Consall New Lock?

Historical Canal Maps: NarrowBoat, Winter 2022

Richard Dean

Richard Dean investigates a puzzle on the Caldon Canal

There were a number of flint-grinding mills in the vicinity of the Potteries district on several different canals. These particular flint mills were at Consall on the Caldon Canal with Consall New Lock ahead of the boat. Christopher M. Jones Collection The caption to Chris M. Jones’s evocative image of the Caldon Canal at Consall Flint Mills refers to Consall New Lock. This lock presents something of a puzzle, which can best be examined through a sequence of plans at different dates. The earliest available plan seems to be a survey of the Trent & Mersey system prepared in 1816 by William Yates, of which this is a rather poor copy. It shows what must be the original layout dating from 1775 with Flint Mill Lock marked in the same position as the present-day one. By the time the contract plan was prepared around 1848 for the North Staffordshire Railway’s Churnet Valley Line (coloured red), the old lock had been blanked off and replaced by a new par…