Did you know that Hazelhurst Aqueduct on the Caldon Canal in the Staffordshire Moorlands is one of only six locations in the UK where one navigable waterway crosses over another?
Another one is close by just over the county border in Cheshire, three of them are on the canals of the Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN), and the last to be built and most famous of all can be found in Greater Manchester.
Hazelhurst Aqueduct, built in 1841, is part of the third and final arrangement of canals in the area around Hazelhurst and Hollinhurst on the Caldon Canal. When the canal was first built in 1778 the summit level was less than 2 miles long, but was extended when the Leek Arm was added (to supply water from Rudyard Reservoir) in 1801, with a new staircase of 3 locks being built at Hazelhurst on the main line to Froghall. The Leek Arm crossed the valley at Denford on a huge earth and stone embankment, joining the main line at a junction immediately above the staircase.
The staircase proved a bottleneck for traffic and 40 years later in 1841, it was replaced by Hazelhurst New Locks (3 separate locks actually at Hollinhurst, half a mile away), and the original route of the canal was reinstated plus the embankment pierced with a new aqueduct to carry the Leek Arm over the main line of the canal. The aqueduct is Grade II Listed and consists of a single arch in painted brickwork with stone dressings.
The locations of the other five are as follows:
- Steward (or Stewart) Aqueduct (1828) – Birmingham Canal Navigations Old Main Line crossing the New Main Line just before the top of Spon Lane Locks
- Telford Aqueduct (1825) - Birmingham Canal Navigations Engine Arm crossing over the New Main Line (near Smethwick).
- Tividale Aqueduct (1890s) - Birmingham Canal Navigations Old Main Line crossing the Netherton Tunnel Branch
- Poole Aqueduct (1828) - Hall Green Branch of the Trent & Mersey Canal crossing over the main line of the Trent & Mersey Canal (near Kidsgrove, Stoke-on-Trent).
- Barton Swing Aqueduct (1893) - Bridgewater Canal crossing the Manchester Ship Canal