| Catshill Junction | |
|---|---|
 A sculpture at Catshill Junction | |
| Specifications | |
| Status | Open |
| Navigation authority | Canal & River Trust |
| History | |
| Date completed | 1800 |
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Catshill Junction (grid reference SK048048 ) 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.
When the Wyrley and Essington Canal was authorised by Act of Parliament in 1792, it was for a canal from the coal fields of Wyrley and Essington to the north of Bloxwich to the urban centre of Wolverhampton, with a branch to Walsall, ending near the present Birchills Junction. However, the company obtained a second Act in 1794, before the original canal was completed, which authorised an extension eastwards from Birchills, passing through Pelsall to reach more collieries at Brownhills, close to Catshill Junction, and on to the site of Ogley Junction, from where it would descend through thirty locks to reach Huddlesford Junction, to the east of Lichfield. [1] Huddlesford Junction was effectively part of the Coventry Canal, but that section had been built by the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal in a complicated agreement to ensure that the Birmingham and Fazeley would be part of a larger network, and therefore more likely to be profitable. [2] The Birchills Branch became part of the main line, and the former main line to Wyrley Bank became a branch. [1]
The 1794 Act also authorised a number of branches, including one to serve limeworks at Hay Head. This was known as the Daw End Branch, and left the main line at Catshill Junction. The whole of the main line was completed in 1797, but there were problems with water supply, compounded by the failure of the reservoir dam at Sneyd in 1799. These were resolved in 1800 with the completion of the Chasewater Reservoir, which fed water into the canal at Ogley Junction, via a navigable feeder called the Anglesey Branch. The Hay Head branch and hence the junction was also opened in that year. [3] Despite the fact that the limestone quarries which the junction and branch served were described as "on a very extensive plan, inexhaustible as quantity, and of very superior quality", they were unused by 1809, resulting in less traffic using the junction, but were back in business by 1822. The junction saw increased traffic after 1847, when the Rushall Canal linked the southern end of the branch to the Tame Valley Canal. It was one of several links between the Wyrley and Essington Canal and the Birmingham Canal Navigations system, built following the amalgamation of the two companies in 1840. [4]
Most of the Wyrley and Essington Canal, including Catshill Junction, was built on the 473-foot (144 m) contour, known as the Wolverhampton Level. [5] From Catshill Junction, the Wyrley and Essington Canal heads initially eastwards and then to the north. It reaches Anglesey Basin, on the edge of Chasewater Reservoir, after 2.4 miles (3.9 km), passing Ogley Junction, where the locks to Huddlesford began, after 0.9 miles (1.4 km). [6] The locks were abandoned in 1954, but are the subject of a restoration campaign, [7] and that section of the Wyrley and Essington is now known as the Lichfield Canal.
To the west, the canal is level to its junction with BCN Main Line at Horseley Fields Junction, a distance of 15.3 miles (24.6 km), and the BCN Main Line continues on the same level in both directions. [6] At the junction, the towpath is on the south bank of the Wyrley and Essington, and is carried over the Daw End Branch by a towpath bridge. [8] The branch heads south from the junction, and is level for 5.3 miles (8.5 km) to Longwood Junction, where it joins the Rushall Canal end-on. [6] The descent through the nine locks of the Rushall Canal begins just after the junction. [9]
The area to the west of the junction was once heathland and rough pasture which was part of the Royal Forest of Cannock. Most of it was destroyed by tipping colliery waste on it, and then using it as a rubbish dump in the 1950s, but parts have since been reclaimed. The section immediately west of the junction is all that remains of Clayhanger Common, but it consists of marshy acidic grassland, which has enabled willow and birch trees as well as heather to colonise it. The Common is now a designated Site of Importance for Nature Conservation. [10]
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
Bromford Junction is a canal junction at the foot of the Spon Lane Locks where the Spon Lane Locks Branch meets the BCN New Main Line near Oldbury in the West Midlands, England.
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.
