89-754: The Birmingham and Fazeley Canal is a canal of the Birmingham Canal Navigations in the West Midlands of England. Its purpose was to provide a link between the Coventry Canal and Birmingham and thereby connect Birmingham to London via the Oxford Canal . The story of the Birmingham and Fazeley begins in 1770, when the Birmingham Canal Company was seen as having a monopoly. At the time,
178-534: A caisson of water in which boats float while being moved between two levels; and inclined planes where a caisson is hauled up a steep railway. To cross a stream, road or valley (where the delay caused by a flight of locks at either side would be unacceptable) the valley can be spanned by a navigable aqueduct – a famous example in Wales is the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct (now a UNESCO World Heritage Site ) across
267-504: A drainage divide atop a ridge , generally requiring an external water source above the highest elevation . The best-known example of such a canal is the Panama Canal . Many canals have been built at elevations, above valleys and other waterways. Canals with sources of water at a higher level can deliver water to a destination such as a city where water is needed. The Roman Empire 's aqueducts were such water supply canals. The term
356-415: A "cistern", or depressed area just downstream from the fall, to "cushion" the water by providing a deep pool for its kinetic energy to be diffused in. Vertical falls work for drops of up to 1.5 m in height, and for discharge of up to 15 cubic meters per second. The transport capacity of pack animals and carts is limited. A mule can carry an eighth-ton [250 pounds (113 kg)] maximum load over
445-496: A canal has a series of dams and locks that create reservoirs of low speed current flow. These reservoirs are referred to as slack water levels , often just called levels . A canal can be called a navigation canal when it parallels a natural river and shares part of the latter's discharges and drainage basin , and leverages its resources by building dams and locks to increase and lengthen its stretches of slack water levels while staying in its valley . A canal can cut across
534-413: A combination of the three, depending on available water and available path: Smaller transportation canals can carry barges or narrowboats , while ship canals allow seagoing ships to travel to an inland port (e.g., Manchester Ship Canal ), or from one sea or ocean to another (e.g., Caledonian Canal , Panama Canal ). At their simplest, canals consist of a trench filled with water. Depending on
623-558: A decade, until a court case in 1801 gave him only £436 of the claim. Unhappy with the outcome, Pinkerton justified his position, but his remarks about John Houghton, the Company Clerk, were deemed to be libellous, for which he was fined and spent some time in prison. The canal was completed in August 1789. The benefits of the co-operation with the other canal companies were that when all the links were completed in 1790, it immediately generated
712-619: A great deal of freight traffic. This created problems, as the flights of locks at Aston and Farmer's Bridge became congested, and this became worse when the Warwick Canal built a junction onto the Digbeth Branch. The problem was not solved until 1844, when the Birmingham and Warwick Junction Canal to the south east and the Tame Valley Canal to the north west were opened. The name of the Birmingham & Birmingham & Fazeley Canal Company
801-543: A journey measured in days and weeks, though much more for shorter distances and periods with appropriate rest. Besides, carts need roads. Transport over water is much more efficient and cost-effective for large cargoes. The oldest known canals were irrigation canals, built in Mesopotamia c. 4000 BC , in what is now Iraq . The Indus Valley civilization of ancient India ( c. 3000 BC ) had sophisticated irrigation and storage systems developed, including
890-458: A new reinforced concrete bridge and new cottages were erected on the other side of the canal. The bridge over the canal at the junction of Chester Road and Kingsbury Road (Tyburn Bridge) was replaced in 1934. In 1935 Birmingham Council gained powers to stop up the arm of the canal on the north east side of Summer Row for the development of a new civic centre and the widening of Great Charles Street. In 1962 Birmingham Council decided to fill in
979-536: A raised embankment on the south side of the New Main Line to his new Engine Arm branch canal and across an elegant cast iron aqueduct to top up the higher Wolverhampton Level at Smethwick Summit. The reservoir also fed water to the Birmingham Level at the adjacent Icknield Port Loop. The Smethwick Summit was bypassed by 71 ft (22 m) cutting through Lunar Society member, Samuel Galton's land, creating
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#17328453220681068-575: A rather low gradient for its time. The canal is still in use after renovation. In the Middle Ages , water transport was several times cheaper and faster than transport overland. Overland transport by animal drawn conveyances was used around settled areas, but unimproved roads required pack animal trains, usually of mules to carry any degree of mass, and while a mule could carry an eighth ton, it also needed teamsters to tend it and one man could only tend perhaps five mules, meaning overland bulk transport
