Birmingham and Fazeley Canal

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Birmingham and Fazeley Canal
location Central England, Midlands
length approx. 24 km
Descent structures 38
Outstanding structures Curdworth tunnel

The Birmingham and Fazeley Canal is a narrowboat canal in the West Midlands region of England. It was planned and built as a link between the canal system of Birmingham and thus the early industrial area known as the Black Country and the south-west of England, i.e. London. It was connected to the existing Coventry Canal . Inland vessels, the so-called narrowboats , ultimately reached London via the Oxford Canal and the Thames . Their cargo consisted mainly of coal, manufactured goods and agricultural raw materials.

history

The canal was authorized by a parliamentary act in 1784. Two years earlier, the private canal company concluded an agreement with the Oxford Canal Company to complete the canal route between Birmingham and Oxford on the Thames. Another agreement was signed with the Coventry Canal Company that their canal would be extended from Atherstone to Fazeley . When the Coventry Canal Company finally got into economic difficulties, the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal Company undertook to build their canal beyond Fazeley to Whittington and connect there to the Coventry Canal to ultimately connect to the Birmingham - London inland waterway to complete.

John Smeaton was the canal construction engineer in charge. It reached completion in 1790 with all connections to the connected canals. The advantages of the cooperation with the other canal companies quickly paid off with a high volume of freight on the Birmingham-London route, and the high volume of traffic even led to congestion in the lock relays in Birmingham. The problem could only be solved around 50 years later by opening an alternative route.

route

The canal begins on BCN Main Line at the Old Turn Junction near the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham and ends at the Fazeley Junction and Coventry Canal at Tamworth . It is 24 km in length and has 38 locks. The 8.8 km long section to Whittington (see above) behind Fazeley Junction is technically still a section of the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, although it should belong to the Coventry Canal Society due to the Parliamentary Act of 1784 and is now known as Coventry Channel is called.

The Birmingham and Fazeley Canal is part of the Warwickshire Ring .

Photo gallery

  • Section of the Farmers Bridge Locks relay with the Post Office Tower in the background

  • Lock number 9 below Newhall Street in Birmingham. There is a lock gate on both sides of the street.

  • The Drayton Swing Bridge

  • The terminus of the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal under Watling Street Bridge at Fazeley

  • The quirky footbridge at Drayton Bassett , near Fazeley Junction

swell

  • Hugh McKnight: The Shell Book of Inland Waterways . 2nd Edition. David & Charles PLC, 1981, ISBN 978-0-7153-8239-4 .
  • Michael Pearson [1989]: Canal Companion - Birmingham Canal Navigational . JM Pearson & Associates ,, ISBN 0-907864-49-X .