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The Shropshire Union Canal (from Autherley to Nantwich) was engineered by Thomas Telford and opened in 1835. There are long straight sections of this canal which required either embankments or cuttings to avoid the need for locks. Although this was a more difficult procedure, the end route was shorter and the progress for horse drawn working boats could be maintained with (hopefully) no stoppages. The canal (formerly the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal) was opened at a time when railways were making serious inroads into the canal companies' businesses.

The current Shroppie north of Nantwich was formerly the Chester Canal, opened in 1779, and has wider locks and bridges. Boats up to nine feet in beam can still navigate this section; Telford's canal accommodates only narrowboats up to seven feet in beam.

By act of 1827 the Chester Canal Middlewich Branch runs 10 miles with 3 locks from Barbridge Junction (Shropshire Union Main Line) to Wardle Lock, Middlewich, where it joins the Trent & Mersey Canal. The canal became part of the Shropshire Union system in 1846 that was taken over by the London and North Western Railway within a year. The Trent and Mersey insisted that there should be no direct connection at Middlewich, and instead built the short Wardle Canal and lock to join the two, charging large compensation tolls for traffic passing along it. The canal was the location for trials with locomotive haulage of boats in 1888, using a narrow-gauge engine from Crewe railway works, but no further action was taken.