Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
For the only time before its last lock, the Trent & Mersey Canal makes brief use of the River Trent it-
self
.
At Horninglow Basin, where there was a salt warehouse until the 1970s, a large canal mur-
al decorates the side of the embankment of the A38, now back alongside.
The canal moves from Staffordshire to what is soon to become much more rural Derby-
shire as it crosses the first of the two channels of the River Dove. The canal uses a dozen low
brick arches, at 73m the longest aqueduct on the canal, built by Brindley, while the A38 uses
a classic-style bridge, despite the roads being of almost motorway-standard.
The canal parts company with the A38 here and the route becomes more peaceful. There
is a small works at the approach to Willington, where the A5132 and B5008 cross, the latter
with a picnic site. The 585-berth Mercia Marina, the country's largest marina, has been built
in a former trout angling lake.
After Stenson Marina, the Bubble Inn (perhaps named after the lock discharge boil) and
Stenson Lock (which has a 3.8m fall and is the first wide-beam lock at this end of the canal)
there are occasional extensive views southwards across the Trent Valley.
The 18th century stone-and-brick Arleston House farmhouse is followed by the Ragley
Boat Stop public house. A minor road crossing the canal to Barrow upon Trent has a very
odd parapet line, although it probably looks fine to road users.
The following bridge crosses from Swarkestone Lows to Swarkestone and the Lowes
Bridge, a five-arch structure that crosses the Trent, continuing across the meadows for a fur-
ther 1.2km with another dozen arches, making it the longest stone bridge in the UK. From
the 18th century, part remains from the 13th century, having been built by two sisters of the
Harpur family whose fiancés were drowned trying to ford back through the flooded Trent
after being called across to a meeting of barons. There was a Civil War battle to control it and
it is where Prince Charlie's Jacobite army of 1745 abandoned their attempt on London and
began their retreat to Scotland.
