History
The canal was constructed in 1788 by William Reynolds of Ketley. He was an Ironmaster in his twenties, who owned iron foundries at Ketley, and had recently completed the Wombridge Canal and the Coalport Tar Tunnel. The canal linked the Oakengates iron ore and coal mines to his foundries. It ran in a westerly direction from Oakengates, passing through a tunnel where Shepherds Lane crossed Red Lake Hill, and ended to the south of Ketley Hall. At this point there was a 73 ft (22.3m) drop to his works.
The construction of locks to lower the level of the canal was out of the question, as the meagre water supply for the canal was pumped from the mines. Transhipment of the loads to wagons would have involved extra work, and being an innovator, he decided to construct an inclined plane, down which the loaded tub boats would be lowered. A boat entered a lock at the top of the incline, from which the water was released into a side lock, resulting in the tub boat rested in a cradle. The incline had two tracks, so that a loaded boat descending on one track was counterbalanced by an empty or lightly loaded boat ascending on the other. The manoeuvre was controlled by a windlass, acting as a brake. A steam pumping engine was used to pump the water from the side lock back into the canal. Such a system had only been used once before, in Tyrone, Ireland, and had failed. Reynolds incline, however, continued to work for 28 years, until Ketley works closed in 1816.
Having completed the canal, Reynolds, together with several others, went on to construct the Shropshire Canal, which connected to the Ketley canal at the Oakengates end. There was a difference of 1 ft (0.3m) in the water levels at the junction, and so a lock was constructed.
Although the incline was disused by 1818, after closure of the Ketley ironworks, the Ketley Canal still served a coal wharf near Ketley Hall in 1842, and was not finally abandoned until the 1880s.
Little is left of the canal today, although the incline itself can still be seen, and there are traces of the upper level where it passed near to Ketley Hall.
Read more about this topic: Ketley Canal
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