The Shropshire Union is an amalgamation of a number of
canals formed in 1846 under the Shropshire Union Canal and Railway Company,
which was later bought by the London and North Western Railway Company in
1922 after leasing the waterway since 1847. Components included the Chester
Canal, which ran from Chester to Nantwich, The Montgomery Canal from
Carreghofa to Newton Basin and the Ellesmere canal ( now the Llangollen).
Overall the waterway runs for 66 miles, the oldest section
being the Chester canal which is a wide canal winding its way through the
countryside from Chester into Ellesmere Port. Here it meets the Manchester
Ship Canal and the Mersey, while the southern half of the canal was built
towards the end of the canal era and offers long embankments, steep cuttings
and grandiose bridges of an entirely different character, showing a far
greater confidence and boasting of the engineering feats of the day.
By 1845 the Ellesmere and Chester Company, which owned the
broad Chester Canal had taken over the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction
Canal which ran from Nantwich to Autherley to join with the Staffordshire
and Worcestershire Canal, with whom they had a working agreement to preserve
their profits against other competition.
A joint company was formed in 1846 and named the
Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company with the Act authorising them to
take over the Shrewsbury Canal, the Montgomery and the Shropshire Canal with
the intention of using the routes to build railways, though within a year
the canal were leased to the North Western Railway Company and the plans
shelved, effectively forgotten, with the North Western Railway Company now
using the canals.
This was followed by the lease and then purchase of the
Shropshire canal which ran from Doddington Wood where it met the trench
branch of the Shrewsbury canal giving access to Coalport and the River
Severn, which was purchased in 1854.
The venture remained in profit until the start of the
First World War with the Shropshire Union acting as both carrier and canal
management.
By 1921 as a result of economic crisis most of the boats
had been sold and the company was bought out by
LNWR in 1922 to be
taken over almost immediately by London Midland and Scottish Railways.
The canals then went into
decline and disrepair until an act of abandonment in 1944 closed 175 miles
of canal leaving the Mainline from Ellesmere to Autherley with the branch to
Middlewhich intact, with the Ellesmere canal taking on the role of water
supply to the Belvide Resevoir which helped ensure its survival.
Renewed interest in the canals
started to grow from the 1950s onwards, with a view to preserving heritage
and providing leisure facilities. This resulted in the setting up of Canal
trusts and societies right across the country, who inspired and goaded
authorities into taking a new interest in the waterways.
The Ellesmere canal has now
been renamed the Llangollen and provides a delightful facility for pleasure
craft and dramatic views of some wonderful countryside. The Montgomery is
partially re-opened with many disused sections still ongoing projects, while
the large canals have remained navigable.