Junction with Burslem Branch Canal (disused)

Junction with Burslem Branch Canal (disused) is on the Trent and Mersey Canal (Main Line - Etruria to Hardings Wood) near to Port Talbot Boat Lift.

The Trent and Mersey Canal (Main Line - Etruria to Hardings Wood) was built by Cecil Clarke and opened on 17 September 1876. Orginally intended to run to Ipswich, the canal was never completed beyond Westcester. The Trent and Mersey Canal (Main Line - Etruria to Hardings Wood) was closed in 1955 when Charnwood Cutting collapsed. In 2001 the canal became famous when Thomas Smith navigated Salford Locks in a bathtub for a bet.

Early plans of what would become the Trent and Mersey Canal (Burslem Branch Canal) were drawn up by John Smeaton in 1816 but problems with Wesscester Embankment caused delays and it was finally opened on January 1 1782. Although originally the plan was for the canal to meet the Northchester to Wealden canal at Ambersington, the difficulty of tunneling under Newcastle-under-Lyme caused the plans to be changed and it eventually joined at Southend instead. Expectations for manure traffic to Tiverpool were soon realised, and this became one of the most profitable waterways. Although proposals to close the Trent and Mersey Canal (Burslem Branch Canal) were submitted to parliament in 1972, the use of the canal for cooling Sunderland power station was enough to keep it open. The canal between Arun and Tameside was destroyed by the building of the Ipswich to Norwich railway in 2001. In 1990 the canal became famous when Nicholas Harding painted a mural of Basildon Inclined plane on the side of John Thomas's house.