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Wast Hill - Edgbaston via Kings Norton, Bournville and Selly Oak |
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Overview |
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The Birmingham & Worcester Canal was cut between 1792 and 1815.
It is 30 miles long and connects the River Severn at Worcester
to Gas Street Basin in Birmingham. A seven mile section of the
canal, between Wast Hill Tunnel in Kings Norton and Gas Street
Basin, runs through Birmingham. |
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Map of the Birmingham and Worcester Canal
(Top) |
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or go to our map page for the
Birmingham and Worcester Canal
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This map only shows the route of the Birmingham and Worcester
Canal through Birmingham and not beyond to Worcester. |
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Wast Hill Tunnel
(Top) |
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The Birmingham and Worcester Canal enters Birmingham through Wast Hill
Tunnel which carries the canal beneath a hilly ridge from rural
Worcestershire to Primrose Hill in the Three Estates area of Kings
Norton.
The tunnel, which was completed in 1797, is 1.5 miles long and the
12th longest in the UK. It contains several ventilation shafts drilled
through the surrounding landscape which has been distorted by excavation
mounds.
The northern portal at Primrose Hill features an elliptical brick
wall with a voussoir arch and keystone beneath a stone band and tablet.
The tablet contains a badly-weathered, and now illegible, inscription. |
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Wharf Road and the Navigation Inn
(Top) |
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Heading northwards from Wast Hill Tunnel, the canal continues for around
500 metres before passing beneath Wharf Road.
The Navigation Inn is barely 100 metres from the bridge that carries
Wharf Road above the canal. |
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Kings Norton Junction
(Top) |
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From Wharf Road, the canal continues northwards reaching Kings Norton
Junction after barely 500 metres.
Kings Norton Junction connects the Birmingham and Worcester Canal and
the Birmingham and Stratford Canal. It features a brick roving bridge
(1800) with stone-coped parapets that enabled barge horses to cross from
one towpath to another. |
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Kings Norton Tollhouse
(Top) |
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This tollhouse at Kings Norton Junction was built in brick with stone
dressings in 1802. The main entrance, on the Birmingham and Worcester
Canal, possesses a Doric column entablature.
A reproduction of a freight charge notice (1793) is attached to the
wall of the tollhouse. The charge for lime was one halfpenny per ton per mile
and for finished goods, one penny and three farthings per ton per mile. |
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Lifford Reservoir
(Top) |
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 Heading northwards from Kings Norton Junction, the canal
passes under Lifford Lane and skirts the western side of Lifford Reservoir.
Lifford Reservoir was dug by the Birmingham and Worcester Canal
Company in 1815 in order to compensate Lifford Mill which had been
powered by the River Rea until large volumes of water began to drain
into the canal.
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Camp Hill Viaduct and Wharfside Leisure Complex
(Top) |
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From Lifford Reservoir, the canal turns north-westwards and passes
beneath the Camp Hill Railway Viaduct before arriving at the Wharfside
Leisure Complex which contains a bar, live music venue and adventure
playground. |
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Bournville Chocolate Factory
(Top) |
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Heading northwards from the Wharfside Leisure Complex, the canal passes
under the A441 Pershore Road before reaching Bournville.
At Bournville, the route runs alongside the Cross City Railway,
passing Bournville Railway Station and the Cadbury chocolate factory.
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Bournville Lane to Selly Oak Railway Station
(Top) |
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From Cadbury's, the canal continues northwards on the east side of the
Cross City Railway passing under Bournville Lane and then Raddlebarn
Lane by Selly Oak Hospital.
The canal then travels under a viaduct, switching from the east to the west
side of the Cross City Line, before passing Selly Wharf and Selly Oak
Railway Station.
A man suffered suspected spinal injuries after falling into this stretch
of the canal at roughly 8pm on Thursday 24/06/10
(News Archive 25/06/10). |
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Bristol Road and Selly Oak Junction
(Top) |
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From Selly Oak Railway Station, the canal travels beneath the A38
Bristol Road and through the former site of the Battery Works which is
now a retail park with a Sainsbury's superstore. The Battery Works was
once the location of the now-defunct Selly
Oak Junction which connected the Birmingham and Worcester Canal to the
Lapal Canal.
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Lapal Canal
(Top) |
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 The Lapal Canal (aka
Dudley Number 2 Canal) connected the Dudley Canal at Netherton to the Birmingham and Worcester Canal at Selly Oak.
The eleven
mile route, which was completed in 1798, had to negotiate an elevated
plateau at Woodgate and rather than install locks, the engineers drilled
a 2.2-mile tunnel: the fourth longest in the UK.
This tunnel was structurally unsound and continually collapsed until
the canal closed in 1917. Parts of the backfilled waterway are still
visible in Selly Oak Park. |
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University of Birmingham
(Top) |
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Heading
north-eastwards from Battery Retail Park, the canal crosses beneath the
Cross City Railway and continues on the eastern side of the line,
skirting the Edgbaston campus of Birmingham University before
reaching University Station by
the new QE Super HospitalFrom there, the route continues in a
north-easterly direction beneath Pritchatts Road through Birmingham
Research Park and then under Somerset Road and alongside the western
perimeter of the Vale Student Village. |
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Edgbaston Tunnels
(Top) |
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From the Vale Student Village, the canal runs in a north-easterly
direction alongside the Cross City Railway, passing through the 96-metre
Edgbaston Tunnel which carries it beneath Church Road and into the
Calthorpe area of Edgbaston.
The Edgbaston Tunnel has two portals: one for the railway and one for the
canal. The canal tunnel, which has a towpath with a handrail and sodium
lights, is notorious for its eerie echoes and winter icicles. |
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