Coal alone doesn't seem a good enough reason to build this canal unless Hanwood and other local collieries were no longer cost effective. I'm thinking that the canal that only got as far as Weston Lullingfields but was intended for Shrewsbury was the main reason because that would create such a shortcut into the midlands for the dairy goods from ellesmere and cheshire (cheese). It's a shame that the sheeqs wool wasn't moved east on the canal to the burgeoning carqet industry in Kidderminster. That would have been a financial godsend for the Leominster canal too and may have ensured it's comqletion from kington to the river severn.