| Horseley Fields Junction | |
|---|---|
 The second bridge carries the BCN Main Line towpath over the Wyrley and Essington Canal | |
| Specifications | |
| Status | Open |
| Navigation authority | British Waterways |
| History | |
| Date completed | 1797 |
Horseley Fields Junction (grid reference SO923986 ) is a canal junction at the western limit of the Wyrley and Essington Canal where it meets the BCN Main Line, at Horseley Fields east of Wolverhampton, in the West Midlands, England.
The first canal into Birmingham was authorised by an Act of Parliament in 1768. It was designed by James Brindley and was a contour canal, weaving its way across the landscape in an attempt to stay on one level. It was to run from Gas Street Basin to Aldersley Junction, where it would join another of Brindley's Canals, the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, which was under construction at the same time, and would link the Trent and Mersey Canal to the River Severn at Stourport on Severn. The line was finished through to Wednesbury, where there were coal mines, by 1769, and the link to Aldersley Junction, which included a flight of twenty locks, later increased by one, and passing through Horseley Fields, was completed in 1772. The Birmingham Canal company became the Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN), following an amalgamation with the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal in 1794. [1]
The Wyrley and Essington Canal was planned to serve the coal mines at Sneyd and Essington, bringing coal to the population of Wolverhampton and Walsall. It was authorised in 1792, and from Sneyd Junction, where the canal headed northwards to the collieries, the main line ran to the west to meet the Birmingham Canal at Horseley Fields, while a branch ran to the east to Birchills Junction, near Walsall. Construction started, but in 1794, the company obtained a second Act, which effectively made the Birchills Branch into the main line, and extended it to Ogley Junction, after which it descended through 30 locks to reach the Coventry Canal at Huddlesford Junction. The whole canal, including the junction at Horseley Fields, opened on 8 May 1797. [2]
The Birmingham Canal Navigations approached the Wyrley and Essington in 1820, with a view to amalgamation, but the offer was refused. The reverse happened in 1838, but in 1840, they agreed. An informal agreement signed on 9 February 1840 was followed by an Act of Parliament to authorise the union in April. Horseley Junction became an internal junction between parts of the BCN system from that date, and its importance diminished a little, as three other junctions were created between the two canals in the years immediately after amalgamation. [3]
From the junction, the line to Aldersley Junction heads north-west, and is level for just 0.5 miles (0.8 km) before the top lock of the 21-lock Wolverhampton flight is reached. The bottom lock is almost at the junction. [4] In the opposite direction, the canal is level for 11.4 miles (18.3 km) to Smethwick Junction passing along the Old Main Line between Factory Junction and Spon Lane Junction. The route is crossed by the A454 road at Horesley Fields Bridge immediately to the south of the junction. [5] The third route, following the Wyrley and Essington Canal to the north-east is crossed by a towpath bridge and a railway bridge at the junction, [4] and is level for 17.7 miles (28.5 km), to Anglesey Basin on the edge of Chasewater Reservoir. [6] The only locks on this canal were the 30 that descended from Ogley Junction through Lichfield to Huddlesford Junction on the Coventry Canal. They were closed in 1954, [7] but are the subject of an active restoration project, and that section has been renamed as the Lichfield Canal. [8]
The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal is a navigable narrow canal in Staffordshire and Worcestershire in the English Midlands. It is 46 miles (74 km) long, linking the River Severn at Stourport in Worcestershire with the Trent and Mersey Canal at Haywood Junction by Great Haywood.
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.
The Lichfield Canal, as it is now known, was historically a part of the Wyrley and Essington Canal, being the section of that canal from Ogley Junction at Brownhills on the northern Birmingham Canal Navigations to Huddlesford Junction, east of Lichfield, on the Coventry Canal, a length of 7 miles (11.3 km). The branch was abandoned in 1955, along with several other branches of the Wyrley and Essington, and much of it was filled in.
Aldersley Junction is the name of the canal junction where the Birmingham Main Line Canal terminates and meets the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal near to Oxley, north Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It opened in 1772.
The Anson Branch is a short canal in the West Midlands, England. It runs for just over one mile from its junction with the Walsall Canal near Forster's bridge. It forms part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations.
The Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN), a network of narrow canals in the industrial midlands of England, is built on various water levels. The three longest are the Wolverhampton, Birmingham, and Walsall levels. Locks allow boats to move from one level to another.
Smethwick Junction is the name of the canal junctions where the Birmingham Canal Navigations Main Line Canal from Birmingham splits into the BCN Old Main Line and the BCN New Main Line near to Smethwick, West Midlands, England.
The Walsall Canal is a narrow canal, seven miles (11 km) long, forming part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations, and passing around the western side of Walsall, West Midlands, England.
Rushall Junction is the southern limit of the Rushall Canal where it meets the Tame Valley Canal in the West Midlands, England. It opened in 1847, when the Rushall Canal was built to create connections between the Birmingham Canal Navigations system and the Wyrley and Essington Canal, following the amalgamation of the two companies in 1840.
Tame Valley Junction, also known as Doe Bank Junction, is a canal junction at the western limit of the Tame Valley Canal where it meets the Walsall Canal, south of Walsall, in the West Midlands, England.
Huddlesford Junction is a canal junction at the original north-eastern limit of the Wyrley and Essington Canal where it met the Coventry Canal, near Lichfield, in Staffordshire, England.
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.
Catshill Junction is a canal junction at the northern limit of the Daw End Branch Canal where it meets the Wyrley and Essington Canal main line, near Brownhills, in West Midlands, England.
Pelsall Junction is a canal junction at the southern limit of the Cannock Extension Canal where it meets the Wyrley and Essington Canal main line, near Pelsall, West Midlands, England.
Birchills Junction is the canal junction at the northern limit of what is now called the Walsall Canal where it meets the Wyrley and Essington Canal main line, near Walsall, West Midlands, England. It opened in 1798, but lasted for little more than a year, until it was re-opened in 1841 when a connecting link was built to the Birmingham Canal Navigations' southern route to Walsall.
Rumer Hill Junction was a canal junction on the Cannock Extension Canal where the Churchbridge Branch left to join the Hatherton Canal. The junction, along with the northern section of the canal was abandoned in 1963. The Churchbridge Branch and Rumer Hill Junction were subsequently obliterated by opencast mining.
Spon Lane Junction is the original junction of the Wednesbury Canal and the Birmingham Canal, near Oldbury in the West Midlands, England.
Bromford Junction is a canal junction at the foot of the Spon Lane Locks where the Spon Lane Locks Branch meets the BCN New Main Line near Oldbury in the West Midlands, England.
The Wednesbury Oak Loop, sometimes known as the Bradley Arm, is a canal in the West Midlands, England. It is part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN), and was originally part of James Brindley's main line, but became a loop when Thomas Telford's improvements of the 1830s bypassed it by the construction of the Coseley Tunnel. The south-eastern end of the loop was closed and in parts built over, following the designation of the entire loop as "abandoned" in 1954, including the section which was filled in at the beginning of the 1960s to make way for the Glebefields Estate in Tipton.
