The Anglesey Sidings is a former sidings terminal located on the South Staffordshire Line, Staffordshire, England, and served for a time as an oil terminal. The sidings are located on the other end of the A5 Watling Street in Brownhills near the border of Lichfield.
The sidings were built to connect the South Staffordshire Line to the coal fields at Chasewater and Cannock Chase. This branch ran down Wharf Lane and connected near the present-day Chasewater Railway. They are named after the Welsh island of the same name, as the landowner Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey who lived at Beaudesert Hall, gave permission for the site to be developed. [1]
The sidings were closed to Chasewater and Cannock Chase in the late 1960s. The sidings at Brownhills remained in use until 1984 when the section from Angelsea Sidings to Ryecroft Junction closed to all through traffic. The section through Hammerwich continued to serve the sidings for an oil terminal until 2001/02 when the entire line was closed. It was then left mothballed.
Today, the branch at Wharf Lane has since become a public footpath. The section from Brownhills to Lichfield is now mothballed and out of use. It remains under the ownership of Network Rail. The section towards Walsall is now a leisure greenway.
The Wyrley and Essington Canal, known locally as "the Curly Wyrley", is a canal in the English Midlands. As built it ran from Wolverhampton to Huddlesford Junction near Lichfield, with a number of branches: some parts are currently derelict. Pending planned restoration to Huddlesford, the navigable mainline now terminates at Ogley Junction near Brownhills. In 2008 it was designated a Local Nature Reserve.
Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN) is a network of canals connecting Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and the eastern part of the Black Country. The BCN is connected to the rest of the English canal system at several junctions. It was owned and operated by the Birmingham Canal Navigations Company from 1767 to 1948.
Brownhills is a town and former administrative centre in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. A few miles south of Cannock Chase and close to the large Chasewater reservoir, it is 6 miles (9.7 km) northeast of Walsall, a similar distance southwest of Lichfield and 13 miles (20.9 km) miles north-northwest of Birmingham. It is part of the Aldridge-Brownhills parliamentary constituency and neighbours the large suburban villages of Pelsall and Walsall Wood. It lies within the boundaries of the historic county of Staffordshire.
Burntwood is a former mining town and civil parish in the Lichfield District in Staffordshire, England, approximately 4 miles (6 km) west of Lichfield and north east of Brownhills. The town had a population of 26,049 and forms part of Lichfield district. The town forms one of the largest urbanised parishes in England. Samuel Johnson opened an academy in nearby Edial in 1736. The town is home to the smallest park in the UK, Prince's Park, which is located next to Christ Church on the junction of Farewell Lane and Church Road. The town expanded in the nineteenth century around the coal mining industry.
Chasewater is a reservoir located in the parish of Burntwood and the district of Lichfield in Staffordshire, England. Originally known as Norton Pool and Cannock Chase Reservoir, it was created as a canal feeder reservoir in 1797. The reservoir was created to directly supply the Wyrley and Essington Canal and maintain levels in the 160-mile (260 km) Birmingham Canal Network. During a period of great industrial growth in the Black Country region the maintenance of water levels in canal infrastructure was essential and Chasewater was in great demand. As canals became less essential for transport of goods during the mid-20th century, the reservoir diversified and became a popular public amenity with activities such as water-skiing, sailing, wakeboarding and cycling. Chasewater is the third largest reservoir by volume in the county of Staffordshire and the largest canal feeder reservoir in the West Midlands.
The Chasewater Railway is a former colliery railway running round the shores of Chasewater in Staffordshire, England. It is now operated as a heritage railway.
Walsall railway station is the principal railway station of Walsall, West Midlands, England and situated in the heart of the town. It is operated by West Midlands Trains, with services provided by West Midlands Railway and from 2019, London Northwestern Railway operate a service from Rugeley to London Euston that calls at the station. The main entrance is situated inside the Saddlers Shopping Centre.
