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Shropshire Union Canal & Middlewich Branch
Shropshire
Chester Canal
Birmingham & Liverpool Junction Canal

























History
The present Shropshire Union Canal System only got this title in 1846, when the constituent canals were amalgamated and run by the Shropshire Union Canal & Railway Company before being bought out by the London and North Western Railway Company.

















Arrow-straight for much of its length, this charming rural waterway strides across the landscape.
The 66-mile Shropshire Union Canal is a canal of two halves. North of Nantwich, originally the Chester Canal - is a wide waterway following the gentle rolling landscape of western Cheshire to Ellesmere Port. 

The southern half of the canal - built in the twilight of the canal age - is an astonishing feat of engineering. Its long embankments, deep cuttings and grandiose bridges frequently dominate the scenery. In contrast to the winding contours of early canals, the Shroppie kept the same course across valley and through hills, speeding cargoes on their way from the North-West to Wolverhampton and the Midlands. Concrete 'pill boxes' are an artefact from later times, a reminder of how the line was defended in wartime