1157-540: A tunnel through the hill at Smethwick but had encountered ground too soft to cope with. The canal rose from what is now the Birmingham Level through six narrow (7 ft, 2.1 m) locks to the summit level and descended through another six at Spon Lane. Water was brought from purpose-built reservoirs: Smethwick Great Reservoir (now built upon, holding 1514 locks of water), another smaller pool at Smethwick (holding 500 locks), and then from Titford Pool to supply
1246-453: A uniform altitude. Other, generally later, canals took more direct routes requiring the use of various methods to deal with the change in level. Canals have various features to tackle the problem of water supply. In cases, like the Suez Canal, the canal is open to the sea. Where the canal is not at sea level, a number of approaches have been adopted. Taking water from existing rivers or springs
1335-422: Is a channel that cuts across a drainage divide , making a navigable channel connecting two different drainage basins . Both navigations and canals use engineered structures to improve navigation: Since they cut across drainage divides, canals are more difficult to construct and often need additional improvements, like viaducts and aqueducts to bridge waters over streams and roads, and ways to keep water in
1424-490: Is now Gas Street Basin and under Bridge Street to wharves on a tuning fork-shaped pair of long basins: Paradise Wharf, also called Old Wharf. The Birmingham Canal Company head office was finally built there, opposite the western end of Paradise Street . By 6 November 1769, 10 miles (16 km) had been completed to Hill Top collieries in West Bromwich , with a one-mile summit pound at Smethwick. Brindley had tried to dig
1513-675: Is presumed, introduced in Italy by Bertola da Novate in the 16th century. This allowed wider gates and also removed the height restriction of guillotine locks . To break out of the limitations caused by river valleys, the first summit level canals were developed with the Grand Canal of China in 581–617 AD whilst in Europe the first, also using single locks, was the Stecknitz Canal in Germany in 1398. In
1602-578: Is rarely less than 30 metres (98 ft) wide. In the 5th century BC, Achaemenid king Xerxes I of Persia ordered the construction of the Xerxes Canal through the base of Mount Athos peninsula, Chalkidiki , northern Greece. It was constructed as part of his preparations for the Second Persian invasion of Greece , a part of the Greco-Persian Wars . It is one of the few monuments left by
1691-418: Is steeper than the desired canal gradient. They are constructed so the falling water's kinetic energy is dissipated in order to prevent it from scouring the bed and sides of the canal. A canal fall is constructed by cut and fill . It may be combined with a regulator, bridge, or other structure to save costs. There are various types of canal falls, based on their shape. One type is the ogee fall, where
1780-448: Is the pound lock , which consists of a chamber within which the water level can be raised or lowered connecting either two pieces of canal at a different level or the canal with a river or the sea. When there is a hill to be climbed, flights of many locks in short succession may be used. Prior to the development of the pound lock in 984 AD in China by Chhaio Wei-Yo and later in Europe in
1869-563: Is the evolving route of the Birmingham Canal between Birmingham and Wolverhampton in England . The name Main Line was used to distinguish the main Birmingham to Wolverhampton route from the many other canals and branches built or acquired by the Birmingham Canal Navigations company. On 24 January 1767, a number of prominent Birmingham businessmen, including Matthew Boulton and others from
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#17328453220681958-579: The Birmingham and Fazeley Canal Act 1784 ( 24 Geo. 3. Sess. 2 . c. 4). The new company and the Birmingham Canal merged soon afterwards, becoming the awkwardly named Birmingham & Birmingham & Fazeley Canal Company. John Smeaton was the engineer employed by the Birmingham and Fazeley, but work did not start immediately, as he was also responsible for the Riders Green to Broadwaters line, which
2047-472: The Coventry Canal at Fazeley Junction , just outside Tamworth . The length of this stretch is 15 miles (24 km), and it includes 38 locks . From Old Turn Junction, 13 locks drop the level of the canal by 81 feet (25 m), after which there is a short flat stretch from St Chads Cathedral to Aston Junction. There is a one-mile (1.6 km) branch called the Digbeth Branch Canal which runs from
2136-639: The Elbe , Oder and Weser being linked by canals. In post-Roman Britain, the first early modern period canal built appears to have been the Exeter Canal , which was surveyed in 1563, and open in 1566. The oldest canal in the European settlements of North America, technically a mill race built for industrial purposes, is Mother Brook between the Boston, Massachusetts neighbourhoods of Dedham and Hyde Park connecting
2225-752: The Lunar Society , held a public meeting in the White Swan, High Street, Birmingham to consider the possibility of building a canal from Birmingham to the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal near Wolverhampton , taking in the coalfields of the Black Country . They commissioned the canal engineer James Brindley to propose a route. Brindley came back with a largely level but meandering route via Smethwick , Oldbury , Tipton , Bilston and Wolverhampton to Aldersley. On 24 February 1768, an Act of Parliament
