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Middleport Fun Day

The Burslem Port Project team will be attending Middleport Fun Day on 14th August 2010. Please come and to talk to us about your memories of the Burslem Branch Canal and other local waterways.

Hunt for lost canal boat in Burslem to use Time Team style geophysics

A Keele University lecturer and his research team are set to use Time Team-style geophysics to find a narrow boat buried when a canal was filled in almost 50 years ago.

A National Coal Board boat from Wolstanton Colliery called Elizabeth was moored in the canal near its junction with the Trent and Mersey main line canal; it was left stranded when the canal breached in 1961 and was believed to have been buried when the canal was filled in.

Historic Canal Wall Revealed

Young trainees from a Government sponsored Future Jobs Fund project have unearthed an old canal wall in Middleport, last seen when the Burslem Canal burst it’s banks nearly 50 years ago.

First Boats in 49 years at Burslem Port

The first boats to arrive at the junction of the old Burslem Branch Canal in Middleport, Stoke-on-Trent moored on a beautifully sunny Monday March 8th in celebration of the completion of 6 month’s worth of ground clearance of the canal line.  They were Marigold working as a passenger boat and Bream an ex-FMC motor owned by Steve Wood.   

 

The old canal breached in December 1961 and the junction was closed and the canal infilled shortly after.  Since 1996 the Burslem Port team have been working towards re-opening the whole canal and the ground clearance work was the first physical activity since then.

All Clear for the Burslem Port Project

Work has started on clearing the line of the old Burslem Branch Canal in Middleport, Stoke-on-Trent following 13 years of planning and persuasion by the Burslem Port Project.

 

Backed by the Trent and Mersey Canal Society and the Stoke Branch of the Inland Waterways Association, the Project aims to restore the 3/8 mile Branch Canal and create an attractive and safe “haven” for boaters passing through or visiting Stoke-on-Trent.