Fradley Junction

The Trent and Mersey Canal, at the time called the Grand Trunk Canal, was conceived as a link between Liverpool and Kingston upon Hull, although it followed a rather circuitous route, passing through the Potteries and Cheshire. It was authorised by an act of Parliament, the Trent and Mersey Canal Act 1766 (6 Geo. 3. c. 96), and the 93 mi route from Derwent Mouth to Preston Brook was completed in eleven years, opening in 1777. The Coventry canal was authorised two years after the Trent and Mersey, in 1768, and should have run from Coventry, via Bedworth and Atherstone, to join the Grand Trunk Canal at Fradley. The first 10 mi to Bedworth were completed in 1769, and a lucrative trade in coal…