Shrewsbury Canal

Shrewsbury Canal
Telford's 1796 cast-iron aqueduct at Longdon-on-Tern
Specifications
Maximum boat length81 ft 0 in (24.69 m)
(Locks could hold four 20-foot tub-boats)
Maximum boat beam7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
(originally 6 ft 7 in or 2.01 m)
(Only Eyton locks were widened)
Locks34
(originally 11)
(plus Trench inclined plane)
StatusEarly stages of restoration
Navigation authorityNone
History
Original ownerShrewsbury Canal Company
Principal engineerJosiah Clowes / Thomas Telford
Date of act1793
Date of first use1794
Date completed1797
Date closed1944
Geography
Start pointNorbury Junction
(originally Trench)
(Newport Branch opened 1835, connecting canal to national network)
End pointShrewsbury
Branch(es)Newport Branch, Humber Branch
Connects toShropshire Union Canal, Shropshire Canal, Donnington Wood Canal

The Shrewsbury Canal (or Shrewsbury and Newport Canal) was a canal in Shropshire, England. Authorised in 1793, the main line from Trench to Shrewsbury was fully open by 1797, but it remained isolated from the rest of the canal network until 1835, when the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal built the Newport Branch from Norbury Junction to a new junction with the Shrewsbury Canal at Wappenshall. After ownership passed to a series of railway companies, the canal was officially abandoned in 1944; many sections have disappeared, though some bridges and other structures can still be found. There is an active campaign to preserve the remnants of the canal and to restore the Norbury to Shrewsbury line to navigation.