By Steve Hull
Fifteen East Cheshire Ramblers set out on a twelve and a half mile walk from Church Lawton on the edge of the Potteries, but unusually instead of heading for the hills and open country we made towards the built-up areas of Kidsgrove and Tunstall. This may not sound a promising start for a walk but our route was mostly along canal towpaths and disused railway lines with occasional reminders that we were in an urban environment.
All Saints’ Church is grade 2 listed and the church has had an eventful history. A previous building dates from the 11th century. The present church is built of brick and is of a neoclassical style and was built after the church was destroyed by fire in 1798. One hundred and forty six years earlier, eleven people were killed in the church when it was struck by lightning.
We were soon walking along the Trent and Mersey Canal towards a complicated junction with the Macclesfield Canal at Red Bull. We first walked under an aqueduct carrying the Macclesfield Canal and then past a series of locks rising to the junction of the canals. Later in the day we returned to Church Lawton by walking over the aqueduct and looking down on our earlier path.
Soon after Kidsgrove Station the canal entered HarecastleTunnel, which is 1.5 miles long and does not have a towpath. This meant a diversion over the top and a walk alongside a railway line passing Bath Pool with its large population of black headed gulls. The Harecastle Tunnel was the biggest challenge on constructing the Trent & Mersey Canal. There are two Harecastle Tunnels and the first tunnel was constructed by engineer James Brindley in the late 18th century but with the developing industrial revolution the tunnel soon became a bottleneck. A second larger tunnel was designed by Thomas Telford and opened in 1827. The tunnel however had no towpath and boatmen had to ‘leg’ their way through the tunnel. This was hard work and it often took them three hours to ‘leg’ the boat through the tunnel. Ventilation today is provided by large electric fans at the southern portal. Over time, the earlier tunnel fell into disrepair due to subsidence and in 1914 it was permanently closed after a partial collapse.
After rejoining the canal, we walked to Westport Lake where there is a busy café supported on stilts and overlooking the lake. After a lunch stop we turned north and picked up the route of the disused railway line known as the Potteries Loop. We followed this which en route passes through the Goldenhill Tunnel until eventually regaining the canal and re-walking a short section of our morning’s route. On leaving the Macclesfield Canal we walked past the lake in Mill Lane Plantation back to the starting point.
The group gathered at Westport Lake.