Uttoxeter Online Magazine

It was a branch of the Trent and Mersey Canal, and it came down the Churnet valley to terminate at a wharf which lay near the north end of High Street, in the angle formed by Cheadle Road and Park Street.

In spite of the passage of time this area of town is still known as The Wharf, and the original canal warehouse still existed into the late 20th century, having been converted into the western, or slightly lower, half of the factory belonging to Richard Cooper and Company Limited, locally known as "the corset factory".

At Rocester there were two locks, a road bridge for the Hollington road, two lime kilns and a wharf. By now the canal had descended to the 300 feet level on which it ran all the way into Uttoxeter Basin. At Combridge it had to cross ''Black Brook" which it did on an aqueduct, and between Spath and Stramshall it went under the turnpike road which was then the main road from Uttoxeter to Stoke.

Because of the falling of the land into the shallow Tean valley, it turned west at Spath and went up the side of the valley for half a mile until it and the river were nearly at the same level, and here it crossed the River Tean by an aqueduct.

This was quite an interesting piece of engineering. The river was widened out into two 15 feet wide streams passing between stone-lined abutments and a central pier. The aqueduct itself was two cast iron troughs, each spanning one of the streams of the divided river and each joining on to the other over the central pier.

Still following the contour level, the canal turned east along the other side of the river, passing back under the turnpike road (now Ashbourne Road), and curving south to the town. Very soon it passed a narrow entrance to a dockyard, and then on completion of its curve it ran south to the basin, the wharf and the warehouse.

The canal was ceremoniously opened, at Uttoxeter, on 3 September 1811; putting this in a historical context, it was four years before Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo.

The Staffordshire Advertiser which was a weekly newspaper, printed a report in its edition dated 14 September 1811. "On Tuesday the 3 September the Uttoxeter Canal was opened with every demonstration of joy which the inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood could devise".

Early in the morning the bells announced the approaching jubilee, and continued throughout the day to ring peals of gladness. Soon after breakfast the lads and lasses from the neighbouring villages, in their holiday dresses, began to assemble in the Market Place, where they were joined by the principal inhabitants, and the whole then marched off to the Canal Basin, preceded by a most excellent band of music playing popular airs.

Here a most enchanting view presented itself, the spacious Wharf furnished with every requisite building and accommodation for the convenience of trade, manufacture and agriculture; together with an adequate supply of coal and lime to answer the demands of the town and the adjoining countryside.

In the extensive basin lay two elegant pleasure boats for the use of the proprietors and their friends, who soon after 11 o'clock embarked; these, with four or five other boats fitted up for the occasion, displayed considerable taste, particularly that which conveyed the band.

The necessary arrangements having been made, The Prince Regent boat took the lead and proceeded in good style to the beautiful cast iron Aqueduct over the river Tean, where the company disembarked for a short time and then continued their course.

After passing Rocester, where upwards of 300 persons belonging to Mr. Briddon's cotton works attended in holiday costume to add their testimony of joy, the boats arrived at 2 o'clock at the grand Weir across the river Churnet at Crump Wood, a distance of about 6 miles from Uttoxeter, amid the acclamations of immense crowds of spectators who occupied every bridge and lined the sides of the Canal whilst others kept pace with the boats.

On an eminence commanding delightful and romantic views of woods, rocks and water was placed suitable accommodation for the entertainment of the company.

About 150 persons partook of a cold collation, provided in superior style by Messrs. Chamberlain and Garle, of Uttoxeter. The cloth being drawn, several appropriate toasts and sentiments were given by the Chairman, H. Webb Esq. and drank with utmost good humour and harmony.

Amongst the songs was one written for the occasion by Mr. Goodall and sung with great effect by Mr. Clark and others. About 5 o'clock the company embarked on their return to Uttoxeter, attended by the band and a numerous assemblage of spectators, rending the air with shouts of joy.

The weather was remarkably fine, which greatly contributed to render the surrounding country uncommonly sublime. In the evening bonfires were made in the market place, two sheep were roasted and distributed to the poor, with a suitable quantity of bread and ale."

Uttoxeter as a Business Centre

In the 17 century Uttoxeter had been one of the three most important towns in Staffordshire, only equalled by the cathedral city of Lichfield and the metal-working town of Wolverhampton, and with more inhabitants than Newcastle or Stafford. Its market was the most important trade centre for many miles around, and it carried out an enormous business in cheese and butter and leather goods, in addition to acting as a distribution centre for all manner of goods coming in or going out of the region.

In the 18 century it was still a very prosperous market town, but its slow decline in prosperity had already begun because other towns were getting ahead of it with their systems of communication. It used its own natural resources to supply most of its needs, but it did carry on trade with the rest of the country, goods travelling in small quantities either on pack animals or along extremely bad roads. Basic materials which it had to import because they could not be found locally were iron and other metals, stone, salt, spices, hemp and cotton, and it also imported wine and some luxuries.

The first turnpike road to involve Uttoxeter came in 1759, the road from Derby through Doveridge and Uttoxeter and Stramshall to Newcastle; a turnpike road was a toll road managed by a trust, the money from the tolls being used to build and maintain the road. In the same year, 1759, a turnpike road was opened between Spath and Hanging Bridge (at Mayfield), a "link road" of the 18 century to join the Uttoxeter to Newcastle road with the Ashbourne to Leek road.

A little later came another "link road" through Abbots Bromley to Armitage where it joined the main road from Lichfield to Stafford. (This road through Abbots Bromley was the road on which the mail came to Uttoxeter). The road to Stafford was not developed until 1793, and the first stage coach service to Uttoxeter started in 1806. Although the turnpike roads were a great improvement on the earlier roads, even they were not good for the movement of breakable articles.

