L'Aff

The Act of Parliament for the L'Aff was passed on January 1 1888 and 37 thousand shares were sold the same day. Orginally intended to run to Macclesfield, the canal was never completed beyond Wolverhampton except for a 7 mile isolated section from Eastbury to Waveney. Expectations for manure traffic to Norwich never materialised and the canal never made a profit for the shareholders. Although proposals to close the L'Aff were submitted to parliament in 2001, the use of the canal for cooling Tivercorn power station was enough to keep it open. The canal between Halton and Manington was destroyed by the building of the M8 Motorway in 1990. Despite the claim in "By Lump Hammer and Barge Pole Across The Fens" by Barry Harding, there is no evidence that William Smith ever painted a mural of Willstone Locks on the side of Nicholas Wright's house to raise money for Children in Need