Thursday 12 April 2018

Scarfields Dingle Aqueduct

Canal and river Aqueducts come in a variety of sizes, for example the substantial M5 Aqueduct that takes the Tame Valley Canal over the M5 Motorway or the 145m long Edstone aqueduct that takes the Stratford Canal over railway lines.

A rather more modest aqueduct is the Scarfields Dingle Aqueduct near Alvechurch in Worcestershire. The aqueduct has no apparent road or stream it allows under the canal these days, there is a rather low walkway and that is it.

In fact the aqueduct was built for a once well-used track between Alvechurch and Droitwich. The track was built for the salt trade and existed from before the Domesday Book, which lists Alvechurch having a number of salt houses supplied by salt from the saline springs at Droitwich. The track was known as Cobley Lane (the aqueduct is sometimes known as Cobley Lane Aqueduct). More about Cobley Lane can be seen here.