Hazlehurst Aqueduct, Staffordshire Moorlands

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What is recorded here

Hazlehurst Aqueduct is the dated 1841 brick crossing where the navigable Leek Branch passes over the navigable main line of the Caldon Canal. It was part of a route change that removed a troublesome three-lock staircase, and it still makes two working levels of canal cross at the same place.

Why it was built

The Leek Branch opened in 1801 to carry cheaper coal towards Leek and to bring water from Rudyard Reservoir into the Caldon Canal's high level. Its first route used a staircase of three joined locks at Hazlehurst. That arrangement slowed boats, as engineer John Rennie had warned, so the canal was rearranged in 1841 with three separate locks and an aqueduct through the branch embankment.

People and work

John Rennie engineered the earlier Leek Branch, but the exact records do not name the designer of the 1841 aqueduct. Builders used painted brick with stone for the harder edges and details. They formed one round opening wide enough for the lower canal and towpath, added several curved bands around it, and set an inscribed date plaque in the centre.

How it changed

The new work reused part of the original 1778 canal line below while the 1801 Leek Branch stayed high on its embankment. The old staircase was abandoned, leaving traces of its upper entrance and a chamber that remains partly in water. The canal and nearby locks later became derelict, but restoration returned this part of the Caldon route to navigation in 1974.

What survives

The single brick arch, stone dressings, curved face, inset panels, supported parapet and the words 'HAZLEHURST AQUEDUCT 1841' remain. The upper Leek Branch still carries boats and reservoir water over the lower main canal, whose towpath passes through the opening. Older canal lines and lock remains nearby allow each stage of the route changes to be followed on the ground.

Why it mattered

The rebuilding removed a delay on a branch serving Leek and protected the water supply to the canal summit. It also created one of only six places in the United Kingdom where one navigable waterway crosses another. Hazlehurst therefore preserves not just an attractive bridge but a practical answer to congestion whose two canal levels still perform their separate jobs.