The Birmingham and Warwick Canal became part of the Grand Union Mainline in the 1930's. The Mainline, which is 114.5 miles long, connects the Thames at Brentford in London to the Warwick Bar in Birmingham.

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This map only shows the route of the Birmingham and Warwick Canal through Birmingham and not beyond to Warwick.

The Birmingham and Warwick Canal enters Birmingham beneath this bridge on Woodcock Lane in the Stockfield area of Acocks Green.

This section of the canal is screened from suburban development by wooded banks.

From Woodcock Lane, the canal continues in a north-westerly direction passing through a tree-lined corridor flanked by Oak Meadow, the Clay Lane Allotments, Yardley Cemetery and more housing developments.

After roughly 1200 metres, it reaches this bridge on the B4146 Yardley Road and then, after a further 250 metres, travels beneath the A4040 Stockfield Road and into Tyseley.

Continuing north-westwards through Tyseley, the canal passes a belt of industrial estates running roughly parallel to Amington Road and Speedwell Road on its northern side and Wharfdale Road and Redfern Road to the south.

Landmarks in Tyseley include the Waste to Energy Plant which annually converts 350,000 tons of incinerated waste into sufficient electricity to power 25,000 homes.

At night, the plant is illuminated by an award-winning lighting scheme.

Upon arriving at the Ackers Adventure Park, the canal travels through 70 acres of parkland that was once a test area for the former BSA munitions factory.

The park contains ski and toboggan slopes, orienteering and obstacle courses, climbing and abseiling walls. The canal is used for canoeing and kayaking.

From Ackers Adventure Park, the canal continues north-westwards, roughly parallel to the A45 Small Heath Highway and Leamington-Worcester Railway.

The former site of the BSA Works, now an industrial estate, runs off Armoury Road to the south. 

Heading westwards from the Armoury Road Industrial Estate, the canal passes beneath this bridge on Golden Hillock Road by the former BSA Wharf.

The wharf is barely 200 metres from the Birmingham Hotel and Small Heath Railway Station.

It then continues alongside the A45 and Leamington-Worcester Railway past Corporation Wharf, Montgomery Street Wharf and the old coal sidings before arriving at Small Heath Bridge.

Continuing in a north-westerly direction past Small Heath Bridge, the canal reaches the Sampson Road Wharf.

The wharf is barely 200 metres from Farm Park and the former ancestral home of the Lloyd banking dynasty. From there, the route passes through Camp Hill Top Lock and beneath a viaduct that carries the Camp Hill Freight Line above the canal.

The Camp Hill Top Lock is the first of a flight of six locks (numbers 52-57) that adjust the level of the canal by 11 metres so that it may descend from Camp Hill to Bordesley Junction.

From there, the canal passes through lock 54 (the 3rd of Camp Hill Flight), passes beneath the A4540 Bordesley Middleway and then continues roughly 50 metres before reaching lock 55 (the 4th of the Camp Hill Flight) beneath the Coventry Road.

Form the Coventry Road, the canal continues in a north-westerly direction through lock 56 (the 5th of the Camp Hill Freight) before arriving at Adderley Road and Camp Hill Bottom Lock (57).

Bordesley Junction is on the north side of Adderley Road. The junction, which features a cast-iron elliptical arch roving bridge (1840), connects the Birmingham and Warwick Canal to the Birmingham and Warwick Junction Branch Canal.

Barges may continue westwards through Digbeth to the Warwick Bar on the Birmingham and Warwick Canal or may turn northwards through Small Heath to Salford Junction on the Birmingham and Warwick Junction Branch Canal.

Heading north-westwards from Great Barr Street, the route passes the Bond Icehouse, crosses an aqueduct above the River Rea and continues past the Fellows Morton and Clayton building before terminating at the Warwick Bar in Eastside.

The Warwick Bar, which divides the Birmingham and Warwick Canal from the Digbeth Branch Canal, prevented water transference. A stop lock enables barges to pass in either direction. The canopy of the former Geest Banana Warehouse (1840) overhangs the bar.