Bridge 116 Over Shropshire Union Canal - Milners Heath, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 09.619 W 002° 47.894
30U E 513490 N 5890123
This bridge is an accommodation bridge over the Shropshire Union Canal for nearby farms and is known as Faulkner's Bridge.
Waymark Code: WMWRRM
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 10/08/2017
Views: 1
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 Bridge
This bridge is over a stretch of the canal which was originally part of the Chester Canal, before it became the Shropshire Union Canal.
The bridge is a Historic England Grade II Listed Building
"Canal accommodation bridge: c.1776 by Samuel Weston for the Chester Canal Company. Orange brick with some blue brick repairs. Segmental arch, with stone springers and keystone has a projecting stone band above. Wing walls curve out and end in square pilasters. Plain and partly repaired parapet with flat stone coping.
The standard accommodation bridge on this canal."
link
The bridge is on a slight bend on the canal and towropes from passing boats used to cut into the side of the bridge. Metal protectors on the sides of the bridge were added to protect the bridge.