About the Caldon Canal

One of England's most scenic waterways

The Caldon Canal is a branch of the Trent & Mersey Canal starting at Stoke-on-Trent. This outstandingly picturesque waterway runs through the heart of Staffordshire to Froghall with a 3-mile spur to the busy market town of Leek. A part of the canal runs through an area known as 'Little Switzerland' in which the only other form of transport is a preserved steam railway running alongside the canal. The canal follows the Churnet Valley and shares the river's course for a while. A canal of unforgettable scenery and wildlife.

After some nine miles and as many locks, the Caldon's Leek branch flies off on an aqueduct at Hazelhurst Junction - not surprisingly to the Staffordshire textile town of Leek some two and a half miles (and no locks) away. The main line meanwhile covers another eight miles and as many locks, swapping it navigation in and out of the River Churnet through some startling scenery as it makes for its terminus at Froghall from whence it was originally built in 1779 to carry quarried limestone.

From the Hazelhurst Viaduct to Froghall

The main line drops through three locks to skirt the Deep Hayes country park, which has excellent moorings and lovely walks.

It then makes its way through the fascinating industrial hamlet of Cheddleton, past the restored, waterwheel-powered Cheddleton Flint Mill and the equally historic Churnet Valley Steam Railway, before locking down into the River Churnet for an unforgettable mile-long journey through the steep and wooded Churnet valley, to Consall Forge.

Here the cut makes a sharp left (as the river continues straight on over a footbridge and weir), passing a pub so isolated that it has no access by public road! In scenery that is simply stunning, you then navigate a narrowing channel, passing so close to the old railway that Consall Forge station has waiting room cantilevered out onto the canal above your head.

Froghall was once a hive of industry as limestone quarried two miles away was transhipped via a tramway into waiting narrowboats at the village's basin.

Caldon Canal - From Hazelhurst to Leek

Leek is attained after the branch canal watches the main line fall, then nips sharply over the top does a quick left over the Hazelhurst aqueduct. The Leek branch hugs the main line for a time, before veering away through more lovely woodland scenery, toward the town itself.

Sadly, the last half mile to the old Leek basin have been filled in a replaced with an industrial estate. There is an excellent walk up the feeder that brings the canal's water supply down from Rudyard Lake (after which was named a certan R. Kipling!).

Leek itself is less than a quarter of an hour's walk away.

Once you get out of Stoke-on-Trent , the Caldon becomes one of the most charming stretches of canal in the country. The Canal splits into two arms at the end of the main summit. The main arm goes down through three locks, seen here, and then on to Consall Forge and Frogall. Just past this point, the main arm passes underneath the other arm, which crosses it on an imposing aqueduct and then winds its way to Leek.

The main arm goes through a lovely stretch once the River Churnett joins it above Consall Forge and it winds through a heavily wooded valley. Worth a visit and a walk even in the absence of a boat.