Bond End Canal

The Bond End Canal was a canal in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. It was built in 1774–75 by the Burton Boat Company who operated the Trent Navigation between Wilden Ferry and Burton and who feared that the Trent and Mersey Canal would threaten their trade (the canal joined the river downstream of Wilden Ferry and ran via Burton to North West England). The Bond End Canal ran between the Trent at Bond End, near the town centre, and a basin adjacent to the Trent and Mersey Canal at Shobnall. Originally cargo had to be unloaded to pass between vessels on the two canals but in 1794 permission was granted for a lock to provide direct passage between the two. The Trent and Mersey Canal eventually won the battle for trade and the Trent Navigation was abandoned by the 1810s. The Bond End Canal remained in use until the 1860s. In 1874 the Midland Railway received permission to build a branch line along the route of the canal. They retained the lock at Shobnall as an interchange between the railway and the Trent and Mersey Canal but most of the Bond End Canal was infilled by 1900. After nationalisation the lock at Shobnall was purchased and converted into a marina and chandlery. After the branch line fell into disuse much of the route of the Bond End Canal now forms the alignment of the A5189 Evershed Way.