Walking the waterways (30) : Droitwich Barge Canal

The Droitwich Barge Canal is a broad canal which links Droitwich Spa to the river Severn at Hawford. The canal links to the Droitwich Junction Canal in Droitwich. The two canals are sometimes together known as the Droitwich Canal.

The Droitwich Barge Canal was opened in 1771, a major cargo being salt (Droitwich having been a source of salt thanks to it's natural brine springs since Roman times). The canal was built as a broad canal able to accommodate Severn trows which could be up to 20m long. The canal was already in a commercial decline by the early 19th century though matters were helped by the opening of the Droitwich Junction Canal in 1854 which linked through to the Worcester & Birmingham Canal. By the early 20th century the canal was making a loss and was abandoned in 1939, though the last cargo boat had used the canal as far back as 1916.

Restoration of the canal began in 1969 though it was until 2009 that the Droitwich Canals were fully navigable again.

Walking the waterways (29) : Rushall Canal

The Rushall Canal is a short (just under four and a half kilometres) but important canal in Walsall which links the Tame Valley and Wyrley & Essington Canals. The canal was built in 1847 to take coal from the Cannock mines to Birmingham via the above mentioned canals and also to provide a water source for the busy Tame Valley Canal. 

The canal is a fairly straight narrow canal with nine locks. Despite being an important industrial link the canal passes through fairly rural and exposed areas. The first seven locks on the canal were known as the "ganzy seven" (ganzy being a term for a jumper) as boaters needed them to keep warm!

Walking the waterways (28) : Basingstoke Canal

The Basingstoke Canal was built to connect Basingstoke, and surrounding areas, with the river Thames via the Wey Navigation passing through Hampshire and Surrey including places like Woking and Aldershot. Construction began in 1788 and completed in 1794. However, the canal was not a financial success even though it carried trade such as timber from Basingstoke. Even by the mid-19th century parts of the canal were falling into disuse. Commercial traffic ended in 1910.

By 1913 the canal was no longer fully navigable. However, during the First World War it was used by the government to transport supplies from London. After the war the canal was used for some pleasure cruising but by the 1960s the canal was essentially derelict. Volunteers have restored much of the canal though ironically the canal does no longer reach Basingstoke due to a collapsed tunnel. The last eight kilometres of canal from Greywell Tunnel to Basingstoke is now unlikely to ever be restored any time soon.

Walking the waterways (27) : Gloucester and Sharpness Canal

The Gloucester & Sharpness Canal links to the river Severn at Gloucester and acts as a shortcut to the Severn before it rejoins the river 26.5km away at Sharpness. Work began on the canal in 1793 though the project ran into financial difficulties in the early 1800s with work stopping for some time. Finally, with funding secured from a variety of sources, the canal was completed and opened in 1827. The canal was, at the time, the broadest and deepest in the world.

The canal was a success, carrying over a million tons of cargo in 1905. Commercial traffic continued on the canal until mostly petering out by the 1980s, the oil trade being a major source of income during much of the 20th century. Now the major source of traffic on the canal is leisure of course.

Walking the waterways (26) : Macclesfield Canal

The Macclesfield Canal is a forty two kilometres long canal in East Cheshire. The canal connects to the Peak Forest Canal at Marple Junction then heads more or less South to the Trent & Mersey Canal at Kidsgrove, passing through Macclesfield on the way. The canal was opened in 1831 following decades of planning and consultation. 

The canal, facing competition from the railways, ended up being bought by the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway in 1846. It remained financially viable for many years, commercial traffic continuing on the canal until 1954. The canal became part of the growing preservation movement in the 1960s, though leisure use of the canal had existed since the 1920s, and the canal is now part of the Cheshire Ring.

Walking the waterways (25) : Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal

The Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal links the river Severn in Stourport with the Trent & Mersey Canal at Great Haywood, passing through Kidderminster on the way which is where the below photographs were taken. The canal stretches for seventy four kilometres. The canal was opened in 1771, James Brindley being the chief engineer. The canal was a commercial success, transporting goods from the Potteries to the South West and also to the Midlands via a link to the Birmingham Main Line at Aldersley.

The opening of the Worcester & Birmingham Canal in 1815 created a more direct route from Birmingham to Bristol and this affected trade on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal. Despite the competition from other canals and the railways the canal remained profitable, though steadily reducing. The canal was nationalised in 1948 though by now traffic was scarce. 

There were plans to close the canal in 1959 but it survived thanks to the efforts of volunteers. In 1969 the canal was reclassified as a cruiseway and preservation and restoration has continued ever since.

Walking the waterways (24) : Rochdale Canal

The Rochdale Canal links Manchester to Sowerby Bridge in Yorkshire, passing through Rochdale. The canal is a wide canal which opened in stages from 1798, the final branch opening in 1834. The canal was successful and became on the major trunk routes for commerce between Lancashire and Yorkshire. Despite competition from the railways the canal reached it's peak in commercial traffic in 1845.

