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By Neil Hawker, Steven Williams and Jonathan Sanders 9YK (2007)
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Introduction (left: Cheshire in 1808) Around 215 years ago, the land of Ellesmere Port that we live on was used entirely for agricultural purposes with no industrial business of any kind going on in the area. This was because there were no transport links from this town with no name and a few people living there to the rest of the country. At the time only around 25 families lived there, a massive difference considering the current population of our town which is around 100,000 people. While the rest of the country was ready for an industrial revolution, the fact remains that all the inhabitants of Ellesmere Port wouldn’t be here today if our town hadn’t been connected to the rest of the country by the Shropshire Union Canal. Our study is based on the link between Ellesmere town, Shropshire, and Ellesmere Port looking at canal mania from 1791 with the real plans until 2006 where the industrial revolution has expanded throughout the town from one canal. These low-lying lands on the along the southern shore of the Mersey estuary had remained this marshy meadowland for some time previously. The Wirral Peninsula’s few villages had only a few ragged huts and farm houses. These sparsely populated lands held little promise for future development. Moreover, the commercial attraction of Chester city had dipped some what, with the growing population of the port in Liverpool. |
By the late eighteenth century, road transport was steadily bringing traffic and trade in the local businesses of the small villages. Inns and blacksmiths along certain of the well maintained roads benefited greatly. Such towns to grow in trade as a result of this were Eastham, Childer Thornton, Little and Great Sutton, whereas roads to Whitby, Little Stanney, and Stoke were poorly maintained so didn’t benefit as much from this. Further more, the industry from Liverpool was being provided by Mersey Ferries running from Eastham.
(left: Robert 2nd Earl Grosvenor and later 1st Marquis of Westminster (1767-1845)
The area of Ellesmere Port as we know it was divided between the parishes of Eastham and Stoak. This land, however, was inherited through srong families and passed down so that by the eighteenth century there were three principle landowners. The Poole family were owners of Netherpool and Overpool; the Stanley family owned Hooton, as well as some land in Childer Thornton. According to the Tithe Survey of 1836, Whitby mainly belonged to Earl Grosvenor.
Jonathan Sanders 9YK (2007)
Inadequate roads and Canal Fever
This time saw the beginning of the industrial revolution and as a consequence there was a sudden increase in transport requirements. To expand businesses and the towns where they resided, it was necessary to have a means of getting to places to buy and sell without them being too slow, too expensive, dangerous or in such a way that items got broken. Unfortunately, the state of the roads at this time meant that all of these were factors causing long journey times. Because the roads had to be maintained to a certain standard, the money was needed to fund the correct equipment. The landowners, who had the road going through their land, got this money by setting up toll booths or “turn pikes” in which people invested as more and more people needed to use them.
It wasn’t often that these roads were maintained well all the way along a route, meaning that there would be parts where the road would cause more fragile cargo to break. It also meant to road wasn’t at all safe to travel on. The amount of turn pikes one would come across was great, so the price of a journey became far too much overall. This is how “canal fever” started. The canal journey was smooth, so even china could be transported with ease. It was cheaper, and meant once could transport larger or heavier loads than before.
The plans for the Shropshire Union Canal were proposed at the height of canal mania so that the investors interested in using the canal were very quick to respond. With many rich landowners and entrepreneurs offering to invest huge sums of money to get access to the port that was to be built and the places it would stretch to, the canal was a breath of a life to this bleak place on the southern shore of the Mersey estuary.
Jonathan Sanders 9YK (2007)
Meetings, Plans, and Propositions:
The Original Meeting at the Royal Oak, Ellesmere
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The area of “Netherpool” would not have developed into the bustling town of Ellesmere Port today had it not been for the first of a few meetings attended by special townsfolk. There was a meeting on 31st August 1791 at an inn in Ellesmere ( Shropshire) called the Royal Oak. This meeting was arranged to make a decision regarding the increasing problem of poor communications with the surrounding trade routes. The landowners and local tradesmen who attended the meeting looked at several ideas to link the town with the Dee near Chester, the Mersey near Eastham and the Severn near Shrewsbury. Ellesmere was landlocked and a solution was desperately needed. It was agreed to meet at the same venue in exactly one years' time to assess progress.
Accordingly, when they met again on 10th September 1792 an investment book was opened - by sunset that night almost a million pounds had been raised for the venture, despite the original estimate for work being £400,000. William Jessop was appointed as Engineer and Thomas Telford was added to his team shortly afterwards. On April 30th, 1793 the promoters of the canal won the consent of Parliament to construct and maintain a canal that ran from the River Severn at Shrewsbury in the county of Shropshire to the River Mersey at or near Netherpool in the County of Chester.(Sixteen years ago it was believed that the Royal Oak was gone, but then after an inspection there were still remains of the pub and still standing but under a new name of the Ellesmere Hotel. Also it remains still open for business, trade and an inn for travellers. On the 31st August 1991 a plaque was placed in the Ellesmere Hotel to mark the 200 years of Ellesmere Port and the start of plans for a new canal).
