Thursday 24^th October 2019

Our coal supply is now completely exhausted. After having the roof repainted, we decided not to lay anything on it. A new shelf has been made that is supported on each side by the gangplank holders, but this has yet to be treated and so we have been delaying buying too much coal. However, we have arranged a delivery for tomorrow but it is a shame that the holder will still not have been treated.

It was not nice when we left the mooring with persistent drizzle. Normally we would not move in this weather, but we have to be at the navigation restriction at Foxley for Friday morning to be let through by CRT. Fortunately, the drizzle stopped shortly after we set off.

After leaving the mooring we covered just a few hundred yards and stopped just beyond the obstruction in the middle of the canal at Stanley Moss. From here I took the trolley and went to the Co-op in Endon but they did not stock coal either, so the diesel heating will have to suffice.

Ever since school, history has fascinated me, I love getting into any local history and the Caldon Canal offers no end. Arriving back at the boat from the search for coal, I spoke with an old chap at length about his local area. He was a mine of information.

The obstruction in the middle of the canal, a circular stone structure, was the central pivot point for a miniature railway that used to cross the canal and joined a local mill to the adjacent Leekbrook to Stoke-on-Trent railway.

Swing Bridge Pivot and Wharf at Stanley Moss

The Victoria Mill at Stanley Moss produced ceramic colours and glaze to the Pottery Industry until its closure in 1969. Before the arrival of the railway, cargoes would have been transported by canal and the wharf and tracks are still in place.

Across the canal from where we had stopped was a paddle arrangement in the middle of the field, the purpose of which, I could not fathom. This old chap explained the reason. The nearby Stanley Pools act as a reservoir for the canal but in times of flood, when the reservoir becomes too high, water is led off through a series of paddles that by-pass the canal and channel the water through a culvert beneath the canal to a stream on the other side.

These early engineers were clever people indeed.

We passed through the five locks at Stockton Brook, where work was being carried out on a pipe bridge and scaffold poles were hanging from the bridge quite low and the boat had to be steered carefully through them. At the bottom lock, we tried to gain access to the derelict Victorian Water Works but were unsuccessful as the whole area was fenced off from the canal.

Low Scaffolding Poles at the Pipe Bridge at Stockton Brook

There follows a particularly attractive section of canal below Norton Green, with the two lift bridges, the feeder channel from Kynpersley Reservoir and the aqueduct over the infant River Trent.

The number of reservoirs feeding into the Caldon Canal is of interest. This canal joins the Trent and Mersey Canal at its summit and so it could be said that the Caldon itself, is a feeder.

We moored just after Engine Lock 4 in the same spot as when we joined the Caldon on 7^th October, 18 days previous. Originally, we had planned to stay for 7-10 days, but have so enjoyed it and would have stayed longer with so much to explore, had it not been for the pending winter stoppages.

We walked down to the location of the restriction at the Foxley Pub in Milton. The restriction has been caused by contractors, attempting to stabilise the canal bank but the bank having given way on them and slipped into the canal. The bank is on the site of an old bridge hole and is on a very tight bend outside the Foxley pub at the winding hole. The bend is more than 90˚, very difficult to negotiate and ends with the very narrow bridge hole. When we passed the site going up the canal we thought then, that it would not take much to bring down the old bridge abutment. Apparently, a boat misjudged the turn and rammed the brickwork causing it to rock. The boater reported the issue, the contractor attended and the slippage resulted.

The Canal Restriction at Foxley

CRT have now blocked the channel in the bridge hole and are only allowing boats through on a Friday and Monday. In the meantime, it sounds as though the repair will wait until the Caldon Canal is closed due to winter work at the staircase lock at the entrance to the canal.

Returning to the boat, we came off the canal at bridge 18 to look at the village of Milton. From the canal the village looks picturesque, but obviously looks can be deceptive. Milton is just an old pit village on the outskirts of Stoke.

With the Miners Arms having been shut-down, we called into the Millrace for a pint, a working man’s drinking hole but friendly enough. Back at the boat, we decided to move down to Foxley and moored next to the buoys at the restriction.  

Weather: rain in the morning, giving way to a reasonable day. 

Day Total: 6 locks; 3 miles; 0 Tunnel; 0 Swing Bridges; 2 Lift Bridges; 0 Boat Lift; Day’s running hours 2.8  

Overall Total: 777 locks; 1351 miles; 52 tunnels; 61 Swing Bridges; 16 Lift Bridges; 2 Boat Lifts; total engine running hours 856.5hrs