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Overview | |
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Location | Hawkesley, Birmingham, West Midlands, and Worcestershire, England |
Coordinates | 52°23′25″N1°56′24″W / 52.3902°N 1.9400°W |
OS grid reference | SP041769 |
Status | Open |
Waterway | Worcester and Birmingham Canal |
Start | 52°24′00″N1°55′51″W / 52.39991°N 1.93096°W |
End | 52°22′50″N1°56′56″W / 52.38066°N 1.94890°W |
Operation | |
Constructed | 1794-97 |
Owner | Canal & River Trust |
Technical | |
Design engineer | Thomas Cartwright |
Length | 2,726 yards (2,492.7 m) |
Width | Double |
Towpath | No |
Boat-passable | Yes |
Wast Hill Tunnel is a canal tunnel on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. Its northern portal is in Hawkesley, Birmingham. Its southern portal is in fields just outside the city's boundaries, in Worcestershire. [1]
The Wast Hill Tunnel was built in 1796 and is 2,726 yards (2,493 m) long, making it one of the longest in the country. [1] There are several ventilation shafts along its length which were initially used for the tunnel's construction. [2] It is wide enough to accommodate two narrow boats but there is no towpath. [3]
Work started on the tunnel in 1794 and was completed in 1797. [4] Until 1904 canal boats were legged through the tunnel; it took three hours to navigate. Leggers were replaced by a steam tug to pull a chain of barges through. [5] The tunnel used to carry telegraph lines placed through iron brackets attached to the roof. [6] On 23 November 1979, two workmen were killed when part of the tunnel roof collapsed while undergoing repair. [7] The tunnel remained closed until 30 May 1981. [8]
The Oxford Canal is a 78-mile (126 km) narrowboat canal in southern central England linking the City of Oxford with the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury via Banbury and Rugby. Completed in 1790, it connects to the River Thames at Oxford, and links with the Grand Union Canal, which it is combined with for 5 miles (8 km) between to the villages of Braunston and Napton-on-the-Hill.
Birmingham Snow Hill, also known as Snow Hill station, is a railway station in Birmingham City Centre. It is one of the three main city-centre stations in Birmingham, along with Birmingham New Street and Birmingham Moor Street.
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 Worcester and Birmingham Canal is a canal linking Birmingham and Worcester in England. It starts in Worcester, as an 'offshoot' of the River Severn and ends in Gas Street Basin in Birmingham. It is 29 miles (47 km) long. There are 58 locks in total on the canal, including the 30 Tardebigge Locks, one of the longest lock flights in Europe. The canal climbs 428 feet (130 m) from Worcester to Birmingham.
Hawkesley is an area of Birmingham, England. It is part of 'The Three Estates', the housing estates Hawkesley, Pool Farm, and Primrose. These are to the south of Kings Norton. The Ordnance Survey grid reference is SP0477.
The Grand Junction Canal is a canal in England from Braunston in Northamptonshire to the River Thames at Brentford, with a number of branches. The mainline was built between 1793 and 1805, to improve the route from the Midlands to London, by-passing the upper reaches of the River Thames near Oxford, thus shortening the journey.
Dudley Tunnel is a canal tunnel on the Dudley Canal Line No 1, England. At about 3,172 yards (2,900.5 m) long, it is now the second longest canal tunnel on the UK canal network today.. However, since the Dudley Tunnel is not continuous this status is sometimes questioned:.
Waseley Hills Country Park is 150 acres (0.61 km2) a Country Park and Local Nature Reserve owned and managed by Worcestershire County Council's Countryside Service. It consists of rolling open hills with old hedgerows, pastures and small pockets of woodland with panoramic views over Worcestershire, England.
Ledbury railway station is located on the outskirts of the town of Ledbury, on the Worcester to Hereford line in the English Midlands. It has regular services to Birmingham, plus several direct trains a day to London Paddington.
Stourbridge Town is a railway station near the centre of Stourbridge, West Midlands, England. It is situated at the end of a short branch line linking the station with Stourbridge Junction, 0.8 miles away, where passengers can change for mainline train services. It is said to be the shortest operational branch railway line in Europe.
The Dudley Canal is a canal passing through Dudley in the West Midlands of England. The canal is part of the English and Welsh network of connected navigable inland waterways and forms part of the popular Stourport Ring narrowboat cruising route.
The Stourport Ring is a connected series of canals forming a circuit, or canal ring, around Worcestershire, The Black Country and Birmingham in The Midlands, England. The ring is formed from the River Severn, the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, the Stourbridge Canal, the Dudley Canals, the Birmingham Canal Navigations and the Worcester and Birmingham Canal.
Norwood Tunnel was a 2,884-yard-long, 9-foot-3-inch-wide (2.82 m) and 12-foot-high (3.7 m) brick lined canal tunnel on the line of the Chesterfield Canal with its Western Portal in Norwood, Derbyshire and its Eastern Portal in Kiveton, South Yorkshire, England.
Gas Street Basin is a canal basin in the centre of Birmingham, England, where the Worcester and Birmingham Canal meets the BCN Main Line. It is located on Gas Street, off Broad Street, and between the Mailbox and Brindleyplace canal-side developments.
The Lapal Tunnel is a disused 3,795-yard (3,470 m) canal tunnel on the five mile dry section of the Dudley No. 2 Canal in the West Midlands, England. It takes its name from the settlement of Lapal.
The BCN Main Line, or Birmingham Canal Navigations Main Line is the evolving route of the Birmingham Canal between Birmingham and Wolverhampton in England.
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.
Tardebigge Locks or the Tardebigge Flight is the longest flight of locks in the UK, comprising 30 narrow locks on a two-and-a-quarter-mile (3.6 km) stretch of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal at Tardebigge, Worcestershire. It raises the waterway 220 feet (67 m), and lies between the Tardebigge tunnel to the North and the Stoke Prior flight of six narrow locks to the South. The Tardebigge Engine House is also on this stretch.
Kings Norton Junction is the name of the canal junction where the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal terminates and meets the Worcester and Birmingham Canal at Kings Norton, Birmingham, England.
The Avon Ring is a canal ring which is located to the south west of Birmingham in England, and connects the major towns of Stratford-upon-Avon, Evesham, Tewkesbury, Worcester and the southern outskirts of Birmingham. It consists of stretches of four waterways, and is heavily locked, with a total of 129 locks on its route of 109 miles (175 km).