Tixall Wide, also known as Tixall Broad
or The Broad Water, is a body of water that forms part of the
Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal
The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal is a navigable narrow canal in Staffordshire and Worcestershire in the English Midlands. It is long, linking the River Severn at Stourport in Worcestershire with the Trent and Mersey Canal at Haywoo ...
near
Tixall in
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
,
England, to the south of the former
Tixall Hall
Tixall Gatehouse is a 16th-century gatehouse situated at Tixall, near Stafford, Staffordshire and is all that remains of Tixall Hall which was demolished in 1927. The gatehouse is a Grade I listed building. Tixall was used as a prison for Mary, ...
.
The lake was probably created during the construction of the canal in 1771.
At that time, the hall was owned by Thomas Clifford, the fourth son of
Hugh Clifford, 3rd Baron Clifford of Chudleigh, and the grounds had been designed on the advice of the
landscape architect
A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manageme ...
Lancelot "Capability" Brown.
[
It is said Clifford "gave permission for the canal to pass through his land on the condition that it was made ... wide enough to look like a lake from the house".][ and thus in order not to spoil the view.
The towpath is a very popular overnight mooring spot. Boaters moored here, or just passing through, have an excellent view of the magnificent Elizabethan gatehouse that is the only remaining part of Tixall Hall.
It has also been suggested that the canal was routed to utilise a lake that already existed, in which the angler and writer ]Izaak Walton
Izaak Walton (baptised 21 September 1593 – 15 December 1683) was an English writer. Best known as the author of ''The Compleat Angler'', he also wrote a number of short biographies including one of his friend John Donne. They have been colle ...
had learned to fish.
References
Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal
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