| Aston Junction | |
|---|---|
 The Aston flight of locks to Salford Junction is to the left, and the Digbeth Branch to the right. | |
| Specifications | |
| Status | Open |
| Navigation authority | British Waterways |
| History | |
| Date completed | 1799 |
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Aston Junction (grid reference SP076881 ) 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 Birmingham and Fazeley Canal was authorised by an Act of Parliament in 1784, once the company had negotiated an agreement with the Oxford Canal, the Coventry Canal and the Trent and Mersey Canal to ensure that the links between the existing end of the Coventry Canal at Atherstone and the Trent and Mersey at Fradley Junction, and from the end of the Oxford Canal to the River Thames at Oxford would be built. The Atherstone to Fradley link would connect with the end of the Birmingham and Fazeley at Fazeley Junction. The company wanted to ensure that the canal would be part of a larger network, once completed, that would carry trade to London. The canal was completed from Farmers Bridge Junction, in the heart of Birmingham, to Fazeley in 1789, and the connecting links were completed in the following year. [1]
Shortly after the passing of the Act, the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal merged with the Birmingham Canal company and eventually became known as the Birmingham Canal Navigations. [2] The Digbeth Branch, which joined the original Birmingham and Fazeley line at Aston Junction, was built using the powers of the Birmingham Canal Act of 1768, although the work was not undertaken until 1799. It was a short branch with six locks, [3] which terminated at Typhoo Basin. Just before the end of the branch was a junction with the Warwick and Birmingham Canal, which became part of the Grand Union Canal following amalgamations in 1929. [4]
The junction was increasingly congested, as it was the main link between the Birmingham Canal network and the Warwick and Birmingham Canal route to London. Travel in any direction from the junction involved a flight of locks, and options to bypass the Farmers Bridge locks had been under consideration since 1793. On 14 February 1844, the congestion was significantly reduced by the simultaneous opening of the Tame Valley Canal, which bypassed the Birmingham Canal Navigations main line, and an extension of the Warwick and Birmingham Canal from Bordesley Junction to Salford Junction, enabling boats to avoid ascending through the eleven locks of the Aston flight and then descending through the six locks of the Ashted flight on the Digbeth Branch. Instead, the Garrison flight on the new line had just five locks. [4] [5]
From the junction, the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal heads to the south-west and ascends through the 13 Farmers Bridge locks, rising 81 feet (25 m) to reach Farmers Bridge Junction, 1.3 miles (2.1 km) away. To the north-east, it descends through the eleven locks of the Aston flight, to reach Salford junction, 1.8 miles (2.9 km) away, where it is joined by the Tame Valley Canal and the Grand Union Canal. The Digbeth Branch heads south-east, and is just 0.9 miles (1.4 km) long. Typhoo Basin is also known as Digbeth Basin or Bordesley Basin. [4] [6]
Aston Junction is notable in having two bridges serving the same lock; an iron Horseley bridge at the top and a brick bridge at the bottom.
The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another ends in Birmingham, with the latter stretching for 137 miles (220 km) with 166 locks from London. The Birmingham line has a number of short branches to places including Slough, Aylesbury, Wendover, and Northampton. The Leicester line has two short arms of its own, to Market Harborough and Welford.
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 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.
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 Digbeth Branch Canal in Birmingham, England is a short canal which links the mainline of the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal at Aston Junction and the Grand Union Canal at Digbeth Junction in Digbeth, a district in Birmingham, England.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Shrewley Tunnel is a canal tunnel near Shrewley, Warwickshire, England, which opened in 1799. It became part of the Grand Union Canal in 1929.
