Tame Valley Canal
The Tame Valley Canal connects the Walsall Canal at Doe Bank Junction in
Tipton to the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal and the Birmingham and
Warwick Canal at Salford Junction in north Birmingham.
The Tame Valley Canal was cut in 1840-44; it is 8.5 miles long; 4.5 miles are in Birmingham.
There are 13 locks, divided into three flights: the Perry Barr Top Flight (1-7), the Perry Barr Bottom Flight (8-11) and the Witton Flight (12 & 13).
All three flights are in Birmingham; they adjust the level by 105 feet so that the canal may descend from Walsall to Salford Junction.
If you were to travel along the Tame Valley Canal, north-westwards through Birmingham, from Salford Junction to Newton Road, you would pass the following landmarks:
Salford Junction lies alongside Spaghetti Junction and beneath the M6. It is a double canal junction at which the Tame Valley Canal and the Birmingham and Warwick Junction Canal join the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal.
The River Rea and the Aston Brook also converge with the River Tame at Salford Junction.
Links: Canals Guide Salford
From Salford Junction, the canal runs north-westwards beneath Spaghetti Junction and the cross-city railway; it then continues through Witton on the south side of the M6 where it travels under Deykin Avenue and Brookvale Road.
The two locks of the Witton Flight (12 & 13) are on either side of Deykin Avenue.
After passing under Brookvale Road, the canal crosses beneath the M6, switching from the south to the north side; it then runs through the Holdford industrial estate, skirts the Moor Lane playing fields and arrives at College Road (A453).
A 15 year-old girl was dragged off Brookvale Road and sexually assaulted on the canal towpath on 9/12/09 ((News Archive 28/12/09)
Links: Canals Guide Witton
The canal passes under this bridge (circa 1932) at College Road. The bottom lock (11) of the Perry Barr Bottom Flight (8-11) is roughly 100 metres east of the bridge; lock 10 is next to the bridge, on the east side.
Links: Canals Guide Perry Barr
The canal passes this wharf near College Road Bridge. The two sides of the wharf are linked by a Victorian cast-iron bridge (1855) manufactured by the Horseley Ironworks.
Links: Canals Guide Perry Barr
After passing under College Road, the Tame Valley Canal continues in a north-westerly direction before reaching this bridge on Aldridge Road.
Lock 9 of the Perry Barr Bottom Flight (8-11) is 100 metres east of Aldridge Road and the top lock (8) is next to the bridge.
Links: Canals Guide Perry Barr
After Aldridge Road, the canal crosses under the M6 for a second time before arriving at Perry Park.
Links: Canals Guide Perry Barr
The Tame Valley Canal runs along the northern side of Perry Park, next to the Alexander Stadium and the Perry Reservoir which feeds water into the canal. The Perry Barr Top Flight (locks 1-7) are on this section of the canal.
Links: Canals Guide Perry Barr
This lockkeepers
cottage is next to the Perry Barr Top Lock (1) at the north-west corner
of Perry Park. It is a two storey brick cottage built in 1841-44.
The cottage features a hipped concrete-tile roof, two large ridge stacks, purple brick quoins and a dentilled eaves cornice. All the windows and doors have cambered arches save for one ground-floor canted bay window with a flat roof.
Links: Canals Guide Perry Barr
After passing through the Perry Barr Top lock (1), the canal reaches the Walsall Level and passes beneath this bridge on the Walsall Road (A34).
Links: Canals Guide Perry Barr
The canal then continues in a north-westerly direction, broadly parallel to Dyas Avenue, passing under Freeth Bridge, now a footbridge, in the Tower Hill area of Hamstead.
It is then carried above the Old Walsall Road by the Piercy Aqueduct and above Spouthouse Lane by a second aqueduct before reaching Goose Farm Bridge by Hamstead Wharf.
Here, the canal passes the former site of Hamstead Colliery (1876-1965) (now a housing estate) where a monument commemorates 25 miners and 1 rescuer who died after a pit shaft collapsed in 1908.
Links: Canals Guide Hamstead
After Hamstead, the Tame Valley Canal continues north-westwards and leaves Birmingham after passing under the cast-iron Chimney Bridge (1844) on Green Lane.
Contact Sitemap User Conditions
© 2008-2010 LACT Limited. All rights reserved