[citation needed] In 1760, Lord Gower, a local businessman and brother-in-law of the Duke of Bridgewater, drew up a plan for the Trent and Mersey Canal.

Wedgwood, intent on having a waterway connection to his potteries, managed to send his proposal to Parliament, with the help of two of his friends, Thomas Bentley and Erasmus Darwin.

Later that year, "[o]n July 26th a massive celebration was held in the Potteries where Josiah Wedgwood cut the first sod of soil.

Up until 1777, pots had to be carried on the short journey from Etruria, over the top of Kidsgrove Hill, and to the other side, where the canal had been constructed to Preston Brook.

On 15 January 1847 the Trent and Mersey Canal was acquired by the North Staffordshire Railway Company (NSR).

In particular, the NSR had plans for a railway from Stoke-on-Trent to Liverpool, however, this line was abandoned because of opposition from other rail interests.

In 1891 the North Staffordshire Railway Company obtained statutory powers to raise £400,000 (equivalent to £55,180,000 in 2023)[4] to widen and improve the canal.

There are actually two tunnels; the first was built by Brindley and was 2,880 yards (2,630 m) long, and boats were moved through by men lying on their backs and pushing against the roof with their feet.

This was a physically demanding and slow process and created major delays, so civil engineer Thomas Telford was commissioned to provide a second, wider, parallel tunnel with a towpath.

The branch leaves the main line on the south side, then immediately turns 90 degrees clockwise.

At the Red Bull settlement, the branch turns 90 degrees right, to head north and cross the main line on Poole Lock aqueduct.

It then immediately crosses the A50 on Red Bull aqueduct, carrying boats north to join the Macclesfield Canal at Hall Green.

The canal formed an integral part of the 1986 Stoke-on-Trent Garden Festival and in 1988 was declared a linear Conservation Area.

From the junction with the Bridgewater Canal, the T&M travels south through Preston Brook Tunnel (one-way operation, alternating each half-hour) and two smaller tunnels at Saltersford (since 2008 also one-way operation, alternating each half-hour), and Barnton to the "junction" with the River Weaver at Anderton Boat Lift near Northwich.

After Anderton, the next major destination is Middlewich, where a junction with the 50-yard-long (46 m) Wardle Canal leads to the Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal which gives access to Chester, Llangollen and ( heading south on the Shropshire Union) a parallel route to Birmingham via Wolverhampton.

The next event is a right-angle bend, of no apparent significance from the boat, but this is where the canal (and the Trent itself) changes its basic direction from south-east to north-east (heading towards Nottingham).