Nantwich & return from Whitchurch Marina

After leaving the marina, head eastwards along the Llangollen Canal past the short Whitchurch Arm. If time allows, Whitchurch is a pretty town dating back to Roman times and recorded in the Domesday Book. The town also has some claim to canal fame as a former rector of the Grade I-listed St Alkmund’s Church was Francis Henry Egerton, from the lineage of the 3rd Duke of Bridgewater who instructed canal engineer James Brindley to build the Bridgewater Canal, hence launching a canal revolution! 

Grindley Brook presents your first major canal challenge – the first three of Grindley Brook’s six locks are joined together in a staircase – but don’t worry, there is a lock keeper to help during the busy summer season. The canal then drops slowly down through another three isolated locks then ambles its way through rural surroundings towards Wrenbury. 

The Sandstone Trail and Bishop Bennet Way meet the canal at Willeymoor Lock and its pub – both are 34 miles long, and the latter was originally designed as a horse trail named after William Bennet (1745- 1820), Bishop of Cork and Ross then later Bishop of Cloyne, who carried out detailed surveys of Roman roads including those between Chester (Deva) and Whitchurch (Mediolanum).

The quiet surroundings give way to a sudden burst of activity as you pass through several of the lift bridges at Wrenbury which are synonymous with the Llangollen Canal. There is also a busy boatyard, a couple of handy pubs (including one in a former corn mill) and, a short walk from the canal, thatched cottages and a church ranged around the quintessentially English village green. 

St. Margaret’s Church sits on the site of the original sister chapel which was established in the 1100s by the Cistercian monks of nearby Combermere Abbey. Much of the church now dates from the 17th and 18th centuries and has many reminders of two important local families, the Cottons of Combermere and the Starkeys of Wrenbury Hall. The two families were bitter rivals over both land and pews in the church, and the dispute was finally settled in 1748 with each family being allocated a specific side of the church in which to sit. There’s also an unusual pew for the ‘dog whipper’, reputedly in charge of controlling both dogs and snoozing parishioners! 

Back into mainly remote countryside, the canal descends a couple of flights of locks before reaching Hurleston Junction, where the Llangollen Canal meets the Shropshire Union Canal.
Heading southwards, the canal soon crosses the stunning Grade II*-listed cast-iron aqueduct, designed by Thomas Telford in 1826, just outside Nantwich. Take time to moor up and explore this historic market town, a short walk to the east of the aqueduct. Nantwich was first established in Roman times, but was mostly rebuilt after a brewer accidentally started the ‘great fire of Nantwich’ in 1583, which destroyed over 150 buildings. Such was the uproar that Queen Elizabeth I and her privy council ordered a national fundraising appeal and even donated £1,000 herself (approximately £150,000 today) to help rebuild the town, resulting in the many beautiful black and white beamed Elizabethan buildings throughout the town. The Queen’s generosity is marked by a plaque on a building now called ‘Queen’s Aid House’ in Nantwich Square.

Once you have soaked up the delights of Nantwich, it’s time to turn and retrace your journey to Hurleston Junction then back onto the Llangollen Canal to return to the marina at Whitchurch.