Route
The River Weaver is slightly more than 50 miles (80 km) long. From its source in the hills of west Cheshire near Peckforton Castle, it initially flows in a south-easterly direction towards the border with Shropshire, fed by tributaries some of which rise in north Shropshire. The first of three canal crossings occurs just before the village of Wrenbury, when the Llangollen Canal crosses its course. After flowing through the village, it passes to the west of the Cheshire village of Audlem, where it starts to flow approximately northwards across the Cheshire Plain. Shortly afterwards, the Shropshire Union Canal is carried over it on Moss Hall aqueduct. The first significant town on the river is the market town of Nantwich, where an early 19th century stone bridge, with a single span, crosses the river. Continuing northwards, it passes under the Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal before the village of Church Minshull. The aqueduct carrying the canal was designed by Thomas Telford and was built of brick with stone bands between 1827 and 1833. The river flows through a central arch, and there are flood relief arches on each side of the channel. The two waterways run roughly parallel for several miles. They diverge near Winsford, the current head of navigation, and at Northwich the river turns to flow north-west across north Cheshire.
Below Winsford, the course of the river has been altered several times, by the construction of cuts and locks, to enable small ships to trade on it. The river formerly joined the River Mersey at Weston Marsh, but since the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal, begun in 1887, it has flowed into the canal, from where surplus water enters the Mersey by the Weaver sluices, just upstream of the junction. The tidal river section below Frodsham has been bypassed by the Weston Canal since 1810, and is no longer navigable, as Frodsham Lock is derelict.
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Famous quotes containing the word route:
“By a route obscure and lonely,
Haunted by ill angels only,
Where an eidolon, named Night,
On a black throne reigns upright,
I have reached these lands but newly
From an ultimate dim Thule—
From a wild weird clime that lieth, sublime,
Out of space—out of time.”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)
“no arranged terror: no forcing of image, plan,
or thought:
no propaganda, no humbling of reality to precept:
terror pervades but is not arranged, all possibilities
of escape open: no route shut,”
—Archie Randolph Ammons (b. 1926)
“A route differs from a road not only because it is solely intended for vehicles, but also because it is merely a line that connects one point with another. A route has no meaning in itself; its meaning derives entirely from the two points that it connects. A road is a tribute to space. Every stretch of road has meaning in itself and invites us to stop. A route is the triumphant devaluation of space, which thanks to it has been reduced to a mere obstacle to human movement and a waste of time.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)