Chrunet Valley?

Spotted this on the way in to Leek on the A520...


So much for proof reading.

Return of the Railway

After months of rumours, the Churnet Valley Railway have confirmed their expansion plans. Over the next four years, the C.V.R., in conjunction with Moorland & City Railways, will reopen the line form Stoke to Caldon Low and extend the C.V.R. to a new station in Leek, to the North, and to Alton, in the South.

In general, I approve, although the extension to Alton will reclaim and, presumably, bar access to a large part of the current Oakamoor to Denstone greenway, which uses the old track bed. I will accept this with good grace, if the Uttoxeter Canal tow path is opened up, instead.

Boltons for the Chop

The Caldon Canal is one of the most picturesque in the country but has been let down, for a long time, by the dilapidated state of the disused buildings at the Thomas Bolton Copper Works. Now, however, work has started to remove some of these eyesores.
The site has been "identified" as a "major regeneration opportunity", which usually means housing. I did notice, a while back, notices appeared for an action group opposed to such a scheme and such a small community could easily be swamped by in-comers. However, with no shop and a pub that struggles for trade outside of the tourist season, I would think that anything is better than slow death by neglect. The view will certainly improve, if nothing else. Perhaps some development cash could be used to do up the adjoining Froghall Old Wharf. The canal itself is fine, but the wharf buildings are currently derelict. That would only leave getting rid of the scrapyard, next to Froghall Station, and restoring the Uttoxeter Canal on my wish list.

Saltersford Lane Revisited

I took advantage of some sunny but icy weather to return to Alton and Saltersford lane recently. The sky was cloudless and the wind was light but the temperature was low enough to freeze a lot of the mud that can be a problem at this time of year.


Strolling along Saltersford Lane, I came upon a notice proposing to extend the current bridleway from it's current terminus in the middle of nowhere on the side of a hill, down the hill to the old railway line and then across the Churnet to Quixhill Lane. This route follows the original course of the salt road as I speculated in an earlier post, and which can be seen on the Ordinance Survey First Series maps at www.visionofbritain.org.uk. According to the Staffordshire County Council website, though, the extension to the old railway path has been accepted but the crossing of the Churnet has been rejected.

One of the reasons for the rejection was that the land between the railway and the river is inherently boggy. This seems a bit strange, given the seas of mud elsewhere on the lane that no-one seems bothered about. Also, where is the line of slabs that characterise a packhorse route and are present elsewhere on the lane? Surely, uncovering or replacing these would make the route passable. I can't help feeling there's a solid road surface under the grass, somewhere.

The reason I suppose I must accept, though, is cost. The original Salter's Bridge is long gone (some time in the 19th century) and it would presumably be somewhat costly to build a new one. It would be nice to have more access to the river, though. There's far too much barbed wire in the countryside and the recent "right to roam" legislation hasn't done much to help.

So it has been decided that the bridleway will run down the hill on its original line to the old railway and then be diverted along it to Denstone. There, riders will have to take their chances with the traffic, if they want to get across the river at Quixhill Bridge.

Leek, Denford, Cheddleton and I Told Me So

I decided to fill in a gap in my knowledge with another trip to Leek. I went by bus, which took ages, so that I didn't get there until 10:50. The stroll down the Leek Arm was pleasant, with a good view over the Churnet Valley and surroundings. I reached Hazlehurst, where the Leek Arm joins the main line of the Caldon Canal, at around 12:30 and so decided to stop at the Holly Bush, in Denford, for lunch. This was a good idea, as both food and beer were excellent.


Strolling on, the weather turned a little damp, so I made for the Boat, in Cheddleton. This was also a good idea, as I was able to sit outside, under cover, with another good pint of beer.

Sadly, the weather did not improve and I was now a bit behind time. The Black Lion, at Consallforge, was closed, with a notice outside announcing that it would now be closed on Thursdays. Possibly a blessing, given how late it was getting, but a bit of a disappointment, at the time. The rest of the walk became a bit of a plod, ending at the bus stop in Oakamoor.

