Tixall Wide - Staffordshire

Tixall Wide, also known as Tixall Broad or The Broad Water,is a body of water that forms part of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal near Tixall  The lake was probably created during the construction of the canal in 1771 for  Hugh Clifford, 3rd Baron Clifford of Chudleigh, as the grounds had been designed on the advice of the landscape architect Lancelot "Capability" Brown. It is said he "gave permission for the canal to pass through his land on the condition that it was made wide enough to look like a lake from the house".  in order not to spoil the view Boaters moored on the Wide, the towpath is a very popular overnight mooring spot, or passing through the Wide have an excellent view of the magnificent Elizabethan gatehouse that is the only remaining part of Tixall Hall. It has also been suggested that the canal was routed to utilise a lake that already existed, in which the angler and writer Izaak Walton had learned to fish.