Perhaps the biggest change was the coming of the canal, opened in 1797 and used mainly to carry coal from Ketley to Shrewsbury. Coal for Withington was unloaded at a wharf at the Old Post Office as well as farm foodstuffs, oil etc. It traveled alongside the churchyard wall where there was a big pool in front of Church Farm where the boats could turn. There were swing bridges there and by Canal Cottage and humpback bridges over the lanes to Walcot and Rodington where the lanes crossed the canal. Fishermen, skaters and walkers all used the canal and its towpaths. In 1944 the canal was closed and in the 1960s it was offered for sale to the landowners whose land adjoined it but if they did not want it, to the landowner on the other side, by the towpath.