This article needs additional citations for verification .(September 2007) |
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.
Heights given are nominal elevation above sea level in feet relative to the Ordnance Datum Liverpool.
A former branch of the Wyrley and Essington Canal, the Essington Branch was abandoned before 1904 and is now filled in. It was the highest level on the BCN.
The highest canal currently in BCN, 1 mile of which remains navigable. It was fed from the 18th century Titford Reservoir (now under Junction 2 of the M5 motorway) originally by feeder, and since 1837 by the Titford Canal. A feeder from the Tat Bank Branch (also known as Spon Lane Branch) supplies water to Edgbaston Reservoir.
A historical level, no longer existing. The highest level designed by James Brindley for his Birmingham Canal (BCN Old Main Line). Removed by John Smeaton's design in 1790.
A total of 41.7 miles navigable without locks:
A total of 49.2 miles at this level (21.2 miles of which is on the BCN) navigable without locks.
Connecting canals, not part of the BCN, but using this level:
A total of 13.4 miles navigable without locks.
To keep the canals topped up with water, reservoirs were built to collect water from streams. These had to be above the relevant canal levels, often some distance away. The small Titford Reservoir (Titford Pool), as well as feeding the Titford Canal supplies its surplus water to Edgbaston Reservoir along a feeder through Smethwick. Water from Edgbaston Reservoir feeds the Birmingham Level at the adjacent Icknield Port Loop, and once fed the Wolverhampton Level via a long feeder (now overgrown and dry) along the top of a raised embankment along Telford's BCN New Main Line to the Engine Arm. Water is also supplied by Chasewater and Netherton Reservoirs.
Water was a precious resource, spent each time a lock was emptied as a boat changed level. Steam pumps were employed at many flights of locks to pump water back to a higher level, for example, the Smethwick Engine.
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.
The Smethwick Engine is a Watt steam engine made by Boulton and Watt, which was installed near Birmingham, England, and was brought into service in May 1779. Now at Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum, it is the oldest working steam engine and the oldest working engine in the world.
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 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.
The Engine Arm or Birmingham Feeder Arm near Smethwick, West Midlands, England, is a short canal which was originally part of a feeder tunnel for a pumping engine. When the Smethwick flight of locks were reduced from six to three, the pumping engine was moved to a new site, which allowed part of the feeder tunnel to be opened up and made navigable, so that coal supplies for the engine could be delivered by barge. The Engine Arm also supplied the pumped water to the 473-foot (144 m) Wolverhampton level of the lowered summit. The arm was extended between 1825 and 1830 by Thomas Telford to carry water from Rotton Park Reservoir to the Old Main Line of the BCN Main Line Canal, and the Engine Arm Aqueduct was inserted to carry it over the new main line constructed at that time, which was 20 feet (6.1 m) lower. The arm is now managed by the Canal and River Trust and the basin beyond the site of the pumping station, which was replaced by a new engine house near Brasshouse Lane bridge in 1892, is used for residential moorings.
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 Gower Branch Canal is a half-mile canal at Tividale in England, linking Albion Junction on the Birmingham Level of the Birmingham Canal Navigations, and Brades Hall Junction on the BCN's older Wolverhampton (473 ft) level, via three locks, the Brades Locks, at the Southern, Brades Hall end.
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 Titford Canal is a narrow (7 foot) canal, a short branch of the Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN) in Oldbury, 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.
The Rushall Canal is a straight, 2.75-mile (4.43 km), narrow canal suitable for boats which are 7 feet (2.1 m) wide, forming part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN) on the eastern side of Walsall, 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.
Wednesbury Old Canal is part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN) in West Midlands (county), England. It opened in 1769, and although parts of it were abandoned in 1955 and 1960, the section between Pudding Green Junction and Ryder's Green Junction is navigable, as it provides a link to the Walsall Canal. A short stub beyond Ryder's Green Junction is connected to the network but difficult to navigate.
Spon Lane Junction is the original junction of the Wednesbury Canal and the Birmingham Canal, 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.
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.