in Cheshire, in the north west of England, and runs between Middlewich, where it joins the Trent and Mersey Canal, and Barbridge Junction, where it joins the main line of the Shropshire Union Canal. It is long, and was planned as part of the Chester Canal, which was authorised in 1772, but the company ran out of money, and construction did not begin until 1827. The Trent and Mersey insisted that there should be no direct connection at Middlewich, and instead built the short Wardle Canal to join the two, charging large compensation tolls for traffic passing along it. The canal became part of the Shropshire Union system in 1846, which was taken over by the London and North Western Railway within a year. Traffic on the branch was always limited by the compensation tolls, and it was not until 1888 that they were abolished. The canal was the location for trials with locomotive haulage of boats in 1888, using a narrow-ga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shropshire Union Canal
The Shropshire Union Canal, nicknamed the "Shroppie", is a navigable canal in England. The Llangollen and Montgomery canals are the modern names of branches of the Shropshire Union (SU) system and lie partially in Wales. The canal lies in the counties of Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire in the north-west English Midlands. It links the canal system of the West Midlands, at Wolverhampton, with the River Mersey and Manchester Ship Canal at Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, distant. The "SU main line" runs southeast from Ellesmere Port on the River Mersey to the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal at Autherley Junction in Wolverhampton. Other links are to the Llangollen Canal (at Hurleston Junction), the Middlewich Branch (at Barbridge Junction), which itself connects via the Wardle Canal with the Trent and Mersey Canal, and the River Dee (in Chester). With two connections to the Trent and Mersey (via the Middlewich Branch and the Staffordshire and Worcestershire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Four Counties Ring
The Four Counties Ring is a canal ring which links the four English counties of Cheshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire and the West Midlands. Route The Four Counties Ring, which offers a variety of scenery and cruising for a narrowboat holiday, takes in the counties of Cheshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire and West Midlands. Highlights include the Industrial Canal Heritage of the Stoke-on-Trent potteries region, the wealthy pasturelands of Cheshire, to the stunning remote sandstone cuttings of Shropshire. This route, which is 110 miles long and includes 94 locks, is commonly used by holiday boaters. While energetic crews may be able to complete the ring in just a week, those who do not want to be cruising all day for the entire week will typically take two weeks. The ring traverses parts of five canals, listed in anti-clockwise order from Middlewich Junction: *Wardle Canal * Shropshire Union (Middlewich Branch) * Shropshire Union Canal * Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Droitwich Canal
The Droitwich Canal is a synthesis of two canals in Worcestershire, England; the Droitwich Barge Canal and the Droitwich Junction Canal. The Barge Canal is a broad canal which opened in 1771 linking Droitwich Spa to the River Severn at Hawford Bottom Lock, Claines. The Droitwich Junction Canal is a narrow canal, opened in 1854, which linked Droitwich to the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. Both were built to carry salt, and were abandoned in 1939. They have been the subject of a restoration plan since 1973, and the Barge Canal was officially reopened in 2010, while the Junction Canal reopened in July 2011. Following the opening of the canal, ownership transferred to the newly created Canal and River Trust History Droitwich has been an important centre for the production of salt, obtained from natural brine springs, since before Roman times. In order to get the product to market, an Act of Parliament was obtained in 1662 to authorise improvements to the River Salwarpe, but the w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Droitwich Ring
Droitwich Spa (often abbreviated to Droitwich ) is an historic spa town in the Wychavon district in northern Worcestershire, England, on the River Salwarpe. It is located approximately south-west of Birmingham and north-east of Worcester. The town was called Salinae in Roman times, then later called Wyche, derived from the Anglo-Saxon Hwicce kingdom, referred to as "Saltwich" according to Anglo-Saxon charters, with the Droit (meaning "right" in French) added when the town was given its charter on 1 August 1215 by King John. The "Spa" was added in the 19th century when John Corbett developed the town's spa facilities. The River Salwarpe running through Droitwich is likely derived from ''sal'' meaning "salt" and ''weorp'' which means "to throw up" - i.e. "the river which throws up salt" - which overflows from the salt brines. The town is situated on massive deposits of salt, and salt has been extracted there since ancient times. The natural Droitwich brine contains of salt; t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bridgewater Canal
The Bridgewater Canal connects Runcorn, Manchester and Leigh, in North West England. It was commissioned by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, to transport coal from his mines in Worsley to Manchester. It was opened in 1761 from Worsley to Manchester, and later extended from Manchester to Runcorn, and then from Worsley to Leigh. The canal is connected to the Manchester Ship Canal via a lock at Cornbrook; to the Rochdale Canal in Manchester; to the Trent and Mersey Canal at Preston Brook, southeast of Runcorn; and to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Leigh. It once connected with the River Mersey at Runcorn but has since been cut off by a slip road to the Silver Jubilee Bridge. Following the re-routing of roads to the Silver Jubilee Bridge, the Runcorn Locks Restoration Society campaigns to reinstate the flight of locks. The Bridgewater canal is described as the first great achievement of the canal age, although the Sankey Canal opened earlier. Bridgewater captur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
