Walk with IWA

Discover new ways to enjoy the waterways with our self-guided walks. Follow the stepby-step instructions in this guide or online using your smartphone, and fi nd out about history and heritage features along the way. More walks are available at waterways.org. uk/walks. We are still adding to this area and would love to hear om anyone who has a waterway walk to contribute. Please get in touch with us at walks@waterways.org.uk.

CALDON CANAL

Alison Smedley describes a fi gure-of-eight walk around Denford on the Sta ordshire waterway, with a detour through Deep Hayes Country Park Photos by Alison Smedley

1 Standing on the Caldon Canal towpath with the Holly Bush pub behind you, turn to the right and walk along the towpath. Look out for the replica milepost, replaced in the 1980s by the then Caldon Canal Socie (now Caldon & U oxeter Canals Trust). As the canal starts to turn to the right, you will see the bo om of a former staircase fl ight of locks. There is o en a historic narrowboat moored halfway into the lock chamber, which is all that remains in water. Beyond is Hazelhurst Wood, an ancient woodland which gave its name to the original staircase and hence the modern replacements further on the walk. 2 Follow the bend under Hazelhurst Aqueduct – note the 1841 date stone. The aqueduct was built during the third and fi nal rearrangement of the canals in this area and carries the 1801 Leek Arm, which crosses the valley on an embankment over both the original and later line of the canal.

Hazelhurst bottom lock with split bridge.

3 Continue along the towpath to Hazelhurst Bo om Lock and the site of Bridge 37. Sadly the bridge had to be demolished in 2020 a er it became unsafe. As it was a listed structure and in a Conservation Area, the local IWA branch is hopeful that its replacement will be appropriate. In the meantime a rather unsightly sca old bridge provides private access to the moorings on the o -side. Below the bo om lock is a good example of a recently restored traditional wrought iron split-bridge.

4 Walk up the gentle slope of the towpath alongside the rise of the three Hazelhurst Locks. These locks date om the 1841 realignment – the line of the original 1778 canal is now o to the right

Planning your walk

This fi gure-of-eight-shaped walk starts om the Holly Bush pub at Denford, near Leek, Sta ordshire ST13 7JT.

The 2-mile walk is along easy terrain – mostly canal towpath other than a short section on a minor road.

An optional additional 1¾-mile detour incorporates Deep Hayes Country Park, which features steeper terrain, muddy paths and stepping stones across a stream.

If parking at the Holly Bush pub to go on this walk, please ask permission to use the car park and make use of the excellent re eshments on o er on your return! Alternative parking can be found at Deep Hayes Country Park, in which case you will start the main walk at point 12 below and then resume om point 1.

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Hazelhurst Middle Lock with the line of the original canal to the right.

Hazelhurst Top Lock.

alongside the locks and is clearly visible in the winter time. Like the rest of the Caldon Canal down the valley om here, these locks were derelict by the 1960s and were reopened in 1974 a er restoration. The sideponds allowed half a lock-full of water to be saved each time they were used (preserving more water for feeding the Trent & Mersey summit) but are unfortunately no longer useable. At the third and top lock, cross over the black-and-white 1842 cast iron bridge to join the towpath of the Leek Arm of the canal (signposted Leek on the fi ngerpost). As well as connecting the town of Leek to the canal system, the arm was built in 1801 to supply water om the newly constructed Rudyard Reservoir to the summit of the Caldon Canal. As part of these works, the summit level of the original 1778 canal was extended along the valley to Hazelhurst and a staircase of three locks built to replace the original locks towards Endon.

Follow the towpath of the Leek Arm for ½ mile (parallel to the route you took up the locks and heading back towards Denford). This is usually the muddiest part of the walk, so beware. Bridge 2 is a lovely stone arch, pical of the structures built by John Rennie as part of the 1801 Leek Arm and extended summit.

The canal skirts what remains of Hazelhurst Wood (and the quarry where stone for building the embankment came om), and then takes a le -hand turn under a bridge (taking the towpath over the canal). This was a T-junction during the middle arrangement of the canal, with the original line (the now fi lled-in 1801 staircase) continuing straight ahead (you can see the stonework of the top lock entrance under the decking in the garden of the original lock-keeper co age). 7 Turning le over the canal you will fi nd yourself on the top of Hazelhurst Aqueduct, and above the route you took earlier. A shortcut back to the Holly Bush at this point (if you’ve had enough walking) can be found by going down the steps and along the towpath to the pub.

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The original Hazelhurst fl ight lock-keeper cottage.

Bridge 5.

