How Stoke's Waterways Make the City a Better Place to Live
A place to stroll, jog and take the dog, the region's canal network is spearheading a new cultural and lifestyle revolution fuelled by art, heritage, creativity and people.
Vital to our way of life for more than 250 years, canals helped to unlock a new golden era as early industry started to expand through the growth of the Industrial Revolution. Constructed primarily in the latter half of the 18th century, a surge in canal building transformed the Staffordshire landscape.
The entrepreneurial potter, scientific industrialist and social reformer, Josiah Wedgwood, had a fervent desire to benefit his fledgling pottery manufactory through better inland transportation. Together with visionaries and speculators such as Erasmus Darwin and Matthew Boulton, the so-called Lunar Men’s ‘fertile minds’ aided by pioneering engineers James Brindley and Thomas Telford were instrumental in driving canal mania.
Canals are historically fascinating, complex hydro-social systems lauded for being environmentally rich and a source of wellbeing. A placemaking success story, they are urban oases and catalysts for regeneration with the potential to curate different place-moments on the water, canalside towpaths and surrounding environments.
Described by the Inland Waterways Association as ‘a linear national park’ and part of the fabric of our nation, these living waterways are spearheading a new cultural and lifestyle revolution, this time fuelled by art, heritage, creativity and people.
This was evident in a report published by the Canal & River Trust (CRT) in July 2024 that celebrated the Trust’s role as custodians of important cultural heritage.
‘Transforming Places and Enriching Lives’ tells the stories of how canals make a positive impact on people’s lives under six themes: health, wellbeing and happiness; engaged people and cohesive communities; learning and enhanced skills; prosperous and connected places; green and blue futures; cultural and environmental assets.
The Canal Laureate initiative is a partnership between the CRT and Arts Council England that aims to attract more visitors to the country’s vast canal network while ‘delighting existing communities through exciting and innovative art projects.’
The current Canal Laureate, Roy McFarlane poetically said: “Canals have been these magical hinterlands found in the hustle and bustle of urban settings.”
Known as the ‘canal county’, more than 150 miles of navigable waterways intersect landlocked Staffordshire. The 14 miles of the Trent & Mersey and Caldon canals running through Stoke-on-Trent provide a unique link with our historic industrial past, and as a living legacy they have a prominent role to play in our future as a recently designated World Craft City.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s visitor economy strategy aims to build on the extensive network of waterways that join up many of the heritage attractions, urban areas and existing green spaces as well as connecting the city with its rural landscapes. The ambition is to convert the towpaths into higher quality visitor experiences and support businesses with great infrastructure, animation with site-specific art and sculptures, and interpretation of the city’s heritage and natural experiences.
A well-established partnership between the CRT and creative organisations across the city has been instrumental in shaping and making cultural experiences to inject renewed energy into the ‘super slow way’.
The British Ceramics Biennial (BCB) worked with B Arts to run the ‘Gathering’ workshop during a previous Etruria Canal Festival and they also celebrated ‘clay, canals and curiosity’ at Middleport Pottery.
Appetite, the acclaimed Creative People and Places programme for Stoke, collaborated with community group Middleport Matters, schools and cultural partners including the BCB and Clay Comrades to deliver a portfolio of environmentally-themed projects linking science and art, including ‘Journeys’ and ‘Letting in the Light’.
Working with CRT funding, Appetite and Middleport Matters commissioned a painted ceramic tile mural inspired by the Potteries-based female ceramic artists Clarice Cliff, Susie Cooper and Charlotte Rhead. Created by local residents and designed by graphic artist Rob Fenton, this colourful artwork has transformed a canal bridge’s wingwalls as part of the Middleport Links project.
In partnership with local artist Anna Francis, they also hosted a series of nature-inspired recovery walks around the canal in Kidsgrove.
Stoke-on-Trent College students, meanwhile, created a mural along the Cliff Vale stretch of the Trent & Mersey Canal highlighting the issue of plastic pollution in the waterways as part of the CRT’s ‘Plastics Challenge’ campaign.
Canals are not only an antidote to the hurry and bustle of modern life and a vital source of creative inspiration across North Staffordshire but also an unrivalled national heritage resource.
This September marked the 30th anniversary of Heritage Open Days, which are now firmly established as England’s largest festival of history and culture. Co-ordinated by the National Trust and supported by the People’s Postcode Lottery, this year’s theme, Routes – Networks – Connections, will ‘celebrate how people and ideas have moved around and come together throughout history.’
The Heritage Open Days offered a timely opportunity to highlight the role of the pottery industry in the development of the nation’s canal network with behind-the-scenes access to the V&A Wedgwood Collection to explore Wedgwood’s canal history, and a screening of the The Golden Age of Canals at Etruria Industrial Museum to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the re-opening of the Caldon canal to boats.
Making life better by water, it seems, will ensure canals continue to be a treasured feature of Stoke-on-Trent’s post-centenary future.
Join the conversation and let us know how you enjoy Stoke’s canals! Perhaps you love a morning walk with the dog, pounding the paths with a weekend run, or having a pint at a canalside pub…
A guest post by Paul Williams
This guest post celebrating Stoke’s canals and their positive impact on our community was written by Paul Williams, board member of Stoke Creates and We Are Staffordshire.
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Very interesting article about the geography/history and leisure opportunities of the canals in Staffordshire
I sometimes cycle from Leek to Stoke on the canals. Getting a different perspective on the landscape and seeing all the industrial heritage is super interesting. It's not an easy ride the whole way. Some of it is well paved, and some not so much, but it's really enjoyable. I was pleasantly surprised to see more people cycling and walking along the canals than I expected. I had been missing out!