Worcester and Birmingham Canal
Encyclopedia
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
linking Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
and Worcester
Worcester
The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It starts in Worcester, as an 'offshoot' of the River Severn
River Severn
The River Severn is the longest river in Great Britain, at about , but the second longest on the British Isles, behind the River Shannon. It rises at an altitude of on Plynlimon, Ceredigion near Llanidloes, Powys, in the Cambrian Mountains of mid Wales...
(just after the river lock) and ends in Gas Street Basin
Gas Street Basin
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....
in Birmingham. It is 29 miles (46.7 km) long.
There are 58 locks in total on the canal, including the 30 Tardebigge Locks
Tardebigge Locks
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 stretch of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal at Tardebigge, Worcestershire...
, one of the largest lock flights in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. The canal climbs 428 feet (130.5 m) from Worcester to Birmingham.
History
The parliamentary billBill (proposed law)
A bill is a proposed law under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an act or a statute....
permitting its construction was passed in 1791 empowering the company to raise £180,000 (£ as of ), through 1,800 shares at a cost of £100 each. It also allowed them to raise a further £70,000, if needed, amongst themselves or by the mortgage of tolls and rates. The Act also permitted the company to allow landowners on the line to build wharfs and wharfhouse, and if they refuse to, the company are allowed to if needed. A further Act of Parliament
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
authorised the raising of £149,929 amongst themselves or through the creation of new shares. However, the company were unable to raise the full amount of money authorised by the second Act, and so another was passed allowing them to raise £49,680. Another Act was passed to obtain more money in 1808. This Act empowered the company to raise £168,000 through the creation of 4,200 shares at £40 each. A final Act was passed in 1815 after the company had purchased land for reservoirs, which was not permitted in the previous Acts. The Act permitted the company to sell the land and to pay a debt of £29,096 (£ as of ), to the treasurers by September 29, 1815 as well, otherwise it would be taken out of the proceeds raised from selling the land.
The canal was surveyed by Josiah Clowes
Josiah Clowes
Josiah Clowes was a noted civil engineer and canal builder.Clowes was appointed head engineer, surveyor and carpenter to the Thames and Severn Canal in 1783 to assist Robert Whitworth. Clowes became resident engineer and was paid £300 per year. Clowes' work on the canal developed him a reputation...
and John Snape. Its engineers changed often, and included Thomas Cartwright
Thomas Cartwright (architect)
Thomas Cartwright was a 17th century English architect. Cartwright was the architect employed by Sir Robert Clayton, president of the St Thomas' Hospital, to rebuild and the hospital and nearby St Thomas Church on the south bank of the River Thames opposite the Houses of Parliament in London...
, John Woodhouse
John Woodhouse
The Rt Rev John Walker Woodhouse was an Anglican Suffragan Bishop from 1945 until 1953.He was born on 28 January 1884 and educated at Charterhouse and University College, Oxford before embarking on an ecclesiastical career with a curacy at St James, Milton, Portsmouth...
and William Crosley.
Construction of a barge-width (14 ft) canal began in 1792 from the Birmingham end, but progressed slowly. Selly Oak
Selly Oak
Selly Oak is a residential suburban district in south-west Birmingham, England. The suburb is bordered by Bournbrook and Selly Park to the north-east, Edgbaston and Harborne to the north, Weoley Castle and Weoley Hill to the west, and Bournville to the south...
was reached in October 1795 and Kings Norton Junction
Kings Norton Junction
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....
by May 1796, meeting the new Stratford-upon-Avon Canal
Stratford-upon-Avon Canal
The Stratford-upon-Avon Canal is a canal in the south Midlands of England.The canal, which was built between 1793 and 1816, runs for in total, and consists of two sections. The dividing line is at Kingswood Junction, which gives access to the Grand Union Canal...
which had by then reached Hockley Heath
Hockley Heath
Hockley Heath is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, West Midlands, England. The parish is to the south of the West Midlands conurbation, from Birmingham from Solihull and from Stratford on Avon...
. By March 1797 the 2726 yard (2493 m) Wasthill tunnel was open and the canal was trading to Hopwood
Hopwood, Worcestershire
Hopwood is a small settlement in Worcestershire, located south of Birmingham, England on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. The settlement is developed around an inn, where users of the canal would have broken their journey....
. In 1807 the canal reached Tardebigge
Tardebigge
Tardebigge is a village in Worcestershire, England.The village is most famous for the Tardebigge Locks, a flight of 36 canal locks that raise the Worcester and Birmingham Canal over 220 feet over the Lickey Ridge. It lies in the historic county of Worcestershire.-Toponymy:The etymology of the...
without the use of locks. The cost of building 14 feet (4.3 m) locks was too great so the 56 locks down to Worcester were built to the narrow 7 feet (2.1 m) specification, with the final two locks connecting to the Severn in Worcester being 14 feet (4.3 m) to allow river craft access to Diglis Basin.
The final 16 miles (26 km) was opened in December 1815. Plans to construct basins at Lowesmoor and Diglis were carried out eventually.