2314-530: The Naviglio Grande built between 1127 and 1257 to connect Milan with the river Ticino . The Naviglio Grande is the most important of the lombard " navigli " and the oldest functioning canal in Europe. Later, canals were built in the Netherlands and Flanders to drain the polders and assist transportation of goods and people. Canal building was revived in this age because of commercial expansion from
2403-532: The Phoenix metropolitan area was the most complex in ancient North America. A portion of the ancient canals has been renovated for the Salt River Project and now helps to supply the city's water. The Sinhalese constructed the 87 km (54 mi) Yodha Ela in 459 A.D. as a part of their extensive irrigation network which functioned in a way of a moving reservoir due to its single banking aspect to manage
2492-522: The River Brue at Northover with Glastonbury Abbey , a distance of about 1.75 kilometres (1,900 yd). Its initial purpose is believed to be the transport of building stone for the abbey, but later it was used for delivering produce, including grain, wine and fish, from the abbey's outlying properties. It remained in use until at least the 14th century, but possibly as late as the mid-16th century. More lasting and of more economic impact were canals like
2581-594: The Songhai Empire of West Africa, several canals were constructed under Sunni Ali and Askia Muhammad I between Kabara and Timbuktu in the 15th century. These were used primarily for irrigation and transport. Sunni Ali also attempted to construct a canal from the Niger River to Walata to facilitate conquest of the city but his progress was halted when he went to war with the Mossi Kingdoms . Around 1500–1800
2670-548: The reservoirs built at Girnar in 3000 BC. This is the first time that such planned civil project had taken place in the ancient world. In Egypt , canals date back at least to the time of Pepi I Meryre (reigned 2332–2283 BC), who ordered a canal built to bypass the cataract on the Nile near Aswan . In ancient China , large canals for river transport were established as far back as the Spring and Autumn period (8th–5th centuries BC),
2759-404: The stratum the canal passes through, it may be necessary to line the cut with some form of watertight material such as clay or concrete. When this is done with clay, it is known as puddling . Canals need to be level, and while small irregularities in the lie of the land can be dealt with through cuttings and embankments, for larger deviations other approaches have been adopted. The most common
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2848-557: The "Scotland Works" site opposite Lock 1 of Farmer's Bridge Locks, a former glassworks that is being redeveloped into residential apartments named Lockside Wharf by Consortia Developments and Joseph Mews Property Group. Lockside Wharf will comprise 61 apartments and is currently under construction. The canal is now regarded as running from the BCN Main Line at Old Turn Junction (near the National Indoor Arena ), Birmingham to
2937-466: The 12th century. River navigations were improved progressively by the use of single, or flash locks . Taking boats through these used large amounts of water leading to conflicts with watermill owners and to correct this, the pound or chamber lock first appeared, in the 10th century in China and in Europe in 1373 in Vreeswijk , Netherlands. Another important development was the mitre gate , which was, it
3026-465: The 15th century, either flash locks consisting of a single gate were used or ramps, sometimes equipped with rollers, were used to change the level. Flash locks were only practical where there was plenty of water available. Locks use a lot of water, so builders have adopted other approaches for situations where little water is available. These include boat lifts , such as the Falkirk Wheel , which use
3115-553: The Birmingham and Fazeley Canal Company (created to propose a competitive canal from the coal fields to Birmingham and also a link to the Coventry Canal at Fazeley ) merged with the Birmingham Canal Company (ten years later the name of the merged company was changed to the Birmingham Canal Navigations Company) and the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal was started. This created an even greater need for water to supply
3204-477: The Birmingham and Fazeley section. Historically the canal started at Farmer's Bridge Top Lock (the real Farmer's Bridge Junction), where it met the already existing Birmingham Canal Newhall Branch. That branch has now been built over, with only Cambrian Wharf surviving. The Birmingham and Fazeley Canal forms part of the Warwickshire ring . At Common lock 10, on the lower lock tail, an inscription can be found in
3293-690: The Galton Valley, 70 feet deep and 150 feet wide, running parallel to the Old Main Line. Telford's changes here were completed in 1829. Telford designed a cast iron bridge, the Galton Bridge , to span his cutting. It was cast in the Horseley Iron Works , as was the Engine Arm Aqueduct and many of the wide roving bridges . In 1837, after Telford's death, a new section of his planned canal