Steven Williams 9YK (2007)
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William Jessop and Thomas Telford
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Contemporary maps showing the western route from Ellesmere to Chester which was rejected (click to enlarge)
Building the canal
Surveys were made which resulted in competing routes. The maps above show the proposed route which was never completed. Following the preliminary surveys, William Jessop, the country's leading waterways engineer, was appointed as consulting engineer. Shortly afterwards, Thomas Telford was appointed as resident engineer. He conducted operations from Beech House in Ellesmere (below).
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Ellesmere Wharf (Shropshire) today (see location map at bottom, red arrow marks spot)
By 1796 the 'Wirral Canal' section linking the Chester Canal at Chester and the Dee with the River Mersey at Netherpool was completed and in operation. The Llanymynech Branch was opened to the bottom of Frankton Locks in 1796. The third section continued the canal north to Trefor. This section was more complex, requiring the construction of aqueducts at Chirk and Pontcysyllte, and it was completed in 1805. In the same year the eastward extension to Hurleston Junction was also opened. Meanwhile, work on the Frankton to Shrewsbury line had begun, but it only ever reached Weston Lullingfields, eight miles short of the intended destination. The part from Horseshoe Falls through Llangollen to Trefor was constructed as a navigable feeder in order to provide the water supply. (thanks to www.shropshireroots.org.uk)
Steven Williams 9YK (2007)
Planning of the canal
This is the Shropshire Union canal map of how it is today, the canal didn’t go as planned and ended up being linked to other canals, such as the Chester-Nantwich Canal, which eventually link up to Ellesmere. The idea was that the canal was going to directly link Ellesmere Port, Chester and Ellesmere so that products made in Ellesmere can be exported easily and bring more revenue to the town. The part that linked the River Mersey to Chester was 8 miles long and cost £400,000 to build. The main purpose of the canals was to link the rivers Servern, Mersey and the Dee from Shrewsbury to somewhere along the Mersey (which is now called Ellesmere Port).
The original idea for where the canal was going to be routed caused problems as it involved a great deal of engineering due to the hilly landscape. The cost ws to be astronomical. A compromise was soon reached and the committee submitted fresh plans to Parliament. On the map above you can see the actual route that was completed.
In 1795 the first part of the Shropshire Union Canal was built under an Act of Parliament obtained in 1793 -this linked Chester to Nantwich, and by 1795 another part to the canal was built linking Chester to what is now called Ellesmere Port. At the time all that was there was the little tidal inlet of Netherpool (roughly where the Holiday Inn and the lower basin are now). The original name was 'Whitby Wharf' or Whitby Locks, (the same lock gates to be seen in the boat museum today). Whitby village, although 2 miles away, was the nearest village of significance. It would not be into the mid 19th century when the dock estate began to expand before the small wharf began to assume the name Ellesmere's Port.
Neil Hawker 9YK (2007)
This is an extract from “Mrs Price’s story” who was the owner of the Royal Oak at the time the meetings were held in 1792.
That was the best pair of days trading I ever did when I was at the Royal Oak. The promoters of the Ellesmere Canal used to meet in the big room at my hotel, so naturally they chose it for the meeting when the public were invited to buy shares. Each share cost £100: £5 deposit and £95 to buy later. I thought we'd be busy that Monday - but I had no idea just how busy! That was the year of the 'Canal Mania'. Everyone knew how much the Bridgewater Canal had made - and the Duke of Bridgewater was one of the backers of our canal. People thought canals were an easy way of making money. Pay a deposit, and sell the shares at a profit. Not that everyone wanted the shares to make a quick profit - many of the promoters were the big local landowners like the Earl of Powis and his son, Lord Clive, Lord Hill of Hawkestone, John Kynaston Powell and the Duke of Bridgewater himself. They were mainly interested in bettering the communications for their estates, so that their tenants could use limestone to improve the land, increase their crops and get their products to market easier and cheaper. Not that these gentlemen weren't interested in money: bigger profits for their tenants meant higher rents for themselves.
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Location of Ellesmere in Shropshire
Bibliography
Canal to Llangollen - Thomas Pellow and Paul Bowen (p.17)
Netherpool Journal (1991 newspaper)
Shropshire County Council website
Shropshire Union website
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But the people from away were mainly speculators expecting easy money. We had a lot from the east Midlands, Leicestershire in particular, I remember. I don't know why. They flooded into our little town on the Sunday, wanting beds for the night. My hotel was soon full, as were the inns which let rooms; many other houses took people in for the night too. I heard that late-comers were offering three guineas [in modern money, around £300] for a bed! The roads were crowded and there was such a demand for stabling. The visitors were hungry, and good drinkers too. Yes, I certainly made money! 
The subscription list opened at eleven o'clock on Monday morning, and by the time it closed six hours later, something like a million pounds had been promised. This was more than double what was needed - or so they thought then - and later the committee worked out a method of scaling down the applications. About 1500 people came into my room that day to buy shares. I'm glad I didn't buy any - though I admit I was tempted - because it was years before the meager dividends were paid. People are so foolish. Instead of getting rich they lost most of the money.