Broken Cross to Marston Canal Run
Along the Trent and Mersey from Broken Cross to Marston, through the salt smuggling, chemical works and canal history of Rudheath.
This film is on YouTube, which sets cookies.
Rudheath used to be an open heath between Northwich, Middlewich and Goostrey, owned by Vale Royal Abbey and, by all accounts, a haven for salt smugglers.
You start at Penny's Lane and head to where it meets King Street, the old Roman road. This is Broken Cross, named after a wayside cross that stood here, and the Broken Cross pub dates from 1777, the same year the Trent and Mersey Canal opened. There was a wharf, warehouses and a smithy here, and the smithy still stands.
From there you follow the canal, which runs roughly alongside King Street, through Northwich's industrial past to Marston and back.
Highlights
- Broken Cross pub and old smithy
- Trent and Mersey Canal
- King Street Roman road
- Distance
- 4.8 miles (7.7 km)
- Route
- circular
- Difficulty
- easy
- Start
- Penny's Lane, Rudheath
- Parking
- Roadside near Penny's Lane
- Terrain
- Canal, History, Pub
