The Burslem Port Trust is a project to reopen the Burslem Branch Canal, an arm of the

Trent and Mersey Canal The Trent and Mersey Canal is a canal in Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire in north-central England. It is a "narrow canal" for the vast majority of its length, but at the extremities to the east of Burton upon Trent and north of Middle ...

Burslem Burslem ( ) is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Tunstall, Fenton, Longton and Stoke-upon-Trent form part of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. It is often referred to as the "mother town" of Stoke on Trent. T ...

, Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England.

History

The Burslem Branch Canal, ⅜ of a mile long, was authorised by an Act of Parliament in 1797, and completed in 1805. It was linked by a tramway uphill to the centre of Burslem. The canal breached in 1961, a result of mining subsidence and lack of maintenance; much of the

summit pound A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for a ...

of the Trent and Mersey Canal was drained, from

Etruria Etruria () was a region of Central Italy, located in an area that covered part of what are now most of Tuscany, northern Lazio, and northern and western Umbria. Etruscan Etruria The ancient people of Etruria are identified as Etruscan civiliza ...

Kidsgrove Kidsgrove is a town in the borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England, on the Cheshire border. It is part of the Potteries Urban Area, along with Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme. It has a population of 26,276 (2019 census). ...

. It was then closed off at the junction of the Trent and Mersey main line."Burslem Branch Canal"
''Inland Waterways Association''. Retrieved 5 April 2022."Burselm Branch Canal"
'Staffordshire Waterways Group''. Retrieved 5 April 2022.

The Trust

The Burslem Port Trust was formed in 2011. It is jointly owned by the

Inland Waterways Association The Inland Waterways Association (IWA) is a registered charity in the United Kingdom and was formed in 1946 to campaign for the conservation, use, maintenance, restoration and sensitive development of British Canals and river navigations. Not ...

and the Trent and Mersey Canal Society. In 2014 the Trust published a comprehensive proposal and plan, and volunteer work parties were started. In 2018 the Trust received a grant of £45,000 from Stoke-on-Trent City Council's Community Investment Fund, to which was added £5000 from the

Canal & River Trust The Canal & River Trust (CRT), branded as in Wales, holds the guardianship of 2,000 miles of canals and rivers, together with reservoirs and a wide range of heritage buildings and structures, in England and Wales. Launched on 12 July 2012, the ...

."Giant stride forwards for restoration at Burslem"
''Canal & River Trust'', 19 November 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2022."This historic canal could be dug up and brought back to life"
''

Stoke Sentinel ''The Sentinel'' is a daily regional newspaper circulating in the North Staffordshire and South Cheshire areas of England. It is owned by Reach plc and based at Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent. It is the only newspaper delivering daily news and featur ...

'', 20 November 2018. In the same year a strategic action plan was produced, detailing the numbers of jobs, canalside homes, visitors and boat movements that restoration of the canal would produce, and the amount of

inward investment Inward investment is the injection of money from an external source into a region, in order to purchase capital goods for a branch of a corporation to locate or develop its presence in the region. Foreign sources, such as transnational corporatio ...

it could attract. Roger Savage, chairman of the Burslem Port Trust, said: "This new report confirms there is sound economic benefit for investing in the restoration of the Burslem Branch Canal". In 2021, work to create a footpath along the canal was undertaken, and mostly completed, by volunteers and a local contractor. This will provide a walkway from the Trent and Mersey Canal along the line of the Burslem Branch Canal; there will be information boards describing the canal's history and intentions for its restoration."Trent & Mersey Canal - Burslem Branch"
''Waterways World'', March 2022. Retrieved 5 April 2022.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Website of Burslem Port Trust
Canals in Stoke-on-Trent Tourist attractions in Staffordshire