the name's Bond

All ImAgEs from ThErEgAn mIlnEs CollECTIon.

The Bond End Canal

Visitors to this year’s IWA Festival of Water will have the opportunity to explore the remains of a largely forgotten canal that has its roots in Burton-on-Trent’s brewing industry

Above: A working boat, Victory, from a Stoke-on-Trent-

based carrier, on the Bond End Canal outside the Mount Pleasant Inn. The pub, located at Shobnall Basin, was a well-known watering hole for boat crews on the canal. It was never equipped with beer pumps, the staff having to go down to the cellar to draw pints. Sadly, after closing in 1961, the pub was demolished a few years later.

below: The Mount Pleasant Inn, at the junction of the

Bond End and Trent & Mersey canals.

The name’s ‘Bond, the Bond End Canal’, and, unless you have a deep interest in waterways history, it’s likely you’ve never heard of it. For not only was this Burton-based waterway less than 2 miles long, but it was also in operation for just a few years, from c1787 to 1874, and little of it remains today.

The canal originally ran from the River Trent at Burton through the centre of the town to connect with the Trent & Mersey at Shobnall, but a fair chunk of it was infilled before the turn of the 20th century. As we’ll see, however, what is still in existence has earned its place in contemporary waterways history, and visitors to this year’s IWA Festival of Water, taking place on 27th-29th August on the Trent & Mersey Canal at Burton-on-Trent, will have the chance to explore it in person.

The entry bridge to the Bond End Canal from the T&M, before the Hines family took over.

River and brewing connection

The construction of the Bond End Canal is related to Burton’s brewing industry, which dates back to the foundation of the Benedictine Abbey in around 1000AD. It was soon discovered that the local water sources contained a high level of gypsum that proved excellent for brewing. As such, a whole industry was to emerge that continues to this day. But to understand the full story of the Bond End Canal, we first have to go back to the pre-canal age – when the packhorse reigned supreme and the only cargocarrying boats could be found on rivers.

Before the advent of Canal Mania, the River Trent was used to transport the brewing essentials of hops, grain and malt to Burton from Wilden Ferry (near Shardlow). This traffic increased following navigational improvements to the Trent in the early 1700s, and cheese, pottery, iron and timber were also carried on the river. As a consequence, a stretch of the Trent close to Burton Abbey, known as Bond End, became home to the wharves, warehouses and river craft of the Burton Boat Co.

Following the Enabling Act of the Trent & Mersey in 1766, which would provide a new link between Shardlow and Burton (and onwards up to Preston Brook), the Burton Boat Co became concerned about the loss of trade on the Trent. As such, it approached the canal’s engineer, James Brindley, asking if his planned canal could terminate at Bond End, from where, it was proposed, boats could continue to Shardlow on the Trent. But Brindley was concerned about the river’s fluctuating water levels, so refused the suggestion, leaving the Burton Boat Co to devise a new solution.

Canal construction

The Trent & Mersey Canal opened in 1777 and quickly proved a success. In around 1787, the Burton Boat Co built its connecting canal: the Bond End. It is sometimes referred to as the ‘Bond End Branch of the Trent & Mersey’ but this is incorrect as the promoters of the T&M refused to allow a connection between the two canals. As such, the Shobnall Bar came into being. Like the famous Worcester Bar at Gas Street Basin, central Birmingham, this required goods to be transhipped between boats on either side of the bar at what is now Shobnall Basin. This proved such an inconvenience that one night the Burton Boat Co attempted to break through the Shobnall Bar, which only resulted in litigation and the swift reinstatement of the structure. However, in 1794 a compromise was reached with the building of a stop lock at Shobnall.

Decline

In 1805, the leading proprietor of the Burton Boat Co died and the carrying fleet ceased operation, with virtually all river traffic above Wilden Ferry coming to an end. It seems probable, like so many other canals, that after a period of initial success, the advent of the railways brought about a dramatic downturn in trade for the Bond End.

In August 1839, the Birmingham & Derby Junction Railway started running trains to Burton, with a spur line built to terminate alongside Shobnall Wharf. By 1843, traffic on the Bond End had decreased substantially, but the short waterway found a new role in helping to solve a common problem of the day: removing sewage. Burton’s primitive sewage system was extended to the Bond End Canal at the River Trent and a system was devised whereby every time the river lock here was used, water was forced through the sewer to act as a flushing agent. With around 12 boats a day passing through the lock, it proved a success for a while.

By 1872, the Bond End Canal was virtually disused and just a couple of years later, a 1-mile section of it was infilled from the River Trent, leaving the wharf at Shobnall as a transhipment point and railway sidings. Five railway lines were built around the basin in total, all primarily to serve the local breweries.

Revival

The fact that the Bond End Canal was infilled and remained in the ownership of the railways (later, British Rail) has an important bearing on the revival of Shobnall Basin and the Bond End Canal. As does the influence of the Hines family, who moved back to Burton in 1972 and obtained a three-year lease on the land. By this point, the attractive humpback bridge – No 1 of the Bond End Canal – that carries the T&M over the entrance to (the then derelict) Shobnall Basin was due to be demolished by British Waterways. There was even planning permission to build a road across the site.

The Hines family planned to develop a boat-hire business at the basin and begged BW not to flatten the bridge. They also succeeded in persuading the council to move its proposed road and, in due course, purchased the land from British Rail. In this way, the canal never fell into the ownership of British Waterways and, later, the Canal & River Trust. It remains a privately owned canal – albeit, a very short one! The route of its infilled sections can be traced through the town simply by following Evershed Way. This road was built in the late 1980s on the route

top: The short basin, seen in 1968, was all that

remained of the Bond End Canal.

above Left: The same view in 1974, following

dredging and with Jannel Cruisers ready to start business.

Left: By October 1976 the basin was already

full. Note the mix of private cruisers and Jannel Cruisers’ distinctively painted steel hire narrowboats.

A 2003 aerial view of Shobnall Marina, on the line of the Bond End Canal, with the Trent & Mersey in the foreground.

of a railway, which, in turn, had been constructed along the line of the canal. Off it, you’ll also find the short Canal Street.

After clearing the basin, which was overgrown and littered with railway clutter, Jannel Cruisers opened for business in early 1974. As the company’s hire fleet expanded, so did the excavation of the canal and basin to accommodate it. Today, the hire fleet is gone but the site continues to serve as a marina, providing accommodation for up to 52 boats, while also offering chandlery, dry-docking and boat-surveying services. If you’re visiting the Festival of Water over the late August bank holiday, do take time to go to the site and see for yourself the remains of the Bond End Canal.

An 1816 map showing Shobnall Basin, with the Bond End Canal labelled ‘Burton Canal’. The Mount Pleasant Inn is shown as a ‘public house’ and the Shobnall Brook can be seen culverted under the canal between the basin and the road-bridge by an aqueduct of two arches, each 5ft 6in. Canal boat children at Horninglow Wharf on the Trent & Mersey at Burton.

Related Burton attractions

The National Brewery Centre

To get a full understanding of Burton’s rich brewing history, be sure to visit this excellent museum near the centre of the town. As well as offering insights into the development of brewing techniques over the centuries, the facility also includes historic vehicles, shire horses, a micro-brewery, bar and café. nationalbrewerycentre.co.uk.

Claymills Pumping Station

We’ve looked at how the Bond End Canal assisted with Burton’s sewage removal system and a much deeper insight into how the town tackled this unpleasant issue is provided at its Victorian pumping station. The pumping plant comprised four huge beam engines and over the Sunday and Monday of the late August bank holiday, some of these engines will be in steam, fired by huge Lancashire boilers. claymillsorg.uk.