Ketley Canal
The East Shropshire Canal Network was made
up of a number of short and very narrow tub-boat canals. These short routes had few locks but made great use of
inclined planes which were almost exclusive to this area. For a long period the network was self contained with
no connection into the main canal system although there was a link at the south of the network into the River
Severn
Ketley Canal History
William Reynolds of Ketley was the main man behind the Ketley Canal. His ironworks was one
of the biggest businesses in eastern Shropshire. He also played a large part in promoting the Wombridge Canal,
the Shropshire Canal and the Shrewsbury Canal. Although the Ketley Canal was to be very short - just 1½ miles
long - it was not a simple matter of cutting a ditch and filling it with water. Between its two ends, at Ketley
and Oakengates, there was a rise of 73 feet but there was no way that Reynolds could access enough water to
serve the locks which would be needed to climb this hill. As a result, he built Britain's first ever inclined
plane. It was double-tracked and worked by self-balancing, i.e.. full boats going down pulled empty boats back
up - lucky for Reynolds the hill went the right way!
1788
The exact date of the opening of the Ketley Canal is not certain and, in fact, it was only recently that the
whole route was proved to have existed as planned. What is known for sure is that it supplied the Ketley
ironworks with coal and ironstone from the east at Oakengates.
1789
The Shropshire Canal made a junction with the Ketley Canal at the eastern end
at Oakengates. This (when completed) allowed access from the Ketley Canal to
the Donnington Wood and Wombridge canals in the north and (more importantly) to
the River Severn in the south.
The Ketley Canal was not a great commercial success in the
way many other canals were but it did what it was designed for - serving the
Ketley ironworks.
1816
The Ketley works closed and thus the Ketley Canal became unused. It is thought
that the inclined plane officially closed two years later
Ketley Canal Route
The Ketley Canal made a junction with the Shropshire Canal at Oakengates to the north of
Telford. Although I have not seen the site of the junction "in the flesh" I believe it to be very close to (if
not beneath) the large road junction where Queensway (the current A442) crosses Holyhead Road (the former A5
and current day B5061) (grid ref SJ699102). This is known locally as The Greyhound Roundabout (named after the
nearby pub).
The old Ketley Canal ran on the north side of Holyhead Road as both canal and road headed
north westward. Somewhere very close to the new Beverley Island Roundabout, where Holyhead Road becomes the
A518 (SJ686107) is the point where the Ketley Canal passed under Holyhead Road. The canal clung to the southern
side of the main road for a few hundred yards (still heading north west) but then it moved away from the road,
heading westward at the backs of what are now gardens on Holyhead Road until it reached Shepherds Lane
(SJ682109).
On the east side of Shepherds Lane the Ketley Canal disappeared into a short tunnel which
emerged in what is now a wooded area preserved as parkland. Somewhat amazingly, there is actually a stretch of
canal which can still be seen here (at SJ680108). This can be reached from two sides; From Holyhead Road (a few
yards west of the junction with Shepherds Lane) there is a footpath which heads south to the canal; Or from the
south side via a stile and down into a cutting from Red Lees (lane).
Rita and Michael Wilkinson who run the Ketley Parish Council web pages inform me that
Telford & Wrekin Council did some renovation work on the canal here a few years ago. It is possible to walk
along the canal but there is no proper path and no way out at the west end because the canal is blocked by
houses (SJ679108).
Beyond Red Lees (southwards) the canal disappears from my oldest map. It can however still
be traced by taking a path off Red Lees. The canal's line can be detected after about 100 yards. Alongside the
gardens of Ketley Hall (also to the south of Red Lees) bits of canal bed can still be traced. In 1971 Ronald
Russell found evidence of brickwork and it is thought that a series of tunnels ran under Ketley Hall.
The area to the south of Red Lees (around SJ679106) should be famous. It should have
plaques, notice boards, a visitor centre and a museum. It should be a place that every canal enthusiast can
name instantly - like Foxton, Bingley or Worsely because this is the site of Ketley Inclined Plane - the first
ever canal incline to be built. Sadly it is (long) gone and until recently it was as good as forgotten. Its
general location isn't too hard to guess at. There is now an estate called The Incline very close to where the
top of the actual incline was situated. The canal incline ran westward, down hill, just north (behind) The
Incline housing estate - between the houses and Ketley Hall. Near the top was a house named "Hillside" and at
the bottom is a pub called the Wren's Nest.
Although the incline was forgotten for many a year and the local authorities of the past
(maybe unwittingly) destroyed what is undoubtedly a monumental piece of British industrial heritage, the
current Ketley Parish Council have not forgotten about the incline - as well as naming the nearby housing
estate in its honour, the incline now appears in the logo of the council's letter heads.
Up until about 25 years ago there was doubt as to whether there was ever a canal to the west
of the Ketley inclined plane at all. An old survey map of the Lilleshall estate was found and it showed the
line of the old canal heading into Ketley works. There was at least one basin at the works and some people
believe one of the current day pools is a former basin. I believe the actual terminus has been filled in and
built on.
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