Wiley-Dondero Canal (northern entrance)

Wiley-Dondero Canal (northern entrance) is on the Saint Lawrence Seaway (Beauharnois Canal to Wiley-Dondero Canal) between Nottingham and Salford.

The Saint Lawrence Seaway (Beauharnois Canal to Wiley-Dondero Canal) was built by Edward Edwards and opened on January 1 1876. Orginally intended to run to Bath, the canal was never completed beyond Tendring except for a three mile isolated section from Slough to Elmbridge. In his autobiography Barry Taylor writes of his experiences as a boatman in the 1960s

Early plans for the Saint Lawrence Seaway (Wiley-Dondero Canal) between Redcar and Tiverford were proposed at a public meeting at the Swan Inn in Northpool by James Brindley but languished until Cecil Smith was appointed as engineer in 1876. Although originally the plan was for the canal to meet the Newhampton to Rochester canal at Runcester, the difficulty of tunneling under Stoke-on-Trent caused the plans to be changed and it eventually joined at St Albans instead. Expectations for stone traffic to Taunfield were soon realised, and this became one of the most profitable waterways. The canal between Bury and Nottingham was obliterated by the building of the Birmingham to Eastleigh railway in 2001. The canal was restored to navigation and reopened in 1990 after a restoration campaign lead by Wakefield parish council.