When the promoters of the Ellesmere Canal applied to Parliament for the Act to build their canal, they never intended it to go through Grindley Brook. The original plan was for a canal from Shrewsbury to Chester via the Ruabon and Wrexham area, with a branch (amongst others) to Whitchurch. What was built never reached either Shrewsbury or Chester.
By the time the company ran out of money, it had only made or contracted for a ‘cross’ of lines in north Shropshire and south-east Denbighshire. The proposed line from Trevor to Chester was abandoned. Instead, it was decided to make a link with the Chester Canal by extending the part-built Whitchurch branch through Grindley Brook.
The 4½ mile section from Tilstock Park to Grindley Brook was built by John & William Hughes and the final 10 miles, including the locks at Grindley Brook, by John Fletcher and John Simpson. This canal was opened in 1805, at the same time as Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. Many early canals had staircase locks, where the top gate of one lock was the bottom gate of the next, but it was soon recognised that they wasted water and caused delays. It is therefore surprising that a staircase of three locks was built as late as 1805 in a location where it would have been quite possible to build single locks if a slightly different line had been adopted. The canal company made a wharf and erected a warehouse, as did a couple of private individuals. Grindley Brook was almost two miles from the town centre, so it was feared that transporting coal by road would add two shillings & sixpence per ton to the price. The leading local businessmen were also concerned that Grindley Brook might replace Whitchurch as the general market for the area. These considerations were a major factor in the decision to build the mile-long Whitchurch Canal Arm.The 4½ mile section from Tilstock Park to Grindley Brook was built by John & William Hughes and the final 10 miles, including the locks at Grindley Brook, by John Fletcher and John Simpson. This canal was opened in 1805, at the same time as Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. Many early canals had staircase locks, where the top gate of one lock was the bottom gate of the next, but it was soon recognised that they wasted water and caused delays. It is therefore surprising that a staircase of three locks was built as late as 1805 in a location where it would have been quite possible to build single locks if a slightly different line had been adopted. The canal company made a wharf and erected a warehouse, as did a couple of private individuals. Grindley Brook was almost two miles from the town centre, so it was feared that transporting coal by road would add two shillings & sixpence per ton to the price. The leading local businessmen were also concerned that Grindley Brook might replace Whitchurch as the general market for the area. These considerations were a major factor in the decision to build the mile-long Whitchurch Canal Arm.