Stone, Staffordshire - The Wharf, Trent & Mersey Canal - Salmon postcard

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  The Wharf, Stone, Trent & Mersey Canal
• Publisher:  J Salmon (2-23-01-09)
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp:  n/a
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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Stone is an old market town in Staffordshire, England, situated about 7 miles (11 km) north of Stafford, and around 7 miles (11 km) south of the city of Stoke-on-Trent. It is the second town, after Stafford itself, in the Borough of Stafford, and has long been of importance from the point of view of communications. Stone gave its name to both an urban district council and a rural district council before becoming part of the borough in 1974. In 2001 it had a population of 14,555. ^[1]

Stone was the capital of early Mercia,^{[citation needed]} a powerful Anglian kingdom that later expanded over most of what is now the West Midlands. Christianity arrived via monks from Lindisfarne around the year 650, King Penda of Mercia having invited them in. The capital was later moved to Stafford, A copper seal from the 7th century Stone Priory, and dated from the 14th century has recently been discovered by a metal detector in Cobham, Surrey.

Stone lay within the Pirehill hundred of Staffordshire named after nearby Pire Hill.^[2]

In 1251, Henry III granted Stone a market charter.

The Common Plot (aka Mudley Pits) is a large area of open and wooded common land sited just to the north of the town of Stone. The Duke of Cumberland built extensive winter fortifications and a camp here, traces of which can still be seen, during the Winter of 1745/46. The purpose of the camp was to bring the Duke's army down from the freezing Staffordshire Moorlands and Peak District, where they had been seeking to stop an advance on London by a force of 6,000 Jacobite rebels. The rebels were thought to be using pack-horse routes over the high country, with the aim of reaching Derby. Stone was also strategic in preventing any break-away Jacobite group going across to Wales to recruit more men there. But with winter coming on, the Jacobites decided to retreat back to Scotland.

Stone Urban District was an urban district. It was based on the Stone civil parish which equates to the town of Stone. There were two amendments in parts of the Stone Rural parish in Stone Rural District were transferred in. The district was abolished by the Local Government Act 1972, and replaced with Stafford Borough Council and Stone Town Council.

The place-name's meaning is exactly what is stated, a ""stone, rock"", from the Old English stan (stone).

The local story is that the town was named after the pile of stones taken from the River Trent raised on the graves of the two princes, Ruffin and Wulfad, killed in AD 665 by their father, King Wulfhere of Mercia, because of their conversion to Christianity.^[3]

The Church, built over these stones in 670 lasted until the 9th century before being destroyed by invading Danes. It was replaced in 1135 by the Augustinian Stone Priory, which survived until its dissolution in the reign of Henry VIII. The building collapsed in 1749 and the present church of St. Michael's was built in 1758.^{[citation needed]} All that remains of the original priory is the rib-vaulted undercroft which forms the foundations beneath Priory House, which is located on Lichfield Street opposite the Frank Jordan Community Centre.

The Trent and Mersey Canal is a 93.5-mile long canal (150.5 km) in the East Midlands, West Midlands, and north-west of England. It is a ""narrow canal"" for the vast majority of its length, but at the extremities to the east of Burton upon Trent and west of Middlewich, it is a wide canal.

The narrow locks and bridges are big enough for a single narrowboat 7 ft wide (2.1 m) × 72 ft long (22 m), while the wide locks can accommodate boats 14 ft wide (4.3 m), or two narrowboats next to each other.

As its name implies, the Trent and Mersey canal (T & M) was built to link the River Trent at Derwent Mouth (in Derbyshire) to the River Mersey. The second connection is made via the Bridgewater Canal, which it joins at Preston Brook in Cheshire. Note that although mileposts measure the distance to Preston Brook and Shardlow, Derwent Mouth is a mile or so beyond Shardlow.

The plan of a canal connection from the Mersey to the Trent (""The Grand Trunk"") came from canal engineer James Brindley. It was authorised by an Act of Parliament in 1766 and the first sod was cut by Josiah Wedgwood in July that year at Middleport. In 1777, the canal was completed, including more than 70 locks and five tunnels, with the company headquarters in Stone.

The first known idea to build a canal between the River Mersey and the River Trent was put forward in 1755, though no action was taken at that time.^{[citation needed]} In 1760, Lord Gower, a local businessman and brother-in-law of the Duke of Bridgewater, drew up a plan for the Trent and Mersey Canal. If his plan had gone ahead, this would have been the first modern canal constructed in England. James Brindley, the engineer behind many of the canals in England, did his first canal work on the Trent and Mersey, though his first job in charge of construction was on the Bridgewater Canal.

In 1761, Josiah Wedgwood showed an interest in the construction of a canal through Stoke-on-Trent, the location of his Wedgwood pottery, as his business depended on the safe and smooth transport of his pots. Pots transported by road were liable to be damaged and broken, and a canal near to his factory would provide fast and safe transport for his wares. Wedgwood’s plan was not to connect the two rivers by canal, but to connect the potteries to the River Mersey. ""As a burgeoning industrialist, Wedgwood was a major backer of the Trent and Mersey Canal dug between the River Trent and River Mersey."" (a quote taken from a short Biography of Josiah Wedgwood).^{[citation needed]}

There was much debate about possible routes that a canal could take. Coal merchants in Liverpool felt threatened about a canal that could bring coal in from Cheshire. The owners of the River Weaver Navigation were also not happy about the proposals, because the route would almost parallel that of the river. Yet another route was published which, much to the shock of Wedgwood, did not at all include the potteries.

Wedgwood, intent to have a waterway connection to his potteries, managed to send his proposal to parliament, with the help of two of his friends, Thomas Bentley, and Dr. Erasmus Darwin. John Gilbert's plan for the ""Grand Trunk"" canal met opposition at the eastern end where, in Burton on Trent, the locals objected to the canal passing parallel to the upper Trent navigation. In 1764, Wedgwood managed to convince Gilbert to include the Potteries in his route. In 1766, Gilbert's plan was authorised by an Act of Parliament. Later that year, ""[o]n July 26th a massive celebration was held in the Potteries where Josiah Wedgwood cut the first sod of soil. James Brindley was employed as engineer and work got under way.""^[1]

Six years before the complete opening of the Trent and Mersey Canal in 1771, Wedgwood built the factory village of Etruria on the outskirts of Stoke-on-Trent, close to the canal. By this time, much of the canal had been built towards Preston Brook. The only obstacle that still had to be tackled by the canal company was the hill at Kidsgrove, through which a tunnel was being dug. Up until 1777, pots had to be carried on the short journey from Etruria, over the top of Kidsgrove Hill, and to the other side, where the canal had been constructed to Preston Brook.

On 15 January 1847 the Trent and Mersey Canal was acquired by the North Staffordshire Railway Company (NSR). This was done to stifle the opposition of the Canal Company to the creation of the Railway Company. In particular, the NSR had plans for a railway from Stoke-on-Trent to Liverpool, however, this line was abandoned due to opposition from other rail interests.

The Grand Trunk was a part of a larger scheme of Brindley's to link the four main rivers of England (Trent, Mersey, Severn and Thames) in a project known as the ""Grand Cross"".^[2] The Trent and Mersey Canal provided the northern arm of the cross (to the Mersey), and the eastern arm (to the Trent). It also provided the central hub of the cross, between Great Haywood, and Fradley Junctions. The western arm, to the Severn, was built as the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, whilst the southern arm (to the Thames) traversed the Coventry and Oxford Canals.

type=printed

city/ region=stone

period=post-war (1945-present)

postage condition=unposted

number of items=single

size=continental/ modern (150x100 mm)