Birmingham & Fazeley Canal
The Birmingham & Fazeley Canal connects the Old Turn at Brindleyplace in the Convention Quarter to the Coventry Canal at Fazeley Junction near Tamworth. The Coventry Canal provides a link to the Trent and Mersey via Fradley Junction and to the Thames via Hawkesbury Junction.
The Birmingham and Fazeley Canal was cut in 1784-89. It is 15 miles long. 8 miles of the canal and 27 of its 38 locks are in Birmingham.
The Birmingham locks are divided into three flights: the Farmers Bridge Flight of 13 in the Jewellery Quarter; the Aston Flight of 11 and the Minworth Flight of 3.
These locks negotiate a difference in altitude of 50.5 metres between the Birmingham Level and the Minworth Level. In order to reach Minworth, the canal must descend 25 metres through the Farmers Bridge Flight, 21 metres through the Aston Flight and 4.5 metres through the Minworth flight.
The Birmingham and Fazeley Canal shares junctions with (1) the Birmingham and Wolverhampton Canal at the Old Turn in the Convention Quarter; (2) the Digbeth Branch Canal at Aston Junction in Eastside and (3) the Tame Valley Canal and the Birmingham & Warwick Junction Canal at Salford Junction.
If you were to travel north-eastwards along the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal from the Old Turn in the Convention Quarter to Wiggins Hill in Minworth, you would pass the following landmarks:
The Birmingham and Fazeley Canal joins the Birmingham and Wolverhampton Canal at the Old Turn Junction.
The junction is overlooked by the National Indoor Arena which stands on the western side of the entrance to the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal and the Malthouse Pub, with its distinctive conical tower, which stands on the opposite eastern side. These buildings are connected by a replica 18th century cast-iron footbridge.
The National Sealife Centre at Waters Edge on the Birmingham and Wolverhampton Canal faces the entrance to the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal.
A circular island was installed in the middle of the junction in 1940. This enabled the construction of temporary dams which would have prevented flooding had the junction been bombed.
Links: Guide Convention Quarter Canals
The Cambrian Wharf is a basin on the Birmingham and Fazeley canal, barely 200 metres north of the Old Turn.
The wharf, which is entered directly from the canal, is now a mooring for houseboats. It is equipped with showers, toilets, water points, waste disposal and elsan points.
Links: Guide Convention Quarter Canals
The
Farmers Bridge Locks begin at the Cambrian Wharf. They are a flight of thirteen locks that adjust the level by around 25 metres so that the canal can descend from the Old Turn in the Convention Quarter to Aston Junction in Gosta Green.The first four locks (1-4) are between the Cambrian Wharf and Sandpits Parade (A457). This section of the canal is dominated by the four civic centre residential towers set in parkland behind the Birmingham Rep.
The canal then runs beneath Sandpits Parade and enters the Jewellery Quarter where it passes through locks 5-8. The industrial buildings that once crowded the banks along this section of the canal have been replaced by apartments; a cable-stay footbridge links the towpath to Fleet Street.
Lock 9 is beneath Newhall Street, lock 10 beneath Brindley House, next to the BT Tower, and lock 11 is beneath Ludgate Hill Bridge.
Lock 12 is next to the viaduct that carries the Worcester Line into Snow Hill Station and Lock 13 drops the canal beneath a disused factory and the A41.
Links: Jewellery Quarter Canals
This cable-stay footbridge is next to lock 6 of the Farmers Bridge Flight in the Jewellery Quarter. It links the towpath to Fleet Street. Unlike a conventional suspension bridge, a cable-stay is generally asymmetrical since there is only one tower.
Links: Jewellery Quarter Canals
Lock 9 of the Farmers Bridge Flight is in this tunnel beneath Newhall Street.
Links: Jewellery Quarter Canals
Lock 10 is beneath Brindley House (circa 1970): a former office block converted into 182 apartments. This building, which faces Newhall Street, was constructed on stilts. It contains 18 floors and is 65 metres high. There are retail units on the ground floor.
Links: Jewellery Quarter Canals
Lock 13 of the Farmers Bridge Flight drops the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal beneath this disused factory on Old Snow Hill (A41).
Links: Jewellery Quarter Canals
After
leaving the Jewellery Quarter at Old Snow Hill, the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal continues through the Gun Quarter and passes beneath Barker Bridge (1842) on Lower Loveday Street.Links: Guide Gun Quarter Canals
It then runs through Newtown, passing beneath this bridge at Newtown Row.
