The Route
The terminus of the Newcastle Canal was close to Brook Lane at an elevation of around 110m. A pub named the Boat & Horses still stands near the former basin though the basin itself was converted into railway sidings many years ago during the construction of the Stoke-on-Trent to Newcastle-under-Lyme train line, which began construction on 26 June 1846. Although still extant in 1971 these sidings have also now been removed.
The canal headed southeast on the west side of London Road (A34). Where Occupation Street leaves London Road is the spot that would have been the bottom of the inclined plane providing a link to the Newcastle-under-Lyme Junction Canal, which was never built. Near here is the newly developed Lyme Valley Parkway - Lyme Brook runs to the west of the canal line.
A little further south there is a small Jewish synagogue/cemetery and a bowling green. The canal ran behind these into a cutting surrounded by a small wood. Past here it emerges by the side of the busy A34 opposite the General Hospital and the newly built University Hospital of North Staffordshire. Surprisingly this section has survived and today it is the only part of any of the canal that holds water.
A couple of minor roads crossed the canal as it ran south close to the A34. At Oak Hill the canal curved southwest for a hundred yards or so and then curved back round to head east under the A34. The crossing point on the main road was about halfway between the B5041 (heading north east towards Stoke) and the A34/A500 Hanford roundabout. At Oak Hill the dry bed of the canal can be found behind The Cottage pub.
Roughly following the B5041, the canal continued east until it reached the now minor road but former A5006 which runs north east from the afore mentioned roundabout. When the canal reached the old A5006 it turned again and headed northeast into Boothen. The route pulled away from the A5006 until it came close to the B5041. In Boothen the line of the canal can still be seen where it is grassed over alongside this London Road. Just before the B5041 and the former canal line met the A52 in Stoke the canal used to disappear into a relatively short tunnel - I have no information on whether this has survived.
On the far side of the tunnel is Spode Factory and museum, shortly after this the Newcastle Canal ran into the Trent & Mersey Canal near Glebe Street. Until the early 1970s there was a 100 yard stretch of navigable Newcastle-under-Lyme Canal here which was used as moorings for Stoke Boat Club, this stretch was wiped out when the A500 by-pass was built. The one remaining item of the canal which can still be seen in Stoke is the site of a bridge in Corporation Street where both parapets have survived at the roads junction with London Road (B5041).
Read more about this topic: Newcastle-under-Lyme Canal
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