THE CALDON CANAL

A recent copy of Waterways World (Oct. 99, pp. 42-45), includes an article on the 25th anniversary of the re-opening of the Caldon Canal in Staffordshire, on the 28th of September 1974. This brought back a flood of memories, from when I was a research student at the University of Keele, from 1968-71. Looking back through my slide collections I have found the following, which are scanned from pictures taken with my Olympus Pen D half frame camera. Most of my early slides are in this format, mainly on grounds of economy, you halved the cost of slide film, by taking upto 50 slides on a 24 exposure 35mm film! The down side is the noticeable drop in quality as compared to most of the other pictures on the site.


The Leek Show in 1970. My wife on the right, with her mother and now deceased father. I have not quite cut out the top of the much hated toy poodle Tina! The reason for including this photo, is what my wife is holding in her hand, that is the Caldon Canal guide, then (June 69) recently produced by the Caldon Canal Society. This had just been purchased from the societies' fund raising stall at the show. It was this which prompted us to walk the length of the Caldon, and which was to engender our life long interest in the canal system.

The Caldon Guide

This is the cover of the guide book, which we still have!

Cheddleton Flint Mill

Cheddleton Flint Mill, which had only opened to the public in April 1969, after an extensive period of renovation, is adjacent to bridge 42 on the canal.

Bascule Bridge

One of the very characteristic Bascule, draw bridges of the Caldon.
The rural nature of this site, strongly contrasted with the canal nearer Etruria.
There, the pollution from the pottery industry resulted in some of the brightest coloured water I've ever seen!
The great improvement in the environment of the Etruria area is clearly brought out in the above mentioned magazine article, with on page 42 a pair of spectacular "before and after" photos!

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All images Copyright Dr. C. F. Parsons 1999