Links: Guide Newtown Canals
After leaving Newtown, the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal passes under the Aston Expressway (A38M) before arriving at Aston Junction in Eastside.
Aston Junction links the Digbeth Branch Canal to the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal. It features a cast-iron elliptical-arch roving bridge (1825) by the Horseley Ironworks.
Links: Guide Eastside Canals
The Aston Flight of eleven locks (14-24) adjusts the level of the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal by around 21 metres so that it can descend from Aston Junction to Salford Junction.
Heading north-westwards,
Aston top lock (14) and lock 15 are immediately after Aston junction. The canal then passes beneath Dartmouth Middleway (A4540) before reaching locks 16 and 17 by the Campanile Hotel in Aston.Lock 18 is under Richard Street and locks 19, 20, and 21 are between Richard Street and Avenue Road where the canal passes the former glassworks wharf and Aston gas holders.
Lock 22 is alongside the Aston Cross development and former site of Ansells Brewery; lock 23 is by Thimble Lane Bridge and lock 24 is beneath the Holborn Hill viaduct which carries the Cross-City Line into Aston Railway Station.
Links: Guide Aston Canals
Waterlinks Bridge is next to lock 18 (the 5th of the Aston Flight of 11).
Links: Guide Aston Canals
Avenue Road Bridge is between locks 21 and 22 (the 8th and 9th of the Aston Flight).
Links: Guide Aston Canals
Rocky Lane Bridge is next to the Aston Cross development, near lock 22: the 9th of the Aston Flight.
Links: Guide Aston Canals
Thimble Lane Bridge is by lock 23: the tenth and penultimate of the Aston Flight.
Holborn Hill railway viaduct is by lock 24: the bottom lock of the Aston Flight. This viaduct carries the cross-city line into Aston Railway Station.
Links: Guide Aston Canals
After passing through Aston Bottom Lock, the canal continues north-westwards under Cuckoo Road before arriving at Salford Junction.
Links: Guide Aston Canals
The Birmingham and Fazeley Canal is joined by the Tame Valley Canal at Salford Junction and by the Birmingham and Warwick Junction Canal at Nechells Shallow Lock, near Salford Junction.
Salford Junction is beneath the M6, barely 100 metres from Spaghetti Junction. Aston Brook and the River Rea converge with the River Tame at Salford Junction where the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal crosses the River Tame on a seven-arch aqueduct.
Links: Guide Salford Canals
From Salford Junction, the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal runs on the south side of the Tyburn Road (A38), past Saltley Cottages and beneath Erdington Hall Bridge where a factory has been built above the canal.
After Erdington Hall Bridge, the canal continues on the south side of the Tyburn Road (A38), and passes beneath this bridge at Wood Lane.
After Wood Lane, the canal travels under this bridge on Holly Lane before crossing the Kingsbury Road, near the Showcase Cinema, and continuing on the north side of the A38, past Ravenside Retail Park and the Jaguar car plant.
The Minworth Flight (25-27) adjust the level by 4.5 metres so that the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal can descend from Salford Junction to the Warwickshire Plain.
After passing the Jaguar Car Plant, the canal crosses beneath Chester Road (A452) and reaches Minworth Top Lock (25) in Castle Vale.
Lock 26 (Minworth Middle Lock) is 200 hundred metres further east; it is separated from the Plantsbrook Nature Reserve by a narrow strip of industrial estate.
From here, the canal continues eastwards for one mile, crossing beneath the A38 before arriving at Minworth Bottom Lock (27).
A dead body was found in this section of the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal on 5 December 2009 (News Archive 5/12/09)
Links: Castle Vale Minworth Canals
This is Minworth Top Lock (25) at Castle Vale. Minworth Middle Lock (26) is 200 yards east.
Links: Castle Vale Canals
After Minworth Middle Lock (26), the canal passes beneath Sutton Park Railway Viaduct and the Kingsbury Road Bridge before arriving at Minworth Bottom Lock (27).
Links: Castle Vale Canals
After it passes through Minworth Bottom Lock (27), the canal travels beneath the Kingsbury Road yet again (this time as the A4097) before arriving at Minworth Green.
This brick-arch bridge is next to the Hare and Hounds at Minworth Green. It was built when the canal was cut in the 1790's.
After Minworth Green, the canal passes the Midpoint Business Park and Minworth Sewage Farm before crossing the city boundary by Wiggins Hill.
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