Bridge 3 Leek Branch of the Caldon Canal - Cheddleton, Staffordshire.
N 53° 04.789 W 002° 04.200
30U E 562296 N 5881553
This bridge is a located on the Leek Branch of the Caldon Canal near Denford.
Waymark Code: WMVE48
Location: West Midlands, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/07/2017
Views: 3
This bridge is a roving bridge, built of stone and is the third bridge from the Hazelhurst Junction on the Leek Branch of the Caldon Canal.
A roving bridge, is a bridge over a canal that is constructed to allow a horse towing a boat to cross the canal when the towpath changes sides.
The bridge is a Grade II Listed Building in Cheddleton, Staffordshire. Source: (
visit link) The description given is as follows;
'Roving bridge. Early C19. Coursed squared and dressed stone with
rounded copings; concave faces, elliptical arch; string at carriage-
way level; parapets and carriageway cambered over span and terminated
by piers to the west side. This section of the Caldon Canal was opened
circa 1801 to take cheaper coal to Leek, John Rennie engineer.'
The canal divides at the junction with the main line Caldon Canal descending through three locks in an easterly direction toward Cheddleton and on to Frogall, while the Leek Branch continues along the contour to cross the main line on the single-arched Hazelhurst Aqueduct.
The Leek Branch was opened in 1802 and was built both to extend navigation to the town of Leek and to improve water supplies to the main line of the Trent & Mersey Canal, the Caldon Canal being owned by the Trent & Mersey Canal Company.
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