Mary Howitt wrote that when she and her family came to Uttoxeter from The Forest of Dean in 1799, the family's bed linen, silver and personal belongings were packed into barrels and were sent up the River Severn and up the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, finishing its journey to Uttoxeter on pack animals.

With improving roads, Uttoxeter's trade began to increase, but the town still continued to be very self-supporting. Local trees were felled and sawn into timber for building and furniture and fuel; local grain was ground into flour and meal by local watermill and windmill; local clay was made into bricks and tiles; local sheep's wool was combed, spun, dyed and woven; local flax was made into linen; local animals became meat and leather and candles.

From the trade directory of 1793, and from other sources, it can be seen that the town could make a great proportion of what it needed from its own local basic products, as occupations listed include butcher, fell-monger, tanner, leather-cutter, miller, flour dealer, malster, rennet maker, cheese factor, shoe maker, boot maker, clog maker, woolcomber, dyer, weaver, linen-dealer, dressmaker, hatter, milliner, glovemaker, timber merchant, sawyer, joiner, wheelwright, cooper, hoop-maker, chair-maker, brick-maker, rope-maker, saddler, chandler, mason, basket maker, clock-maker, watch-maker, jeweller, lace-maker, confectioner, printer, cutler and banker.

However, the towns placed on the earlier turnpike roads, and the industrial towns which had been developing because of adequate water power or coal plus access to raw materials by the waterway systems, were already beginning to prosper better than Uttoxeter. As their specialist trades increased and as they began to produce in bulk so businesses in Uttoxeter began to decline in variety and in competitiveness.

It was because of this background that the opening of the Uttoxeter Canal was received with such joy in 1811, the expectation being that prosperity would return with the better system of communication.

After the canal had reached the town, it made possible the carriage of goods in bulk, both-h into the town and out of the town, goods such as coal, lime, iron, cotton and slates coming into the town, and goods such as bricks, tiles, land drains, timber and even more cheese going out of the town.

The list of occupations is now increased by people such as coal merchant, slate merchant, lime merchant, boat-builder, boatman and lime burner, and there was a surge in the production of long-clock cases.

The effect that the canal had on sale of timber can be imagined after reading an advertisement in the Staffordshire Advertiser in 1811, soon after the canal had been opened: "Timber for sale, new fallen in Kingstone Wood and Marchington - Oak, Ash, Elm - the whole lies within 4 miles of the Uttoxeter and Froghall Canal (which leads to all parts of the kingdom). Further particulars to John Ault of Uttoxeter where all sorts of timber are cut to order."

When the canal first came to Uttoxeter, The Wharf area was very much at the edge of the town. The Heath was a region of quite a number of scattered houses and cottages, but the north end of High Street only had a few buildings and Slade Lane (which is now Park Street) was very much a country lane leading to nothing in particular.

A great deal of The Wharf area has changed during the years since the canal closed, and much of the canal complex has disappeared. The canal basin was situated where the houses and gardens of Chorlton Terrace now stand, and the main warehouse existed as the lower half of "the corset factory".

Between Chorlton Terrace and the factory is an embankment which was the main quay for unloading the boats, although buildings, sheds and canal machinery appear to have surrounded the basin, and part-of the retaining wall which surrounded this region can be seen as a wall of sandstone blocks in the gardens behind Park Street Terrace.

The wharfinger's house in which the wharf-manager lived and had his office is now The Limes public house, built in the same style of architecture as the warehouse. The canal came in from the north to enter the basin, its course being roughly parallel to Park Street, and the taller larger half of "the corset factory" has been built over its course. In the region now approximately bounded by the eastern end of the factory, by the Croft Close estate to the north and by Park Street to the east stood a little complex of industry and houses.

By the towing path was a block of four lime kilns, a little wharf, and an acid factory, and between these and Slade Lane was a group of four cottages, and a beer-house, and a group of two houses, all the dwellings having gardens.

A quarter of a mile along the canal was another small industrial site, two more lime kilns and associated building, standing about where the lower end of Johnson Road is now, and a little further along was the dockyard, standing in the region now occupied by the little cul-de-sac off Park Avenue.

This dockyard was a long narrow basin, wide enough to take two or three boats side by side, and long enough to take two boats end to end, and it was joined to the canal by a one-boat-width channel; on the other side of Ashbourne Road was a widening of the canal in which boats could be turned round, presumably a facility for use by the dockyard.

Some information concerning the canal system can be gathered from the Parish Church Tithe Map and its register, from the Parish Church Baptismal register, from the Trade Directories of 1818 and 1834, and from the 1841 Census.

Unfortunately the 1841 Census recorded the county of birth of the individuals but not the parish of birth, so that it is difficult to tell whether those working in connection with the canal were born locally or had come to the town to take up work.

The Wharfinger was Thomas Brown, who lived and had his office in the wharfinger's house, the house being owned by the canal company as was the normal practice at that time. He was born in 1786 and had eight children baptised between 1818 and 1840.

In addition to being the general manager of the wharf he was an agent for the sale of Cheshire salt, Barrow lime, and Porter (a type of stout) and he was in charge of travel arrangements for passengers.

The Stoke to Uttoxeter railway line was opened on 7 August 1848 and the Churnet Valley railway line was opened on 13 July 1849. Soon after it had been completed it was given a branch line which diverged from the main line just on the town side of the River Tean and ran down the straight portion of the now derelict canal to terminate at the canal wharf, so that the canal warehouse and the wharf area continued in use for the railway instead of the canal.