Spring sunshine from Norbury Junction
and a favourite spot on the Shropshire Union Canal.
and a favourite spot on the Shropshire Union Canal.
Hello and welcome to my 800th article here on Medium and, by pleasing coincidence, my 100th entry into my “UK Travel” library here too. Therefore it’s fitting and highly appropriate that I return to both a favourite local spot on the Shropshire Union Canal and from where my Summer Project of last year started and as always, a “happy accident” became an intriguing thought that quickly morphed into an obsession that kept me busy last Summer as well as aiding and abetting a positive mental health mindset.
As you will see by taking a cursory glance at my UK Travel library, I walked 2/3rds of the entirety of the Shropshire Union Canal last Summer and when these travels took me further and further away from home I decided to then walk 2/3rds of the Llangollen Canal and with both of those odysseys bubbling away in the background, my Summer project continued with a life of its own by taking me to nearly thirty English Heritage sites and the ruins of centuries old Abbey’s, Churches and Castles throughout central England.
The idea originally took hold during a walk along the canal at Norbury Junction, the nearest port of call along the Shropshire Union Canal to where I live, and both a picturesque setting on a sunny day and a venue that holds so many memories for me both ancient and modern. So with the Great Fire God of the Sky radiating its beneficial rays upon England once more, I couldn’t resist returning to capture yet more of those precious modern day memories.
A little background on Norbury Junction?
Norbury Junction is a hamlet and former canal junction which lies about 1 mile (1.6 km) to the south east of Norbury in Staffordshire, England. It opened in 1835, and closed in 1944, although the main line of the Shropshire Union Canal still runs through it. The Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal was authorised by an Act of Parliament in 1825, to create a link between the southern end of the Ellesmere and Chester Canal at Nantwich and the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal at Autherley Junction. Thomas Telford was the engineer, and the canal was one of a new generation of canals which used cuttings and embankments to follow a relatively straight line across the countryside, unlike earlier canals which often followed tortuous paths as they followed the contours. Norbury was a little over halfway towards Autherley, and to the north, the canal passed through the deep Grub Street cutting. To the south, Telford’s preferred route could not be followed, as Lord Anson objected to it passing through parts of his estate. The only option was a massive embankment, which starts just below the site of the junction, and is punctured by two road tunnels. Shelmore embankment proved difficult to engineer, as the marl soil used to build it kept slipping. It was the last part of the canal to be completed, as it took five and a half years to build, and was not finished until January 1835, six months after Telford had died.
The small settlement by the junction is named after the canal junction. The first lock on the Newport Branch has been turned into a dry-dock. There is a pub, the Junction Inn, a boatyard with full facilities for boaters, including the Old Wharf Tearoom, and a Canal and River Trust maintenance depot.
The junction site is in the middle of a long, level pound. To the north, the pound stretches for 9.9 miles (15.9 km) to Tyrley Top Lock, the first of 25, arranged as two flights of five and a flight of fifteen, which descend to Nantwich, while to the south it is 7.7 miles (12.4 km) to Wheaton Aston lock, which raises the canal level a little and is the only lock before the stop lock at the junction at Atherley. A very short section of the Shrewsbury Canal remains, up to the dry dock, which is used as private moorings by the boatyard.
Norbury Junction
Norbury Junction is a canal junction which lies about 1 mile to the SE of Norbury, It opened in 1835,and the main line…www.enjoystaffordshire.com
Norbury Junction - Wikipedia
Norbury Junction ( grid reference ) is a hamlet and former canal junction which lies about 1 mile (1.6 km) to the south…en.wikipedia.org
A dozen images follow, all captured by me this afternoon, 20th April 2023, and I sincerely hope you enjoy this pictorial stroll beside the canal in the sunshine of central England. Please also check back here tomorrow as I’ll be releasing a similar article on nearby Gnosall and arguably even more picturesque.
Thanks for reading. As alluded to above in both the article itself and my Summer Project of last year, here are links to my trips to beautiful Nantwich, Wheaton Aston and Autherley Junction:
Nantwich to Hurleston Locks
3 mile stroll in the sun to the intersection with the Llangollen Canalmedium.com
Wheaton Aston
And a Sunday evening stroll along the canalmedium.com
Autherley Junction
A stop Lock start to the Shropshire Union Canalmedium.com