| Tame Valley Junction | |
|---|---|
 Tame Valley Junction with the Tame Valley Canal leading eastwards under the bridge on the right. | |
| Specifications | |
| Status | Open |
| Navigation authority | Canal & River Trust |
| History | |
| Date completed | 1844 |
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Tame Valley Junction (grid reference SO976936 ), 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.
The Walsall Canal eventually formed a through route between the Birmingham Canal Navigations main line at Pudding Green, and the Wyrley and Essington Canal at Birchills Junction, but it was built in several stages over many years. The first section from Pudding Lane Junction to Ryders Green Junction was part of the Wednesbury Canal, which ran to Hill Top in West Bromwich, and opened in 1769. The next part to be opened was authorised by the Act of Parliament for the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, although it was never connected to their main line. It was built by the Birmingham Canal Navigations, as the two companies merged once the Act had been obtained. It ran from Ryders Green Junction to Broadwaters, a mining complex near Moxley, and opened in 1786. This section includes the site of the Tame Valley Junction. [1]
A connection from Broadwaters to Walsall was first proposed in 1793, and the link was eventually opened in 1799. [2] The through route was completed after the merger of the Wyrley and Essington and the Birmingham Canal Navigations. A short branch containing eight locks linking Walsall to Birchills was opened in 1841. [1]
The Tame Valley Canal was a solution to the problem of congestion at Farmers Bridge Locks, which was the main link between the Birmingham system and the route to London via the Warwick and Birmingham Canal. The canal provided a connection from Tame Valley Junction to Salford Junction, from where another new canal, the Birmingham and Warwick Junction Canal connected to Bordesley Junction. Both canals were authorised at the same time and opened on 14 February 1844. Together they provided a northern bypass around the congestion. [3] The route from Salford Junction to Warwick and on to London became part of the Grand Union Canal in 1929. [4]
From the junction, the Walsall Canal is level as it heads south for 0.6 miles (0.97 km) to the bottom of Ryders Green Locks, a flight of eight which takes the canal to the Wednesbury Old Canal. Travelling to the north, the pound is level for 5.7 miles (9.2 km) to the foot of the eight Walsall Locks. To the east, the Tame Valley Canal is level for 5.7 miles (9.2 km) to the top of Perry Bar Locks, a flight of eleven. [5]
The Tame Valley Canal has towpaths on both sides, and the Walsall Canal towpath is on the west bank at the junction. The cast iron bridge with brick abutments which carries the towpath over the Walsall Canal to the north of the junction is a grade II listed structure, [6] as is the similar bridge to the south. [7]
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.
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 Bentley Canal is an abandoned canal that was part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations. A very short section still exists where it joins the Wyrley and Essington Canal in Wolverhampton. From there it headed generally southeast through Willenhall and Walsall and connected with the Anson Branch and thus the Walsall Canal. The main line opened in 1843, with the Neachell Hall Branch following two years later. The branch closed in 1953 and the main line in the early 1960s.
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.
Bordesley Junction is a canal junction where the Grand Union Canal splits near to Bordesley, Birmingham, England. It opened in 1844, when the Birmingham and Warwick Junction Canal was built as part of a scheme to bypass the congestion at the Farmers Bridge flight of locks.
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 current Cannock Extension Canal is a 1.8-mile (2.9 km) canal in England. It runs from Pelsall Junction on the Wyrley and Essington Canal, north to Norton Canes Docks and forms part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations. Historically, it ran to Hednesford, and served a number of collieries, which provided the main traffic. It opened in 1863, and the northern section closed in 1963, as a result of mining subsidence.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Bradley Branch or Bradley Locks Branch was a short canal of the Birmingham Canal Navigations in the West Midlands, England. Completed in 1849, it included nine locks, and had a number of basins which enabled it to service local collieries and industrial sites. The locks were unusual, as they had a single gate at both ends, rather than double gates at the bottom end. The route closed in the 1950s, and the top seven locks were covered over and landscaped.