One thing stands out from the latter part of the walk. In a previous post, I said that it would take only one bridge on the Caldon Canal, in an obvious place, with planks bolted to it, to make me look stupid. Sure enough, Cherry Eye Bridge, near Froghall, has planks bolted to both sides of the arch on the towing path side of the canal, each with grooves worn into it by towing ropes.

Finding The Source

Last weekend, I took a trip up to the north of Leek, high into the Stafforshire Moorlands to try to find the source of the Churnet. I had located a couple of candidates on the Ordinance Survey map and was aiming for a side-road, off the A53, that passed near. Unfortunately, I missed the turning and ended up in Buxton. It was a nice sunny day, though, so I had a pleasant walk around the town.

Heading back down the A53, I found my target, near to The Winking Man pub. I found both of my map targets were gullies, with water running off the moors down towards the infant Churnet. Unfortunately, it had clouded over, giving that bright overcast that makes photography difficult, so my efforts were not brilliant.

I got better results from the top of Ramshaw Rocks, on the other side of the A53, which offer an excellent view over the surrounding area. The climb was not difficult, although some bits were a bit vertigo-inducing. Carrying my lunch up with me probably wasn't a great idea.


Finally, I took a trip down to Froghall Wharf to look for a bridge, next to bridge 55 on the Caldon Canal, that carried the Foxt road over one or more of the Caldon Low railways. It is visible in photos from the early 20th century and I wondered if anything was still there. Sure enough, though most of it is now buried, the top foot-or-so of the arch is still visible and you can see daylight from the other side.

A Salt Road and Spotting the Blindingly Obvious

Took a couple of trips up to "the valley" in mid-August, both using Alton as a starting point. On the first trip, I headed off down Saltersford Lane; an old pack-horse road with an obvious purpose. This was excellent walking; a clear path between stone walls with no stroppy livestock. Unfortunately, it peters out a bit as it reaches a field, overlooking the river where a Salters Bridge apparently once stood. When the Uttoxeter Canal was dug, a Saltersford or Saltersfield Lane Bridge was provided, but the railway company seems not to have bothered. Thus, the modern path veers south towards Denstone. The original line appears to have been a farm crossing on the railway and a remnant of a hedge suggests a line to the river, but nothing much else is visible.

Just because I haven't spotted it doesn't mean there isn't something there, though. At Crumpwood Weir, a little further back up the valley, is a loop of the Uttoxeter Canal that originally took boats through the river. This wasn't much use to the railway, which is why it's still there. On two previous visits, I had noticed a line of stones in the undergrowth, next a modern road, that runs across the line of the canal. I had wondered, initially, whether this might be the remains of a lock, but had concluded that it was, probably, just a wall. On this, my third visit, it suddenly became blindingly obvious to me that there was a great big water-filled stretch of canal leading up to this location and that there were really two lines of stones. Clearly, a lock, and, probably, Carringtons or Weir Lock, that lowered the canal to river level for the crossing. Pushing through the undergrowth for a better look just rammed it home; I'd missed something quite obvious that had stared me in the face. This was only the start.

A short distance up the valley from the old lock, is an old bridge, called Seventy Bridge, which is so obvious that even I found it at the first attempt; its on the Ordinance Survey map, for a start. On my recent visit, there, I noticed that there is a plank of wood attached to it, where the towing path passes under. There is rope damage to the stonework behind it. The penny finally dropped. The plank is held in place by a bolt, exactly the same as a bolt sticking out of the remains of Morris's Bridge, further up the valley. I had wondered what the bolt on Morris's Bridge was for but had completely failed to take any interest in this much-more-obvious feature on Seventy Bridge. Mystery solved; some kind of rope damage protection. All I need, now, is to find a bridge on the Caldon Canal or the main line of the Trent and Mersey, with a similar device in place, at a location I've known for years, to feel totally stupid.



Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.