Shropshire Routes to Roots

1. Background to the Shropshire Union Canal

Introduction

Although there were a number of reasons for the take-off of British industry in the nineteenth century, some of which are explored in the Industrial development themes, one of the most significant was the improvement of transport.

The introduction of Turnpikes improved roads, whilst by the end of the nineteenth century the railway network had developed to make transport of goods quick and efficient. But, initially at least, the key development was the construction of canals. Suddenly, large amounts of raw materials and products could be transported from mines to factories, and from factories to ports and retailers.

This theme, which has been developed thanks to the kind donation of material from members of the Inland Waterways Association (Opens in a new window), tells the story of the building and mergers of canals in Shropshire to form the network known as the Shropshire Union.

The Shropshire Union

The Shropshire Union was created by a series of mergers of canal companies in the 1840s, creating a network with well over 200 miles of waterways. This was very unusual for the time. Although canal mergers were not unknown - the Ellesmere and Chester Canals had merged in 1813, for example - they were not common.

The network was also remarkable for the number of inclined planes (four in total) and for the involvement of Thomas Telford, one of the foremost engineers of his day. He was the co-designer of the world's first large scale iron aqueduct which is found on the Shrewsbury Canal.

The canals

The table below lists the six canals which came to make up the Shropshire Union. To understand how the network fitted together, you could look at a map of the Shropshire Union Canal system (Opens in a new window). Note that this map is highly simplified, and is not to scale. The various rivers and smaller canals which connected with the main lines are not shown.

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