enlarged to include the first Catholic school in the town in 1869. The church was later replaced by the modern St Mary's Catholic Church on New King Street (Image) in 1890, with the stone cross from the church on Wych House Lane being kept within the porch of the new church. Middlewich Community Church (Image) is a relatively new Pentecostal church located in the former social club for the Brunner Mond works in Brooks Lane. Transport Middlewich lies on the A533 road linking it to Northwich and Runcorn in the north, and Sandbach to the south, the A54 linking it to Chester and Winsford to the west and Holmes Chapel and Buxton to the east, and A530 linking it to Crewe and Nantwich to the south. Middlewich lies on a railway branch line between Sandbach and Northwich, but Middlewich railway station—opened in 1868 and closed to passenger traffic in 1959—has been demolished. The branch line is still used by freight trains. The closest railway station is at Winsford, away. Efforts to get the line reopened to passenger traffic and have a new station built have been on going for nearly 30 years. In 2018, a request from the government to create an outline business case was announced. The request is being handled by Cheshire East Council in conjunction with Cheshire West and Chester Council and the Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership and will consider the cost and benefits of reopening the line and building new stations at Middlewich and Gadbrook Park. Following a petition in 1766, the Trent and Mersey Canal was diverted from its original course to provide transport to the town, and now links with a branch of the Shropshire Union Canal. The link between the two canals, which was opened in 1833, is actually a third canal known as the Wardle Canal; at about in length, it is the shortest canal in the United Kingdom. Middlewich is from Manchester Airport, the busiest airport in the UK outside London, and from Liverpool John Lennon Airport. Buses Middlewich has three bus routes, Monday to Saturday only, operated by Arriva North West and D&G. Education There were three schools in Middlewich in the mid-19th century: the British School in Newton Bank; the National School in Cow Lane (Brooks Lane); and the Grammar School, close to the site of the largest Tesco store. A Church of England school was erected