The canal went into decline as with most waterways in the late 19th and 20th centuries though remained profitable until after the First World War. Most of the canal was closed in 1952 and became unusable in the 1960s, including being cut in two by the M62 motorway. Despite attempts to abandon the canal, work to restore it began in the 1970s. It was not until 2002 that the canal was restored for navigation along it's full length.

Walking the waterways (23) : Erewash Canal

The Erewash Canal is a canal which runs in Derbyshire between Langley Mill (where it joins the Nottingham and Cromford Canals) and then flows for nineteen kilometres until it joins the river Trent near Long Eaton. The canal was opened in 1779 and was a commercial success due to heavy coal traffic.

This commercial success kept the canal a going concern despite railway competition. It was taken over by the Grand Union Canal company in 1932 and nationalised in 1947. However, by now the canal was in decline commercially and the last cargo by boat was carried on the canal in 1952. Part of the canal was closed to navigation but remained watered in the early 1960s. The canal was restored to full navigation in 1973.

Trent Lock on the river Trent

Narrowboat near Trent Lock

Water management near the Trent

Boat in Long Eaton

Derby Road Bridge in Langley Mill where the Erewash meets the Cromford Canal

Walking the waterways (22) : Trent & Mersey

The Trent & Mersey Canal links the North West and East Midlands. The canal was intended to link the rivers Trent and Mersey with another link to the Bridgewater Canal. Plans began to be made for the canal in the mid-1700s with support coming from Josiah Wedgwood who wanted the canal to transport his pottery factory wares in Stoke-on-Trent. In 1766 work finally began on the canal, Wedgwood himself cutting the first sod of soil. The canal was completed in 1777.

The canal is still fully navigable from it's junction with the Trent at Derwent Mouth in Derbyshire to the Bridgewater Canal in Cheshire. The Trent & Mersey Canal connects also to the Coventry, Shropshire Union, Macclesfield, Caldon, Staffordshire & Worcestershire and Erewash Canals along it's one hundred and fifty kilometre route.

Building the canal meant overcoming a number of formidable obstacles and the canal includes Harecastle Canal which is over two and a half kilometres long and the Anderton Boat Lift which lowers boats over fifteen metres to the river Weaver.

Alrewas near Lichfield

Fradley Junction

Just North of Stoke

Stoke-on-Trent

Stone

Willington

Walking the waterways (21) : Birmingham Canal Navigations New Main Line

The Main Line of the Birmingham Canal Navigations is from Birmingham to Wolverhampton. The original canal was built in the 1770s but later regarded as too indirect and complicated with various arms and diversions. Smethwick summit with it's lock flights was a major bottleneck for traffic.

On the advice and direction of Thomas Telford the New Main Line was built in the late 1820s. This was a much more direct route that cut across the various loops of the old main line. The Smethwick summit was also bypassed by creating a cutting, later known as the Galton Valley. The New Main Line was completed in 1824 with the route distance between Wolverhampton and Birmingham cut dramatically and much of the new canal wide with dual towpaths. A major problem with the old canal had been the awkwardness of multiple canal boats with their horses on a congested towpath.

The New Main Line (and surviving bits of the old one) survives today. Galton Valley has ironically been partially filled in to allow for a road. New tunnels were built in the 1970s.

The New Main Line stretches from the centre of Birmingham where it connects to the Birmingham & Fazeley and Worcester & Birmingham Canals to Wolverhampton and a junction with the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal.

Bridge over the Main Line

A loop near Birmingham

Asylum bridge on the Soho Loop

On the approach to Birmingham centre

Near Gas St and the terminus of the Main Line

Galton Tunnel

Walking the waterways (20) : Stroudwater Navigation

The Stroudwater Canal linked Stroud to the River Severn. The canal was opened in 1779 and ran for thirteen kilometres from Stroud to connect to the Severn at Framilode in Gloucestershire. The Stroudwater Navigation tracks the river Frome, a tributary of the Severn, which had been long desired to be made navigable up to Stroud.

The major cargo of the Stroudwater Navigation was coal and the canal was very profitable especially when the Thames & Severn Canal was opened ten years later - this created a route from London to Bristol (and beyond). However the opening of the Kennet & Avon Canal in 1810 provided a more direct route cutting traffic on the Stroudwater. The coming railways also cut into the Stroudwater Navigation's profitability however it did continue to provide a dividend to shareholders until 1922 but then entered a period of terminal decline.

The canal finally closed in 1952 and much of it became unnavigable. However in recent years there have been numerous projects to restore the canal and it is now navigable from Stroud to Stonehouse. The eventual aim is to restore the entirety of the Stroudwater Navigation.