VOLUNTEERS have been carrying out Time Team-style excavations at two historic canal sites as part of plans to restore them to their former glory.

They have spent the past four days splitting their time between the old Burslem Branch Canal, at Middleport, and Lock 47, at Church Lawton, on the Trent and Mersey Canal.

Both spots are key to regeneration projects and could soon be helping to attract more tourists to North Staffordshire and South Cheshire.

Regeneration partnership Renew North Staffordshire is a key player in the multi-million pound Burslem scheme.

Roger Savage, Stoke-on-Trent branch chairman of the Inland Waterways Association (IWA), said the investigative digs have helped clear these areas, ready for engineers to assess the scale of work involved in restoring them.

The team has unearthed some important finds, including part of the washwall from the derelict branch canal, which was filled in decades ago.

This site will eventually become home to Burslem Port, bringing boats back to the waterway and acting as a point for tourists to stop off and explore Burslem.

But one narrow boat is thought to be there already – buried in the old canal.

Volunteers have been trying to locate the former National Coal Board vessel that's believed to have lain there since the canal breached in 1962.

The digs, which finish today, have been carried out by more than a dozen members of the Waterway Recovery Group, who come from across the UK. The IWA has also been involved.

They have faced a different set of challenges at Church Lawton as the manual work has had to be done while the canal is actually in operation.

It is known as a paired lock – one lock is used daily by boaters, although the one alongside it has become derelict.

Mr Savage said: "It was built as the M6 of its day. Over 7,000 boats a year go through the lock. But it can take one-and-a-half hours for a convoy of boats to go through just the single lock."

Bringing the derelict section back into use could significantly speed up traffic. The team has been removing vegetation and mud, and renewing the props inside the canal chamber.

Volunteer John Hawkins, aged 65, who lives near Watford, said: "This project has been something of a one-off. We want to drop the water level so we can do the work, but people keep coming past on boats."

Lock 47 is one of three paired locks in South Cheshire that enthusiasts hope to see restored. The others are between Church Lawton and Wheelock, near Sandbach.

Plans also include upgrading the towpath in Church Lawton, so more cyclists and walkers use it, and putting up interpretation signs highlighting its history.

Amber Goodwin, from Talke, has regularly walked along the canal towpath with her family.

The 18-year-old said: "The area is nice as it is. But I would like to see a couple of benches here, so you could sit and have lunch."

Do you remember the Burslem Branch Canal? Write to Liz Rowley at Features Desk, The Sentinel, Forge Lane, Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent, ST1 5SS, remembering to include your full address and a daytime telephone number. Or email yesterdays@thesentinel.co.uk