Stretton Aqueduct
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Stretton Aqueduct, Watling Street, Horsebrook, ST19 9
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Visit websiteThe Birmingham & Liverpool Junction Canal ran from Nantwich, where it joined the Chester Canal, to Autherley, where it joined the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal. Forming part of a major link between Liverpool and the industrial heartlands of the Midlands, the canal was opened in 1835, and merged with the Ellesmere and Chester Canal Company in 1845, which became the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company in the following year.
The project engineer was Thomas Telford, who faced a number of engineering problems during construction, but the canal was finally finished in 1835. It was built as a narrow canal, for boats with a maximum width of 7 ft (2.1m).
The length of the canal was 39 miles (62 km) and it required 26 locks locks to drop the 176 ft (53.7m) from Autherley to Nantwich. These were mainly concentrated in flights, with five locks at Tyrley, another five at Adderley, fifteen at Audlem and two at Hack Green. A stop lock reduced the flow of water between the canals at Autherley Junction, and the main supply of water was from the Belvide Reservoir, on the initial section near to where the canal crossed Watling Street (now the A5 road) on an aqueduct. The reservoir proved too small, and in 1836 it was doubled in size; it now has a capacity of 70 million cubic metres. This was later supplemented by the outflow from the Barnhurst sewage treatment works which was built near Autherley Junction, to serve the people of Wolverhampton.[
Stretton Aqueduct is a short cast iron canal aqueduct between Stretton and Brewood, and near to Belvide Reservoir, in south Staffordshire. Designed by Thomas Telford and bearing his name plus its date of construction, 1832, it carries the Shropshire Union Canal (formerly called the Birmingham and Liverpool Canal) 30 feet (9.1 m) over Telford's A5 road at a skewed angle.
The aqueduct has five sections, each 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m) long, held together by bolts and supported by six cast iron arch ribs, each in two sections and joined at the centre of the arch. It was cast by William Hazledine of Shrewsbury. The trough is 21 feet (6.4 m) wide with an 11 feet (3.4 m) wide channel of water and a towpath on either side. The Staffordshire blue brick abutments have stone dressings.
During 1961-62, the road under the aqueduct was lowered by about 4 feet (1.2 m) to allow taller vehicles to pass underneath. It was one of Telford's last aqueducts.
By Road: Best seen from the A5 Watling Street just west of Horsebrook.
Similar aqueducts by Telford can be seen at Nantwich and Congleton.
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