Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
in the local museum. The original Norman church of St Alkmund collapsed in 1711 and was
rebuilt two years later. The town is home to the Joyces, the oldest tower clock-makers in
the world, eight generations having run the firm for over 300 years; their work includes the
church clock of 1849. A market town, it is claimed as the home of Cheshire cheese.
While the canal doubles back round the head of a steep valley, the A41 strides straight
across on an embankment and crosses over the canal again. It makes a final pass over at
Grindley Brook, this time on the line of the Roman road from London to Chester.
Since Horseshoe Falls there have been only two locks but that now changes. Grindley
Brook Upper Lock is a staircase of three accompanied by a bow-fronted cottage, the Lockside
Stores and @29 Cafe. Grindley Brook Lower Lock is made up of three separate locks after
the road. The Horse & Jockey public house stands back from the canal. In 2009 there was a
breach after a culvert collapsed.
After the locks, the canal is crossed by a massive former railway embankment using a blue-
brick arch with magnificent skewed brickwork. Here the canal meets the Cheshire border and
this is a point from which various long-distance footpaths strike out: the Shropshire Way, the
Cheshire Way and the Sandstone Trail to Frodsham.
The canal now runs along the bottom of a deep valley with Hinton Hall prominent on the
east ridge and the slope rising on the other side from Land of Canaan to Bell o' the Hill Farm.
Hinton Bank Farm produces blue Cheshire cheeses.
Two magnificent structures, Chirk Aqueduct and the adjacent railway viaduct, crossing the Ceiriog
valley
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