Trent & Mersey Canal

The Trent and Mersey Canal is a 93¹⁄₂-mile (150 km) canal in Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire. It was made to link the River Trent in Derbyshire to the River Mersey, connecting the ports of Hull and Liverpool.

The plan was made by the canal engineer James Brindley. It was agreed by an Act of Parliament in 1766 and the first sod was cut by Josiah Wedgwood in July that year at Burslem. In 1777, the canal was completed, including more than 70 locks and five tunnels. Wedgwood used the canal to bring clay into his potteries and to send the finished products to Liverpool. He built his factory village called Etruria on the outskirts of Stoke-on-Trent, close to the canal.

Between Middlewich and the northern end of the canal in Preston Brook Tunnel, is the Victorian Anderton Boat Lift, which lowers boats fifty feet from the canal to the River Weaver. Just North of Stoke is the Harecastle Tunnel. Brindley built the first tunnel which was 2,880 yards (2,630 m) long, and boats were moved through by men lying on their backs and pushing against the roof with their feet. Thomas Telford built a second, wider, parallel tunnel with a towpath in 1827. The first tunnel was later closed because the land sank.