The cycle route is a part of the UK National Cycle Network. It is a network of safe, traffic-free paths and quiet on-road cycling and walking routes that criss-cross the country, linking up villages, towns and cities.
This 559 sign is attached to a wooden post located on the tow path at Barnfields Bridge (former Aqueduct for the Caldon Canal) travelling from Denford towards Leek. The bridge crosses the River Churnet at this location.
Route 559 - from Denford Road near the Hollybush Inn at Denford to Leek and on to Meerbrook. The route follows the Leek Branch of the Cauldon Canal and country roads.
The Caldon Canal was built between Etruria and Froghall in 1776 at a cost of £23,560 and was intended to carry limestone from the quarries at Cauldon Low near Waterhouses to Stoke on Trent. A tramway, included in the cost, was built from the quarries to the canal.
In 2014 the historic towpath of the Caldon Canal was improved to provide a link connecting the Potteries through the Staffordshire Moorlands to the Peak District. The project costing £2m was spent on improving the towpath for both walkers and cyclists. (
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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.
"Recent Schemes (North Staffs)
To improve cycle access to the Peak District from the Potteries funding has been obtained (2013) to upgrade the Caldon canal towpath from Stockton Brook to Cheddleton to complete route 550 which connects route 555 at Etruria (and route 5 at Shelton) with NCR 549 (the Manifold Trail). The towpath of the Leek Branch of the Caldon canal will also be improved to link NCR 550 to Leek and the Roaches and will become NCR 559." Source: (
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The organisation called SUSTRANS was set up in Bristol in 1977. They had a vision to improve conditions for people walking and cycling.
By the 1990s cycling and walking routes had been built all over the country, mainly using disused railway paths and canal towpaths. In 1995, they campaigned and won the first ever grant from the Millennium Commission for £42.5 million to create a UK-wide network that linked the routes to provide high-quality, convenient routes for walking and cycling. The Network that exists today involves hundreds of partners. Source:
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Route 559 can be found at the following link, by typing Barnfield Road, Leek, UK into the grey left hand search box above the map. (
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