The plaque to commemorate the re-enactment of the cutting of the first sod of the Grand Trunk (Trent and Mersey) canal is located on the wall at the entrance to the south portal of the Harecastle Tunnel on the Trent and Mersey Canal.
The plaque is inscribed as follows;
'TRENT & MERSEY (GRAND TRUNK) CANAL
ENGINEER - JAMES BRINDLEY
THIS PLAQUE WAS ERECTED BY THE
CITY COUNCIL OF STOKE-ON-TRENT
TO COMMEMORATE THE RE-ENACTMENT
ON THE 3RD JULY 1966
BY SIR JOHN WEDGWOOD. BART
OF THE CUTTING BY JOSIAH WEDGWOOD
OF THE FIRST SOD OF THE GRAND TRUNK. NOW
TRENT AND MERSEY CANAL
ON THE 26TH JULY 1766.'
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The first sod of the Grand Trunk Canal was cut by Josiah Wedgwood further along the canal near to the foot bridge 128 from Canal Street that gives access to Westport Lake and the canal towpath.
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The Grand Trunk Canal established a cross-England route by linking the Mersey to the Trent, opened up the Midlands, and provided water transport for exports to European markets.
"The Grand Trunk
The likely success of the Bridgewater Canal meant that Brindley’s original survey for a canal to link the Trent and Mersey rivers was resurrected, with the Duke of Bridgewater backing the scheme. Also supporting the building of this canal was pottery owner Josiah Wedgwood. The canal would enable his pottery to be transported with considerably less breakages than with packhorses or wagons, as well as being much faster. The canal would also enable raw materials required for the pottery industry to arrive in a more cost effective way.
The canal, called by Brindley the “Grand Trunk”, was to go from the Bridgewater Canal at Preston Brook, to join the navigable River Trent at Wilden Ferry. The first meeting of the Trent & Mersey Canal Company took place on 30th December 1765, with the first sod of the canal being cut (at Brownhills near Tunstall) on 26th July 1766 (making 2016 significant also as the 250th anniversary of this important navigation).
The canal was finally finished in 1777 (after Brindley’s death), with one of the main challenges having been the tunnel through Harecastle Hill, which was 2,880 yards long. The canal was 93 miles long and had 76 locks, 160 aqueducts (some quite substantial, such as those over the rivers Trent and Dove near Rugeley and Clay Mills respectively), 213 bridges and 5 tunnels." SOURCE: (
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Sir John Wedgwood, 2nd Baronet (16 November 1907 – 9 December 1989) was a British politician and industrialist. He was a great-great-great-grandson of the master potter Josiah Wedgwood.
"Sir John who born in Newcastle upon Tyne, was the son of Sir Ralph Wedgwood, 1st Baronet and his wife Iris Veronica Pawson, daughter of Albert Henry Pawson. His younger sister was the historian C.V. Wedgwood. Sir John was educated at Winchester College, at Trinity College, Cambridge and in Europe, where he learnt several languages.
He married Diane Hawkshaw in 1933. She was the daughter of Oliver Hawkshaw, the granddaughter of Cecily Mary Wedgwood, and the great-granddaughter of Francis Wedgwood (1800-1888), and Ruth Stewart Hodgson, granddaughter of William Forsyth QC. He was the son of Ralph Wedgwood, grandson of Clement Wedgwood, great-grandson of Francis Wedgwood (1800-1888), which meant they were second cousins. They had four sons and one daughter. He joined the family pottery firm in 1931 and was appointed Deputy Chairman in 1955. He worked as a travelling salesman and representative of the firm, a role which took him across the globe.
During the Second World War he served as a Military Intelligence Staff Officer in the Arctic and in Italy. In 1948 he rejoined the Territorial Army and became the 2nd in command of the North Staffordshire Regiment.
In 1982, after the death of his first wife, he remarried Pamela Tudor-Craig, a medieval art historian. His uncle Josiah Wedgwood, 1st Baron Wedgwood had been a Liberal and Labour politician and cabinet minister. John Wedgwood stood for the Liberals at the 1945 election at Stone, but was not elected. He then deserted the Liberals to become the Conservative Party's candidate for Leek, but was not elected there either. He did however serve as magistrate for Stone, Staffordshire.
Wedgwood had a love for outdoor pursuits, particularly cave diving and mountain climbing. He was a life vice-president of the British Sub Aqua Club. He inherited the Wedgwood Baronetcy and title on the death of his father on 5 September 1956. On his own death in 1989 the baronetcy passed to his son, the 3rd Baronet Sir Martin Wedgwood (born 1933; died 12 October 2010)."
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