Froghall Homepage


Froghall Wharf canal building and the end of the Caldon Canal.
©Alan Fleming
The short Froghall Tunnel, near the eastern end of the Caldon Canal in Staffordshire, is too low for many boats to pass through.
©Martin Clark
Froghall Station on the Churnet Valley Railway in Staffordshire.
©Martin Clark
This tunnel has a very low headroom and most narrowboats cannot go through it. For that reason there are few boats on the canal north-east of it; none today in the beautiful newly restored visitors' basin with its excellent mooring facilities. The image shows the north portal of the tunnel, always heavily shaded by mature deciduous trees. Froghall Tunnel maximum boat dimensions are: Height 52 inches (1.32 metres) Cabin width at top 66 inches (1.68 metres) These figures are from Nicholson's Waterways Guide 4 (2007 printing). I expect they allow a small leeway, and scraping of the tunnel roof, with subsequent cabin damage can be expected, as the tiller man is unable to stand upright to steer accurately.
©Roger Kidd
This 76 yards long (69.5 metres) tunnel has a very low headroom (see below) and most narrowboats cannot go through it. For that reason there are few boats on the canal this side of it; none today in the beautiful newly restored visitors' basin with its excellent mooring facilities. The image shows the north-east portal of the tunnel, always heavily shaded by mature deciduous trees. [[[603926]]] The Caldon Branch of the Trent and Mersey Canal was opened from Etruria to Froghall in 1779, and extended to Uttoxeter in 1811, though this final branch was already closed by 1849. Froghall Tunnel maximum boat dimensions are: Height 52 inches (1.32 metres) Cabin width at top 66 inches (1.68 metres) These figures are from Nicholson'e Waterways Guide 4 (2007 printing). I expect they allow a small leeway, and scraping of the tunnel roof, with subsequent cabin damage can be expected, as the tiller man is unable to stand upright to steer accurately.
©Roger Kidd
This 76 yards long (69.5 metres) tunnel has a very low headroom (see below) and most narrowboats cannot go through it. For that reason there are few boats on the canal this side of it; none today in the beautiful newly restored visitors' basin with its excellent mooring facilities. The image shows the north-east portal of the tunnel, always heavily shaded by mature deciduous trees. [[[603926]]] The Caldon Branch of the Trent and Mersey Canal was opened from Etruria to Froghall in 1779, and extended to Uttoxeter in 1811, though this final branch was already closed by 1849. Froghall Tunnel maximum boat dimensions are: Height 52 inches (1.32 metres) Cabin width at top 66 inches (1.68 metres) These figures are from Nicholson's Waterways Guide 4 (2007 printing). I expect they allow a small leeway, and scraping of the tunnel roof, with subsequent cabin damage can be expected, as the tiller man is unable to stand upright to steer accurately.
©Roger Kidd
©John M
Although not marked on maps as a public way, this route through the trees is the way across the hill from one end of the Froghall canal tunnel to the other. The Caldon Canal terminates a few hundred metres ahead after emerging from the tunnel which has a roof level too low for most narrowboats to negotiate.
©Roger Kidd
The Navigation, as its name suggests, was built to serve the canal community. As the canal's fortunes waned, from the 1950s onward, so did the inn's. It was first closed as a pub and converted to a house before eventually being demolished. The site is now used as a car park for Froghall Old Wharf.
©Ian Calderwood
Dist:0.1km<br/>Caldon Canal. A steep concrete channel (to eliminate erosion) directs surplus water towards the river Churnet. See [[[2458054]]]
©Roger Kidd
Dist:0.1km<br/>Caldon Canal. A steep concrete channel (to eliminate erosion) directs surplus water towards the river Churnet, off to the right. See also [[[2458063]]]
©Roger Kidd
Dist:0.1km<br/>This tunnel near the current end of the Caldon Canal is so low that not many boats are able to go through it. It is 76 yards (69 metres) long. (And yes, the tunnel safety sign poles are not vertical!) [[[603926]]] [[[603941]]] The canal used to go as far as Uttoxeter, but that arm was already closed by 1849, much of its course being replaced by the railway a few years later.
©Roger Kidd
Dist:0.1km<br/>This tunnel near the current end of the Caldon Canal is so low that not many boats are able to go through it. It is 76 yards (69 metres) long. [[[603926]]] [[[603941]]] The canal used to go as far as Uttoxeter, but that arm was already closed by the late 1840s, much of its course being replaced by the railway a few years later.
©Roger Kidd
Dist:0.1km<br/>An unusually low tunnel restricted to boats with a headroom of five foot. Despite some bank re-alignment since 1981 [[603941]] on the approach it appears to be hit regularly providing work for British Waterways and boat repairers.
©John M
Dist:0.1km<br/>The plaque by the restored [[582395]].
©David Stowell

Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]

Members Nearby

Froghall Discussion Forum

  • Strange humming noise

    Hi all bit of a weird one this but i was wondering if anybody else living in the village has heard the strange noise going on at the moment? I first noticed it around 2nd …
    Sdmarsh in Kingsley Holt, Sunday 08 January, 2012


Places Near Froghall

Basford Green • Blakeley Lane • Bottom House • Brookhouses • Broomyshaw • Cheadle • Cheadle Park • Consall • Cotton • Farley • Foxt • Froghall • Greenhead • Hazles • Hazlescross • Hollins • Ipstones • Kingsley • Kingsley Holt • Kingsley Moor • Leys • Longshaw • Moneystone • Oakamoor • Oldfurnace • Rakeway • Threelows • Town Head • Upper Cotton • Whiston •