[2] It served Stafford by the provision of a wharf at Radford Bank, but goods had to be transferred to carts for the final 1.5-mile (2.4 km) journey into the town.

The terminus was by Green Bridge in Stafford, but it appears that it was not a profitable concern, as John Hall, one of the four owners, sold his £810 share in the business for £254 in 1811, and the company was bankrupt by 1813.

[4] Although it used the river, much of the channel was a new cut, designed to eliminate a series of sharp bends which remained as oxbow lakes to the south of the new route[3] and were still clearly visible on maps in 1938.

[5] The canal was privately built, as all the land through which it ran was owned by Sir George William Jerningham, later Lord Stafford.

The area was bounded to the west by Green Bridge, originally constructed in the thirteenth century, but rebuilt in brick and stone in 1781/2 and widened in the 1860s.

[3] The Penk itself was diverted into the Deepmoor Drain, over which the aqueduct used to run, and now joins the Sow much closer to St Thomas Bridge.

[7] The next significant event was the publishing of a letter in Waterways World in August 2002, in which a resident of Stafford called Keith Taylor stated that he had found the remains of the lock.

The towpath had by then become a recognised walking route, and his suggestion that the navigation should be explored led to research by a number of others, and the formation of Stafford Riverway Link, a group which would spearhead the restoration and attempt to gain local authority support for it.

Prior to receiving permission, the company had already excavated part of the basin, as they had been leasing the land on a peppercorn rent from Eunice Finney, in accordance with the wishes of her late husband Bill.

Most traffic turned left, to proceed upstream, but boats could also reach St Thomas flour mill a little way downstream, although this was not advisable when the river was in flood.

At Fairway Bridge, the site of the first of the oxbox lakes formed by straightening the channel, the towpath crosses to the north bank of the river.

Its single span is made of reinforced concrete, and it was designed by William Plant, who was the Stafford Town surveyor and engineer at the time.