BW164/6
Commercial Canal
Date
1807
Reference code
BW164/6
Administrative / Biographical history
Proposed in 1795 and surveyed by Robert Whitworth, and later re-surveyed by William Jessop, a barge canal was planned from the Chester Canal at Nantwich to the Ashby Canal - the Commercial Canal. The scheme was promoted by Sir Nigel Gresley, the Burton Navigation, some supporters of the Ashby and Chester canals, and pottery manufacturers anxious for transport competition. It would offer the potteries an alternative route east and west, and give Trent craft access to the Grand Junction Canal, then being constructed. However, Trent and Mersey Canal plans to extend and widen to allow access to the Grand Junction Canal when completed led the Commercial's bill to fail.
For more details, see 'The Canals of the West Midlands' by Charles Hadfield.