Shropshire Union Canal - Lock 8 - Greenfield Lock - Great Boughton, UK - Waterway Locks, Planes and Lifts on Waymarking.com

The Canal
Before canals became popular in the UK there was a port on the River Dee at Chester.

After the Trent and Mersy Canal was built a loat of boat traffic diverted to the canal and Chester was worried about losing all its trade and so proposed a canal from the River Dee to connect to the Trent and Mersey Canal at Middlewich with a branch to Nantwich. However the Trent and Mersey Canal were unco-operative about a junction at Middlewich, and so the route to Nantwich was opened in 1779.

Later on in 1795 the Ellesmere Canal was built from Ellesmere Port to connect to the Chester Canal and later after other extensions various parts of the Canal were merged to form the Shropshire Union Canal.

The Lock
Although most boats on the canal were eventually narrow boats, the Chester Canal was built as a broad canal to accommodate the wide boats known as Mersey Flats that on this canal travelled from the connection with the River Dee.

Not all the locks are numbered on the canal, but that's probably an oversight when lock gates have been replaced. This is the eighth lock from the start of the Shropshire Union canal at Ellesmere Port.

The lock is a Historic England Grade II Listed Building.
"Canal Lock: c1775 by Samuel Weston for Chester Canal Company, with later repairs. English bond orange and blue brick with red sandstone footings, copings, quoins and piers. Narrow lock flaring at either end with pair of wooden gates to the west and steel gates to the east. Simple concrete bridge across west end and a spillway at the south-east corner." link

Waterway Name: Shropshire Union Canal (Main Line) Connected Points: It links the canal system of the West Midlands, at Wolverhampton, with the River Mersey and Manchester Ship Canal at Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, 66 miles (106 km) distant. 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 Canal). Type: Lock Date Opened: 01/01/1775 Elevation Difference (meters): 3.00 Site Status: Operational Web Site: [Web Link] Date Closed (if applicable): Not listed

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