Newport Canal Town Lock - Newport, UK - Waterway Locks, Planes and Lifts on Waymarking.com

There a couple of notice boards near the lock with information about both the canal and the lock.

The Newport Canal
The Birmingham & Liverpool Junction Canal was the last 'trunk' narrow canal, built to provide a direct link between the West Midlands and the Mersey ports. In 1827 a branch was authorised from the main line at Norbury via Newport to meet the Shropshire Canal at Wappenhall Junction. Telford's report stated that this route `affords the best communication which can be had from Wellington and the centre of Shropshire to Manchester and Liverpool ... and to Wolverhampton and Birmingham'.

An intended branch to the limestone quarries near Lilleshall was never built, but in 1844 a 3/4 mile long branch was opened to Lubstree Wharf, from where a railway was constructed by the Lilleshall Company, owner of coal mines, limestone workings and ironworks.

The Newport Canal was opened on 2 March 1835, the same day as the main line. It was always more significant as a link to Shrewsbury and from the East Shropshire industrial area than for places it served directly and in 1849 it lost much of its traffic to the railway from Stafford to Shrewsbury via Newport and Wellington. Newport, the one town it served reasonably we11, never developed canalside industries.

The Shropshire Union, created by a merger of canal companies in the 1840s, tried to encourage trade but a slow decline set in. The Humber Arm was probably last used in 1922; the last traffic on the Wappenshall-Newport section was in 1939; and the final commercial working on the Branch was in 1944 when tar was transported from Newport Gas Works to Oldbury.

However the canal stayed in water until 1965 when, despite vigorous local protests, it was closed and most of the land sold. The then Newport Urban District Council purchased the stretch of canal that runs through Newport and it is now hoped to reopen the locks on this section.

The Town Lock
The town lock was no 20 of 23 between Norbury and the junction with the Shrewsbury Canal at Wappenhall. The town bridge is a special cross over bridge with an extension allowing the canal horses to pass from the north side towpath to the south side; it was considerably widened for increasing road traffic in 1891.

Although the canal maintained its trade during the spread of the railways, it was the vast increase of road transport after WWI that ultimately led to its demise as a goods carrier and its closure by act of parliament in 1944.

The derelict 1 1/2 mile (approx) section of the Newport Canal was transferred to the ownership of Newport Urban District Council in 1969 together with the sum of £3500 to cover the cost of lapsed maintenance. The money allowed the council to dredge and re-water the entire length for fishing.

Unfortunately in 1970 construction waste from the upgrading of the High Street was dumped next to the soft canal bank. This caused a section of the recent dredged bed to the west of the Town Bridge to rise. The section was then filled in leaving only the narrow concrete water channel you see today. The next year 1971 the 12" Strine Valley Sewer was laid below the lock and then under the bridge.

However the idea to restore the canal to navigation was never forgotten. This the Shrewsbury and Newport Canals Trust was inaugurated in 2000 with the objective of fully restoring the canal from Norbury to Shrewsbury. Plans are presently (2012) in hand to restore the Town Lock and the other locks along the Newport length as a prelude to full restoration.

Waterway Name: Newport Canal Connected Points: Connected Birmingham & Liverpool Junction Canal at NorburyNorbury to the Shropshire Canal at Wappenhall Junction. Type: Lock Date Opened: 03/02/1835 Date Closed (if applicable): 12/31/1944 Elevation Difference (meters): 1.00 Site Status: Inactive Web Site: Not listed

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