Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal

The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal is a navigable narrow canal in Staffordshire and Worcestershire in the English Midlands. It is 46 miles (74 km) long, linking the River Severn at Stourport in Worcestershire with the Trent and Mersey Canal at Haywood Junction by Great Haywood.

Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal
Kidderminster Lock on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal
Specifications
Length46 miles (74 km)
Maximum boat length70 ft 0 in (21.34 m)
Maximum boat beam7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
Locks43
Navigation authorityCanal and River Trust
History
Principal engineerJames Brindley
Date of act14 May 1766
Date of first use1772
Date completed1771
Geography
Start pointRiver Severn
End pointTrent and Mersey Canal
Staffordshire and Worcestershire
Canal
Great Haywood Jn
Trent and Mersey Canal
River Trent aqueduct
43
Tixall Lock
River Sow aqueduct
Baswich Lock and weir
River Sow Navigation
Stafford wharf
Railway bridge
98
 A34  Radford Bridge
Hazlestrine Branch
40-42
locks (3)
 M6 
39
Longford Lock
38
Penkridge Lock
37
Filance Lock, Penkridge
33-36
locks (4)
79
 A5  Gailey Bridge
32
Gailey Top Lock
Hatherton Branch
(feeder)
Railway bridge
Coven Village
70
 A449  Brinsford Bridge
 M54 
Autherley Jn
Railway bridge
Aldersley Jn
Dunstall Water Bridge
62
 A41  Tettenhall New Bridge
Summit pound
(10 miles)
31
Compton Lock
59
 A454  Compton Bridge
29-30
Wightwick locks (2)
The Pool resr. and feeder
27-28
Dimmingdale + Ebstree locks (2)
26
Awbridge Lock
23-25
Bratch locks (3)
22
Bumblehole Lock, Wombourne
20-21
Botterham staircase locks (2)
17-19
Marsh/Swindon/Hinksford locks (3)
16
Greenforge Lock
Ashwood marina
+ former Earl of Dudley's Railway
15
Rocky Lock
14
Gothersley Lock
Stourton Jn
13
Stewponey Lock
31A
 A458  Stewponey New Bridge
Dunsley Tunnel (25 yd)
12
Hyde Lock
11
Kinver Lock, Dunsley
10
Whittington Lock
Cookley Tunnel (65 yd)
9
Debdale Lock
8
Wolverley Lock
7
Wolverley Court Lock
River Stour aqueduct
6
Kidderminster Lock
16
 A456  St Marys Ringway
13
 A442  Round Hill bridge
5
Caldwall Lock
Severn Valley Railway
4
Falling Sands Lock
lock to River Stour
Wilden Ironworks
Railway Basin
railway bridge
6
 A451  Gilgal bridge
5
 A451  Lower Mitton bridge
3
York Street Lock, Stourport
Stourport basins
2
Narrow staircase + broad lock
Stourport basins
1
Narrow staircase + broad lock
River Severn

History edit

Creation edit

James Brindley[1] was the chief engineer of the canal, which was part of his "Grand Cross" plan for waterways connecting the major ports at Hull (via the Trent), Liverpool (via the Mersey), Bristol (via the Severn) and London (via the Thames).

Severn and Trent Canal Act 1766
Act of Parliament
 
Long titleAn Act for making and maintaining a Navigable Cut, or Canal, from the River Severn, between Bewdley and Titton Brook in the County of Worcester, to cross the River Trent, at or near Heywood Mill in the County of Stafford, and to communicate with a Canal intended to be made between the said River Trent and the River Mersey.
Citation6 Geo. 3. c. 97
Dates
Royal assent14 May 1766

The Act of Parliament (6 Geo. 3. c. 97) authorising the canal was passed on 14 May 1766. This created "The Company of Proprietors of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Navigation", which was empowered to raise an initial £70,000 (equivalent to £10,360,000 in 2021),[2], with a further £30,000 (equivalent to £4,440,000 in 2021),[2] if needed, to fund the canal's construction.[3]

The canal was completed in 1771 for a cost that exceeded the authorised capital, and opened to trade in 1772. It was a commercial success, with trade from the Staffordshire Potteries southwards to Gloucester and Bristol, and trade from the Black Country northwards to the Potteries via the junction with the Birmingham Canal at Aldersley.[1]

Development edit

Severn Navigation Act 1790
Act of Parliament
 
Long titleAn Act to enable the Company of Proprietors of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Navigation to improve the Navigation of the River Severn from Stourport, in the County of Worcester, to a Place called Diglis, near the City of Worcester.
Citation30 Geo. 3. c. 75
Dates
Royal assent9 June 1790

The company obtained a second Act of Parliament (30 Geo. 3. c. 75) on 9 June 1790, authorising it to raise another £12,000 (equivalent to £1,530,000 in 2021),[2] to improve the River Severn immediately below Stourport as far as Diglis, to improve navigation to and from the canal.[3] At Stourport there were four basins, linked by broad locks, that allowed broad-beamed Severn trows to enter them from the river. Goods could then be trans-shipped from the canal narrow boats to the trows for onward shipment to Bristol.[1]