The Dudley Canal Line No 2 was built through the Lapal Tunnel
Lapal Tunnel
The Lapal Tunnel is a disused canal tunnel on the five mile dry section of the Dudley No. 2 Canal in the West Midlands, England....
to meet the canal at Selly Oak in 1798. After repeated collapses, the tunnel was finally abandoned in 1917 leaving a short stretch navigable between Selly Oak and a brick works at California until 1953, after which it was drained and filled in.
A major user of the canal was the Cadbury chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...
factories at Bournville
Bournville
Bournville is a model village on the south side of Birmingham, England, best known for its connections with the Cadbury family and chocolate – including a dark chocolate bar branded "Bournville". It is also a ward within the council constituency of Selly Oak and home to the Bournville Centre...
and Blackpole, Worcester.
Birmingham terminus
For twenty years direct connection to the Birmingham Canal NavigationsBirmingham Canal Navigations
Birmingham Canal Navigations is a network of navigable canals connecting Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and the eastern part of the Black Country...
(BCN) was prevented by the Worcester Bar, a physical barrier at Gas Street Basin
Gas Street Basin
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....
, Birmingham designed so that the BCN would not lose water to the Worcester and Birmingham. Cargoes had to be laboriously manhandled between boats on either side. In 1815 an Act allowed the creation of a stop lock and the bar was breached. The Worcester and Birmingham raised their water level by six inches to minimise water loss and today the two pairs of lock gates have been removed. There were separate toll offices
Toll point
In the United Kingdom a toll point or toll island is a place on a canal where a fee was collected as boats carrying cargo passed. These were sited at strategic points such as the stop lock at the transition from one canal company to another where water transfer was a concern, or at busy locks where...
either side of the bar for the two canal companies. The bar still exists, with boats moored to both sides of it.
The commercial terminus in Birmingham was Worcester Wharf, a large complex extending from the bar along Bridge Street, Gas Street and Granville Street. Part of it now forms a water front to The Mailbox
The Mailbox
The Mailbox is an upmarket development of offices, designer shops, restaurants, bars and luxury city-centre apartments in the City Centre and on the boundary of the City Centre Core in Birmingham, West Midlands, England. It includes a mini supermarket and three art galleries: the Artlounge, Castle...
shopping and residential complex.
Birmingham West Suburban Railway
After the development of the new Birmingham New Street, a group of local business men noticed the resultant need for additional railway capacity south, through what were the under developed suburbs of south Birmingham and villageVillage
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
s of northern Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
. They therefore proposed development of a new branch railway, following the route of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal south to the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway
Birmingham and Gloucester Railway
The Birmingham and Gloucester Railway is a railway route linking Birmingham to Gloucester in England.It is one of the world's oldest main line railways and includes the famous Lickey Incline, a dead-straight stretch of track running up the 1-in-37 gradient of the Lickey Ridge...
to allow access to their new station at Kings Norton
Kings Norton railway station
Kings Norton railway station serves the Kings Norton and Cotteridge areas of Birmingham, England. It lies on Cross-City Line from Redditch through Birmingham New Street to Lichfield. The station's main entrance is located on Pershore Road South, the A441....
.
Needing finance for construction of the BWSR, the newly formed Midland Railway
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....
became involved in the deal. An eventual agreement was reached with the then loss making canal company, who would be paid a rent for the land, which later became a guarantee of a 1% share dividend. The payments to the canal company and development began in 1873, and the line was running by 1875. Today it forms a large part of the southern section of the Cross-City Line.
Today
The canal is popular for leisure and has a number of narrowboatNarrowboat
A narrowboat or narrow boat is a boat of a distinctive design, made to fit the narrow canals of Great Britain.In the context of British Inland Waterways, "narrow boat" refers to the original working boats built in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries for carrying goods on the narrow canals...
hire centres at Alvechurch, Worcester, Tardebigge, Dunhampstead and Stoke Prior.
The canal forms part of the Stourport Ring
Stourport Ring
The Stourport Ring is a connected series of canals forming a circuit, or canal ring, around Worcestershire, The Black Country and Birmingham in central England...
, which is one of the popular cruising rings for holiday boating.
See also
- Canals of Great Britain
- History of the British canal systemHistory of the British canal systemThe British canal system of water transport played a vital role in the United Kingdom's Industrial Revolution at a time when roads were only just emerging from the medieval mud and long trains of pack horses were the only means of "mass" transit by road of raw materials and finished products The...
- Bittell ReservoirsBittell ReservoirsThe Bittell Reservoirs are located in Worcestershire between Barnt Green to the south and the Birmingham district of Longbridge to the north. They consist of the Upper and Lower reservoir. They were built to feed the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, which was finished in the 1790s, however, the...
- Tardebigge Engine HouseTardebigge Engine HouseTardebigge Engine House is a former canal-pumping engine house at Tardebigge, Worcestershire, England. It is grade II listed.It stands near lock 57 of the Tardebigge Locks on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal and contained a steam powered Newcomen-Watt beam engine, which was removed in 1915...
- Wychall ReservoirWychall ReservoirWychall Reservoir, is a canal compensation reservoir in the Kings Norton district of Birmingham, England.It was built in the early 19th century by the Worcester Canal Company, after mill owners claimed that water was being taken from the River Rea to fill the canal, thereby reducing the working...