8 Continuing along the Leek Arm takes you over two more aqueducts. The embankment built in 1801 to carry the Leek Arm and the water om Rudyard Reservoir is pierced three times, but only one of them dates om when it was built. This is the culvert which carries Endon Brook on its way to join the River Churnet. The second piercing was the 1841 canal aqueduct, and the third was built in 1863 when an iron trough was added to carry the canal over the new North Sta ordshire Railway branch line to Leek. The row of co ages just beyond once included a pub.

9 The towpath joins a canalside track for a while, and when you get to Bridge 4 there is another opportuni for a shortcut back to the Holly Bush by walking down the road. Otherwise, continue along the towpath as the Leek Arm heads along the side of the valley. There are a number of delightful properties with canalside gardens to enjoy.

10 Passing under Bridge 5 there is a good view down the valley, including the Victorian brick water tower of the former St Edward’s Hospital at Cheddleton. The canal widens out into a huge winding hole just before Bridge 6. This was apparently dug out deeper than the rest of the canal to create a sump into which sediment in the water coming down the feeder could fall, to reduce dredging requirements further down the canal. The brick overfl ow weir takes excess water om the canal and puts it into Endon Brook via a culvert.

11 Bridge 6 is known as Horse Bridge, although the original ‘horse bridge’ is actually the structure taking the road over Endon Brook, which you will pass over by going up onto the road at this point and walking down the hill – watch out for tra c on the road. Just downstream of here Endon Brook joins the River Churnet as it comes round Leek and down the valley towards Cheddleton. You will pass over the railway line on a recently restored bridge

Brief history of the Caldon Canal

The Caldon Canal was built as a branch of the Trent & Mersey Canal following an Act of Parliament in 1776. The main line of the canal was completed in 1778, with an extension through Froghall Tunnel to the current terminus being added a few years later. The Leek Arm was built in 1801 to bring water om the newly constructed Rudyard Reservoir to a recently lengthened summit level at Denford. This involved building a new embankment across the valley of the Endon Brook and a new staircase fl ight of locks at the edge of Hazelhurst Wood to replace three separate locks between there and Endon. For years later the staircase (having proved to be a bo leneck as John Rennie, the Leek Arm engineer, had warned) was abandoned and replaced by a fl ight of three new locks at Hollinhurst (the ‘New Hazelhurst Locks’). Part of the original 1778 line of the canal was reused and a new aqueduct built through the Denford Embankment, thus creating one of the six places in the UK where one navigable waterway crosses another. Denford and the Hazelhurst Aqueduct are the central point for this fi gure-of-eight-shaped walk, which explores the history of the various changes of canal route in this area.

Bridge 6 and the overfl ow weir.

(with the old station house o to the le ) and can then join the towpath of the main line of the canal at Bridge 39.

Detour:Deep Hayes Country Park

At this point you have the option of a 1¾mile detour around Deep Hayes Country Park. Instead of going down onto the towpath, cross over the canal towards the park entrance. The site of the former Wall Grange brickworks is ahead of you. The manager’s house (to the le of the bridge with gardens going down to the canal) is all that remains of the various kilns, buildings, tramways and the 100 -high chimney that the brickworks comprised.

The quarry can be explored by taking a le as you turn into the entrance to the park. A brick-laid path goes up to the top of the quarry and another small detour can be taken by following this path to the end of the brick surface and taking a fl ight of steps back down to the country park visitor centre.

Once in the country park you can follow the path up one side of the three pools and back down the other – there are two crossing points in between if you want a slightly shorter route. Deep Hayes was once a drinking water reservoir until it was drained and made into three separate pools in the 1970s. The reservoir was built by the Sta ordshire Po eries Waterways Company, along with a pumping station a li le further down the valley, to provide clean drinking water to the people of Stokeon-Trent. The original dam of the reservoir was at the site of the car park and visitor centre and was 49 high and 125 long.

12 Return to Bridge 39 and cross back over the canal and down onto the towpath. Walk under the bridge on the towpath back towards Denford (turn right on joining the towpath down the steps om the road-bridge). On the le beyond the bridge on the opposite bank is some stonework, which is the remains of limekilns belonging to the Cheddleton Lime Company dating back to the early days of the canal.

13 A bit further along on the other side of the canal you can look up the valley of the Westwood Brook – this is the stream that was dammed to create Deep Hayes Reservoir. The stream passes under the canal to join Endon Brook. Keep following the towpath and you will pass the narrows of a former li -bridge

Continuing along the towpath will bring you past Denford Farm, which predates the canal, then under Bridge 38 and back to the Holly Bush pub where you will have earned a well-deserved drink!

The Holly Bush also predates the canal and in the 17th century was a watermill on Endon Brook. The stream is just the other side of the pub car park, now contained behind a fl ood wall following some extreme weather, including one event in August 1987 when the water reached canal level (the fl ood marker can be seen above the bar in the pub).