In 1963, the British Waterways Board was formed and the canal ceased to be operated by railway interests for the first time in over 100 years.

It was designated as a cruising waterway in the Transport Act 1968, with potential for leisure use, and since then, it has been enjoyed by recreational boaters, by walkers and by fishermen.

Despite attempts at flattery, the Duke would not alter his position, and so the company promoting the bill in Parliament began with a serious disadvantage.

3. c. 75), on 1 April 1772, authorising the construction of a canal to run "from the River Dee, within the liberties of the city of Chester, to or near Middlewich and Nantwich".

Weston had previously worked as a surveyor, and had been involved in excavating canals as a contractor, but had no experience of managing a major engineering project.

Although the lock was built, and some narrow boats capable of using it were constructed, agreement was reached on a wider connection after four years of argument.

The solution adopted was a single pair of gates, which provided a 15-foot-wide (4.6 m) entrance into a basin from which the canal rose to the Northgate level.

They proposed building it with narrow locks, to reduce the cost, but the shareholders were not prepared to support them; instead they concentrated on trying to generate traffic on the line that had been built.

Angry landowners who had not been paid drained Bunbury reservoir in March 1782, but somehow the committee managed to keep the canal open, by selling boats and land.

3. c. 71), authorising a line from near the great aqueduct at Pontcysyllte running roughly northwards through Ruabon, Bersham, Gwersyllt and Pulford to join the River Dee opposite the canal basin at Chester.

[14] The Chester company, who were trying to put their financial affairs into order, noticed that the 1796 act failed to mention a connection with their canal.

They decided to obtain an act of Parliament to enforce a connection, and to stop supplying water to the Wirral line.

It opened on 25 March 1805, and water supply was enhanced by the construction of a navigable feeder through Llangollen to Horseshoe Falls on the River Dee at Llantisilio.

With the prospect of being part of a link between Liverpool and the Midlands,[4] the joint company had again pressed for the construction of the Middlewich branch, which would give them an outlet to Manchester and the Potteries industrial centre around Stoke-on-Trent.

[4] This came soon, for the Grand Junction Railway from Warrington to Birmingham had been authorised before the canal opened, and was carrying goods by January 1838.

The move was opposed by the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal who argued that closing bits of the inland waterways system would have serious repercussions on the parts left.

[20] Robert Stephenson suggested that a number of railways and canals should amalgamate, to reduce competition when bills were presented to Parliament.

Although some would be converted to railways, the route from Ellesmere Port to Middlewich via Barbridge Junction was part of the system that would be retained as a waterway, on which salt was a major source of revenue.

An official reply to the Inland Waterways Association in 1947 stated that the Ministry of Transport "... do not look very favourably upon any scheme for pleasure craft on the canals at the present time.

"[24] Despite such official attitudes, Eric Wilson, who produced the first edition of Inland Waterways of Great Britain in 1939, noted that those wishing to use the Shropshire Union for leisure cruising should apply to the Agent at Chester.

[27] The canal is popular with pleasure boaters, as much of it is pleasantly rural, with added interest provided by the city of Chester and Ellesmere Port with its waterways museum.

For many leisure cruisers, the requirements of the ship canal company for taking small boats onto a large commercial waterway are too daunting, and Ellesmere Port acts as the end of their journey.

[35] The canal company carried goods in their own boats, and produced a report on the four years from August 1846 to June 1850 in 1851.

These included iron goods from the Wolverhampton area to Liverpool; limestone from Trevor and Crickheath to Nantwich or Wappenshall on the Shrewsbury Canal, with a back trade in iron ore from near Burslem; general merchandise, which was carried between Chester and Liverpool; and general merchandise for Shropshire and North Wales.

The carriage of general goods from Birmingham to Liverpool and the Chester coal trade both made a small loss.

Originally, the branch continued eastwards after the first two locks, and another two brought it up to the level of the Chester Canal main line.

From the junction, the Ellesmere main line headed south, to another right-angled band where it joined the Chester Canal.

Between the fourth and fifth locks, the North Wales Coast railway line to Crewe crosses under the canal in a tunnel.

[41] The canal passes along the south-western edge of Christleton, and through the centre of Waverton,[43] where there is a large grade II listed mill building, which was once steam powered and includes bays in the right gable from which boats were loaded.

[49] Shortly afterwards is Beeston Stone Lock, also a listed structure, but dating from the construction of the canal and using conventional materials.