With the exception of the first lock and basin at Froghall, it closed in 1849, in order that the Churnet Valley line of the North Staffordshire Railway could be constructed along its length.

[3] A large part of it was subsequently filled in, and used for the route of the Churnet Valley railway line (which incidentally, although it is now dismantled, had the first automatic, train-operated level-crossing in the UK, at Spath, just outside Uttoxeter.

[5]) A few bridges from the Uttoxeter Canal still exist, with the occasional milepost visible, including two which have been relocated to the bowling green in Denstone village.

[8] At the end of the year, a formal partnership between British Waterways and the newly-renamed Caldon and Uttoxeter Canals Trust was announced, with the stated intention of completing the project by early 2005.

[10] There were also threats at the southern end, when plans for a bypass which would be built along the line of the canal from Denstone to Alton Towers were announced.

[12] To the south of Denstone, the original route is blocked by the JCB factory at Rocester,[13] which has been built over the locations of Cottons and Taylors locks.

Staffordshire County Council and the trust jointly commissioned a feasibility report in 2009, which was produced by the engineering consultancy Halcrow Group,[14] and examined whether there was a possible route to the south of Denstone, terminating at the Uttoxeter gravel pits, which were nearly worked out.

The Waterway Recovery Group have visited the canal several times, and have cleared most of the trees on this section, including a huge sycamore whose roots were damaging Crumpwood Weir.

They also discovered that Carringtons Lock, immediately above the weir, was still largely intact, although buried, and found a wharf originally built by Lord Shrewsbury in the early 1800s to enable construction materials for Alton Towers House to be unloaded.

[19] There was a water pumping station to the north of the weir, which was no longer in use, and the Environment Agency announced their intention to construct a fish ladder there in 2019, to enable trout and salmon to migrate up the river more easily.

[21] As part of the work, one of the turbines was removed, so that it can be displayed, and the project was carried out by the Environment Agency, helped by JCB who loaned heavy equipment, and the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust.