When a canal was proposed from Chester to the Mersey (at what became Ellesmere Port) the plans were shown on a map produced by J. Hunter. Cheshire Record Office dates this map as 1770. The canal route is shown with the words “Proposed Canal 8 Miles ½”.
When it was later proposed to build a canal from Ellesmere Port to Woodside, Birkenhead, the original Hunter map was re-used with hardly any updating. The now-existing Chester to Ellesmere Port canal (the earlier proposal) was shown as the “New Canal 9 Ms”. The proposed route from Ellesmere Port to Birkenhead was labelled “Proposed Extention of Canal 9 Miles”. The date on my copy of this map is difficult to read. I think it shows 1820 but there is a possibility that it shows 1840. Neither date tallies with that newspaper article. There may have been several proposals over the years and this map may have accompanied another one.