Having completed the Wombridge Canal and the Ketley Canal with its inclined plane in 1788, Reynolds, who was by now an innovative ironmaster aged 30, set his sights on a canal from the Donnington Wood Canal to the River Severn. He enlisted the help of various others, including his father Richard Reynolds, John Wilkinson, and Granville Leveson-Gower, who held various titles including Earl Gower and Marquess of Stafford. Reynolds, senior, contributed £6,000, Wilkinson £5,500, Leveson-Gower £2,000, while Reynolds himself contributed £1,000. An Act of Parliament was obtained on 11 June 1788, which created the "Company of Proprietors of the Shropshire Navigation", and a meeting was held the following day, at which £50,000 of capital was reported to have been pledged. The authorised share capital was £62,500, divided into 500 shares worth £125 each. The Act of Parliament listed the names of owners of land through which the canal would pass, and also the names of the 58 subscribers who would form the Company of Proprietors.