| Huddlesford Junction | |
|---|---|
 The Lichfield Canal from Huddlesford Junction | |
| Specifications | |
| Status | moorings |
| Navigation authority | British Waterways |
| History | |
| Date completed | 1797 |
| Date closed | 1954 |
Huddlesford Junction (grid reference SK150095 ) 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.
The Coventry Canal was authorised by an act of Parliament, the Coventry Canal Act 1768 (8 Geo. 3. c. 36), and the intention was to build a canal from Coventry, passing through Bedworth, Atherstone, Fazeley and Whittington, to join with the Grand Trunk Canal at Fradley Junction. The Grand Trunk Canal was later renamed the Trent and Mersey Canal. Good progress was made at first, and the initial 10 miles (16 km) from Coventry to Bedworth, where there were coal mines, opened in 1769. A lucrative trade in coal developed, and two years later, the canal reached Atherstone, but here a flight of eleven locks were needed and there was insufficient capital to proceed any further. [1]
The Birmingham and Fazeley Canal was authorised 13 years later, in 1784, which would join the Coventry Canal at Fazeley Junction. Prior to obtaining their act of Parliament, they negotiated with several other canals, in order to ensure that significant trade would be generated once it was opened. The Oxford Canal agreed to complete their line, to link up with the River Thames at Oxford, and the remaining length of the Coventry Canal would be built in three sections. The Coventry Canal would extend their existing line from Atherstone to Fazeley, which included the flight of locks at Atherstone and two more at Galscote. The Birmingham and Fazeley Canal would build the next section from Fazeley to Whittington Brook, and the final section from Whittington Brook to Fradley would be built by the Trent and Mersey Canal. In an unusual example of cooperation, the network was completed in 1790. [2]
The final part of the jigsaw which resulted in the junction being created was the Wyrley and Essington Canal, which was authorised in 1792 as a canal from coal mines in Wyrley and Essington to Wolverhampton, with a branch to Birchills, near Walsall. With construction only just started, they applied for a second Act of Parliament, which resulted in the main line to Wyrley becoming a branch, and the branch to Birchills being extended to collieries at Brownhills, and then descended through 30 locks, passing Lichfield to reach Huddlesford Junction. Huddlesford Junction was on the section of the Coventry Canal built by the Trent and Mersey, although the Coventry company eventually bought that section back. The Wyrley and Essington Canal, including the junction, opened on 8 May 1797, but traffic was a little intermittent at first, as the locked section was often short of water. This was compounded by the failure of the reservoir at Sneyd in the summer of 1799, but resolved once the reservoir at Cannock Chase was completed in 1800. [3]
The Wyrley and Essington Canal became disused to the east of Ogley Junction and was abandoned in 1954. [4] Restoration works have been underway since 1990, spearheaded by the Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust who have been actively engaged in excavating and rebuilding sections of the canal. The canal is now called the Lichfield Canal [5] and the Trust aims to have the restoration completed by 2026. Currently only a small section from Huddlesford Junction to Cappers Lane Bridge is in use as moorings.
The junction is located 4 miles (6.4 km) south from Fradley Junction, where the Coventry Canal joins the Trent and Mersey. There are no locks on this section, but there are Trent and Mersey locks close to both sides of Fradley Junction. To the south of the junction, it is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to Whittington Brook, the point at which the canal is still officially part of the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, as the 5.5 miles (8.9 km) to Fazeley Junction was never sold to the Coventry Canal. Continuing along the Coventry Canal, the first of the Glascote locks is 1.4 miles (2.3 km) from Fazeley Junction, and a total of 8.4 miles (13.5 km) from Huddlesford Junction. [6] The first lock on the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal is 3 miles (4.8 km) to the south of Fazeley Junction. [7]
Adjacent to Huddlesford Junction is The Plough, a red-brick country pub and restaurant, and Lichfield Cruising Club, a boat owners club which uses the first 0.25 miles (0.40 km) of the Lichfield Canal as moorings. [8] Boat owners began informally mooring their boats there in 1959, when the watered section suffered from silting and was choked with weed. The Lichfield Cruising Club was set up in its present form in 1978, and members have since enhanced the area by removal of silt and weed, by creating a clubhouse from two cottages formerly used by lengthsmen employed by British Waterways, and by the addition of a winding hole and slipway close to Capers Lane Bridge. [9]
The Birmingham and Fazeley Canal is a canal of the Birmingham Canal Navigations in the West Midlands of England. Its purpose was to provide a link between the Coventry Canal and Birmingham and thereby connect Birmingham to London via the Oxford Canal.
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.
The Coventry Canal is a navigable narrow canal in the Midlands of England.
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 Navigation Company from 1767 to 1948.
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.
Fradley Junction is a canal junction between Fradley and Alrewas near Lichfield, Staffordshire, England and the point at which the Coventry Canal joins the Trent and Mersey Canal. It opened in 1790, and several of the buildings around it, including The Swan public house, are grade II listed structures.
The Warwickshire ring is a connected series of canals forming a circuit around the West Midlands area of England. The ring is formed from the Coventry Canal, the Oxford Canal, the Grand Union Canal, the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal and the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal. It is a popular route with tourists due to its circular route and mixture of urban and rural landscapes.
The Hatherton Canal is a derelict branch of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal in south Staffordshire, England. It was constructed in two phases, the first section opening in 1841 and connecting the main line to Churchbridge, from where a tramway connected to the Great Wyrley coal mines. The second section was a joint venture with the Birmingham Canal Navigations, and linked Churchbridge to the Cannock Extension Canal by a flight of 13 locks, which were opened with the Extension Canal in 1863. The coal traffic was very profitable, and the canal remained in use until 1949. It was formally abandoned in 1955, after which the Churchbridge flight and much of the Extension Canal were destroyed by open cast mining.
Fazeley Junction is the name of the canal junction where the authorised Birmingham and Fazeley Canal terminates and meets the Coventry Canal at Fazeley, near Tamworth, Staffordshire, England.
Aston Junction is the name of the canal junction where the Digbeth Branch Canal terminates and meets the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal near to Aston, Birmingham, 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.
Horseley Fields Junction 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.
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.
Hawkesbury Junction or Sutton Stop is a canal junction in England, at the northern limit of the Oxford Canal where it meets the Coventry Canal, near Hawkesbury Village, Warwickshire, between Bedworth and Coventry. The alternative name, Sutton Stop, arises from the name of a family which provided several lock keepers there in the nineteenth century.
