Glacial Lakes anf Spillways in the Vicinity of Madeley, North Staffordshire

Summary Captures by the River Weaver head-streams of the upper Trent drainage have breached the west-facing feature that the North Staffordshire Coalfield presents to the Choshire plain. As the Irish Sea Ice retreated from the coalfield the gaps thus formed were linked in a spillway system through which the melt-waters impounded in lakes against the high ground were discharged into the Trent. The deepening of the channels due to the passage of the melt-water, plus the moraine deposits, has prevented the drainage from recovering completely its former course.