Sir Nigel Gresley's Canal (also known later in its life as Robert Heathcote's Canal) was a 3miles private canal between Apedale and Newcastle-under-Lyme both in Staffordshire, England.
| Short Title: | Sir Nigel Gresley's Canal Act 1775 |
| Type: | Act |
| Parliament: | Parliament of Great Britain |
| Long Title: | An Act to enable Sir Nigel Gresley Baronet, and Nigel Bowyer Gresley Esquire, his Son, to make and maintain a navigable Cut or Canal, from certain Coal Mines in Apedale, to Newcastle under Lyne, in the County of Stafford. |
| Year: | 1775 |
| Citation: | 15 Geo. 3. c. 16 |
| Royal Assent: | 13 April 1775 |
The canal was used to transport coal from Sir Nigel Gresley's mines. It opened in 1776 after being approved by Act of Parliament (15 Geo. 3. c. 16) in 1775. The act placed controls on the price at which coal transported via the canal to Newcastle could be sold for the following 42 years. The canal was transferred to the ownership of Robert Edensor Heathcote in 1827. It closed around 1857.[1]
| Short Title: | Newcastle-under-Lyme Canal and Sir Nigel Bowyer Gresley's Canal Junction Act 1798 |
| Type: | Act |
| Parliament: | Parliament of Great Britain |
| Long Title: | An act for making and maintaining a navigable canal, or canal and inclined plane or railway, from and out of the Newcastle-under-Lyme canal to the canal of sir Nigel Bowyer Gresley baronet, near the town of Newcastle-under-Lyme and also another branch of canal, or inclined plane or railway, from and out of the said last mentioned canal, at or near Apedale, to certain coal and other works, all in the county of Stafford. |
| Year: | 1798 |
| Citation: | 38 Geo. 3. c. xxix |
| Royal Assent: | 26 May 1798 |
The canal joined the Newcastle-under-Lyme Junction Canal at a mill in Cross Heath, a site now occupied by a motorbike shop in Swift House on the A34 Liverpool Road. It then ran northwest to Milehouse, Chesterton and the Apedale mines. The Junction Canal was planned in turn to connect to the Newcastle-under-Lyme Canal via an inclined plane, but this was not built due to lack of money, thus the Sir Nigel Gresley's Canal remained severed from the main inland network and the Junction Canal became no more than an extension of the Gresley's Canal.[2]
. The Canals of The West Midlands . 3rd . Charles Hadfield (historian) . 1985 . David & Charles . Hewton Abbot, Devon . 0-7153-8644-1 .