Trent & Mersey Canal Milepost - Broken Cross, UK
Posted by: dtrebilc
N 53° 15.126 W 002° 28.607
30U E 534907 N 5900442
This is one of the milestones on the Trent & Mersey Canal used to assist in calculating toll charges on the canal.
Waymark Code: WMW0FK
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 06/21/2017
Views: 2
The Trent and Mersey Canal
The Trent and Mersey Canal was the UK's first long distance canal and as the name suggests was built to give a connection to the Rivers Trent and Mersey. (Access to the Mersey was actually via the Bridgewater Canal with some locks at Runcorn that no longer exist).
It opened in 1777 and is 93.5 miles (150.5 km) long and stretches from its connection with the Bridgewater Canal at Preston Brook to its connection with the River Trent at Derwent Mouth.
The milesposts all have a standard design and give the distance to Preston Brook and Shardlow which is just short of Derwent Mouth.
The milepost is an Historic England Grade II Listed Building.
"Canal milepost. Dated "R & D Stone 1819" on shaft. Cast iron painted black and white. Circular post with moulded head and embossed letters on 2 convex tablets below: "Shardlow 81 miles" "Preston Brook 11 miles". The Trent and mersey Canal was built between 1766 and 1777 by James Brindley and Hugh Henshall. Charles Hadfield, The Canals of the West Midlands (1966) Jean Lindsay, The Trent and Mersey Canal (1979)"
link