The South Staffordshire line is a partially mothballed and active former mainline that connects Burton-upon-Trent to Lichfield in Staffordshire and formerly then to the West Midlands towns of Walsall, Wednesbury, Dudley and Stourbridge. However, Dudley and Stourbridge were already joined to the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway's (OW&WR) line just north of Dudley Station. It in essence, continued to Stourbridge along with Wednesbury and Walsall.
Brownhills railway station is a disused railway station that served the town of Brownhills and the village of Clayhanger in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands. It was on the South Staffordshire Line between Walsall and Lichfield.
Hammerwich railway station is a disused station on the South Staffordshire Line. It opened in 1849. It closed as part of the Beeching Axe in January 1965. The station was built and served by the South Staffordshire Railway, which later became London, Midland and Scottish Railway.
The South Staffordshire Railway (SSR) was authorised in 1847 to build a line from Dudley in the West Midlands of England through Walsall and Lichfield to a junction with the Midland Railway on the way to Burton upon Trent, with authorised share capital of £945,000. It was supported by the newly-formed London and North Western Railway (LNWR) and the Midland Railway, giving each company access to important areas. It completed its main line in 1849. As collieries in the Cannock region rose in importance, it built a second main line from Walsall to Rugeley, as well as numerous short spurs and connections to lines it intersected. Colliery working in the Cannock area expanded enormously, and mineral traffic carryings increased in step.
Rushall is a suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall in the West Midlands, England. It is centred on the main road between Walsall and Lichfield. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book but has mostly developed since the 1920s. Rushall was historically a part of the county of Staffordshire before it was incorporated with much of the old Aldridge-Brownhills Urban District into the modern-day Walsall district.
Norton Canes is an industrial village, civil parish and ward of Cannock Chase District, in Staffordshire, England.
The Midland Railway branches around Walsall were built to give the Midland Railway independent access to Wolverhampton, and to a colliery district at Brownhills. The Midland Railway had a stake in the South Staffordshire Railway giving it access to Walsall, and the Walsall and Wolverhampton Railway (W&WR) was opened in 1872. At first the W&WR was independent and neutral, but it was acquired by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR), and then sold by that company to the Midland Railway.
Ogley Junction, on the Staffordshire county border near Brownhills, West Midlands, England, is a historic canal junction on the Wyrley and Essington Canal where the Anglesey Branch left the main line.
Brownhills Watling Street railway station was a station on the Midland Railway in England. It was opened in 1884, closed in March 1930 for passenger use and the track was closed in 1960.
Brownhills West is a suburban village of Brownhills in the Walsall Metropolitan Borough and forms part of the border of the West Midlands and Staffordshire. It is an unparished area of Brownhills, lying on the border with Cannock and Burntwood respectively, it is still part of the Walsall borough. It lies next to the suburbs of Newtown, Ogley Hay and Shire Oak of Brownhills. The town is 13 miles Northwest of Birmingham City Centre.
Aldridge to Brownhills Branch was a railway line opened by the Midland Railway in 1876 and completed in 1880, linking Aldridge with Brownhills Watling Street and the Cannock coal fields in Staffordshire as part of the Midland Railway branches around Walsall. The line was also linked to the South Staffordshire Line by a branch between Walsall Wood and Pelsall, Brownhills was also served by a station on the South Staffordshire line.
Muckley Corner is a small village and area of Hammerwich in Lichfield District of Staffordshire, England. The area is located on the A5. It is on the border of the boroughs of Walsall and Lichfield.
The Cannock Chase Railways were mineral lines which served the collieries and many parts of Staffordshire. The branch lines and sidings branched off the local mainlines including the Grand Junction Railway, Chase Line, South Staffordshire Line and Rugby–Birmingham–Stafford line. The main junction on the railways was Norton Junction. This junction connected the lines from Walsall and Hednesford to Wolverhampton and Rugeley Trent Valley for the local collieries and the mines in the towns of Brownhills, Burntwood, Chasetown, Penkridge and Cannock.