Competition edit

Trade declined when the newer Worcester and Birmingham Canal was opened in 1815, providing a more direct route between Birmingham and Bristol. To remain competitive, the company increased the hours when locks could be used, and by 1830 they were available 24 hours a day. Another setback occurred when the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal opened its new route to Chester and Merseyside, meeting the canal at Autherley Junction. This took much of the traffic from the section to Great Haywood. Faced with a high volume of trade using the 12-mile (800 m) stretch between Aldersley and Autherley Junctions, the company levied very high tolls.[1]

In order to resolve the situation the Birmingham Canal Company and the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Company jointly promoted an Act of Parliament to authorise a short canal that would have left the Birmingham Canal at a higher level than the junction, crossed the Staffordshire and Worcestershire by an aqueduct, and then dropped down by a series of locks to join the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal north of Autherley junction. The canal company decided to reduce its tolls rather than lose the trade altogether. Further concessions were obtained by the other two canal companies by threats to resurrect the plans on two subsequent occasions.[1]

Decline edit

Despite the competition, and later competition from the railways, the canal company paid dividends to its shareholders until nationalisation,[4] although profits fell steadily from the 1860s. It remained independent until the Transport Act 1947 nationalised Britain's canals on 1 January 1948.[1] In its latter years the major trade was in coal from Cannock to a power station at Stourport. The power station closed in 1949, and after that, the only commercial traffic was on the stretch between Autherley and Aldersley Junctions.[5]

Restoration edit

In 1959 the British Transport Commission planned to close the canal but it was saved by a volunteer group, the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Society. In 1968 the canal was reclassified as a cruiseway, and the following year all of it was declared a Conservation Area. This has resulted in historical buildings and structures being retained and improved sympathetically.[5]

Course edit

A strategic link edit

The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal links two of southern Britain's largest river catchments:

The canal was a major north–south route for the west of England, linking other canals to create a network running:

The canal essentially follows river valleys, shadowing the course of tributaries, to break through the watershed between the Trent and Severn north-west of Wolverhampton, at the Aldersley Gap, a minor glacial feature turned to advantage by Brindley.

Within the Trent catchment edit

The northern starting point of the canal at Great Haywood, its junction with the Trent and Mersey Canal, is only about 330 yards (300 m) from the confluence of the River Sow with the Trent. The canal runs west through Tixall Wide and along the Sow valley, closely following the river, to Weeping Cross, on the south east edge of Stafford, the confluence of the River Penk with the Sow. The canal then swings at right angles to the south, taking up the course of the Penk.

It then runs via Acton Trussell and Penkridge to Calf Heath, where it is joined by the now-derelict Hatherton Canal. Continuing south via Coven, it begins to bear away from the Penk, which has its source at Perton, well to the west of the canal. The canal enters north-west Wolverhampton. Here it is joined, in rapid succession, by the Shropshire Union Canal at Autherley Junction and the BCN Main Line at Aldersley Junction.

Within the Severn catchment edit

South of Aldersley, the canal begins to shadow the River Smestow, part of the Severn catchment. The Smestow actually crosses the canal via the Dunstall Water Bridge, a small aqueduct planned by Brindley to preserve the flow of the river, before dropping into the valley and running alongside it. Skirting Wolverhampton between the steep hillsides of Compton and Tettenhall, through the Smestow Valley Local Nature Reserve, the canal reaches Wightwick. Here it bears south, cutting across a wide bend in the course of the Smestow. Descending sharply through the impressive Bratch locks, the canal rejoins the River Smestow just south of Wombourne. From here it follows the river very closely to its confluence with the Stour near Prestwood.

The confluence of Smestow and Stour is paralleled closely by the junction of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire with the Stourbridge Canal, which descends through the Stour valley to Stourton. Southward from this point, the canal is cut through very steep sandstone banks and passes through a tunnel at Dunsley all the way closely following the river while slicing across its many meanders. Running through Kinver, Caunsall, Cookley and Wolverley, it serves a series of wharves in the old industrial town of Kidderminster. Finally it reaches its end in a complex of wharves and basins in the canal town of Stourport-on-Severn, where it descends steeply to the river through two sets of locks.

Map edit

 
Map of the canal and connecting waterways (zoom in for detail)

Gallery edit

Linked canals edit

The canal is linked (in order, from the Severn) to:

The canal today forms part of the Stourport Ring, which is one of the popular cruising rings for leisure boating. It is also part of the Four Counties Ring.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f Nicholson Waterways Guide. Vol. 2. London: HarperCollins Publishing. 2006. p. not cited. ISBN 0-00-721110-4.
  2. ^ a b c UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  3. ^ a b Priestley, Joseph (1831). Priestley's Navigable Rivers and Canals. p. not cited.
  4. ^ C. Hadfield, Canals of the West Midlands 1969 edn), 277 281.
  5. ^ a b "History of the Canal". Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal Society. Archived from the original on 14 August 2010. Retrieved 11 August 2010.

Further reading edit

  • Langford, J Ian (1974). Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. Towpath Guide. Vol. 1. Cambridge: Goose & Son. ISBN 0-900404-22-1.

External links edit

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