3382-562: The New Main Line was complete: 22 + 5 ⁄ 8 miles (36.4 km) of slow canal reduced to 15 + 5 ⁄ 8 miles (25.1 km); between Birmingham and Tipton, it was a lock-free dual carriageway. It was also called the Island Line as it was cut straight through the hill at Smethwick known as the Island. In 1892 the Smethwick Engine was replaced by a new pumping house between
3471-571: The Persian Empire in Europe . Greek engineers were also among the first to use canal locks , by which they regulated the water flow in the Ancient Suez Canal as early as the 3rd century BC. There was little experience moving bulk loads by carts, while a pack-horse would [i.e. 'could'] carry only an eighth of a ton. On a soft road a horse might be able to draw 5/8ths of a ton. But if
3560-753: The Southwest by 1300 CE. Archaeologists working at a major archaeological dig in the 1990s in the Tucson Basin, along the Santa Cruz River, identified a culture and people that may have been the ancestors of the Hohokam. This prehistoric group occupied southern Arizona as early as 2000 BCE, and in the Early Agricultural period grew corn, lived year-round in sedentary villages, and developed sophisticated irrigation canals. The large-scale Hohokam irrigation network in
3649-656: The arm of the canal which ran in Newtown Row, following the drowning of a boy the previous year. In 1967 a pipeline was laid under the towpath to link the gasworks at Coleshill with the Washwood Heath Works. In 2019, the Canal & River Trust announced that repair works had started on two locks at Farmer's Bridge Locks as part of a wider £2.5 million programme of repairs across the West Midlands. In 2022, work started on
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3738-436: The canal pressure with the influx of water. It was also designed as an elongated reservoir passing through traps creating 66 mini catchments as it flows from Kala Wewa to Thissa Wawa . The canal was not designed for the quick conveying of water from Kala Wewa to Thissa Wawa but to create a mass of water between the two reservoirs, which would in turn provided for agriculture and the use of humans and animals. They also achieved
3827-418: The canal to form a dam. They are generally placed in pre-existing grooves in the canal bank. On more modern canals, "guard locks" or gates were sometimes placed to allow a section of the canal to be quickly closed off, either for maintenance, or to prevent a major loss of water due to a canal breach. A canal fall , or canal drop, is a vertical drop in the canal bed. These are built when the natural ground slope
3916-603: The canal was built, it would be part of a larger network. In 1782, they obtained an agreement from the Oxford Canal Company that they would complete the route to the River Thames at Oxford, one from the Coventry Canal that they would extend their canal from Atherstone to Fazeley, and agreed that they would complete the Coventry Canal's route from Fazeley as far as Whittington, as the Coventry Canal company could not finance
4005-417: The canal, and the entanglement at the meeting of boats being incessant; whilst at the locks at each end of the short summit at Smethwick, crowds of boatmen were always quarrelling, or offering premiums for the preference of passage; the mine owners injured by the delay, were loud in their just complaints." Telford proposed major changes to the section between Birmingham and Smethwick, widening and straightening
4094-461: The canal, close to Drayton Manor Theme Park , after which Fazeley is reached, where the canal joins the Coventry Canal. The 5.5-mile (8.9 km) stretch which extends northwards beyond Fazeley Junction to Whittington , near Lichfield , was built by the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal Company, with the remainder of the route to Fradley Junction being built by the Trent and Mersey Canal . Both sections used
4183-454: The canal, providing towpaths on each side, and cutting through Smethwick Summit to bypass the locks, allowing lock-free passage from Birmingham to Tipton. Telford's proposals were swayed by the threat of a new Birmingham to Liverpool railway. His suggestions were accepted and he was appointed chief engineer on 28 June 1824. By 1827 the New Main Line passed straight through, and linked to,
4272-462: The canal. Where large amounts of goods are loaded or unloaded such as at the end of a canal, a canal basin may be built. This would normally be a section of water wider than the general canal. In some cases, the canal basins contain wharfs and cranes to assist with movement of goods. When a section of the canal needs to be sealed off so it can be drained for maintenance stop planks are frequently used. These consist of planks of wood placed across
4361-508: The capacity of the descent at Smethwick locks by building a parallel flight of three locks, in use until the 1960s. The changes were made in two phases with a new cut to the side to remove two locks from each end and lower the summit by twelve feet, and then another parallel cut another six feet lower, removing another lock at each end and the provision of a parallel set of three locks at the Smethwick end. In 1790, after 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 years
4450-463: The channel. There are two broad types of canal: Historically, canals were of immense importance to commerce and the development, growth and vitality of a civilization. In 1855 the Lehigh Canal carried over 1.2 million tons of anthracite coal; by the 1930s the company which built and operated it for over a century ceased operation. The few canals still in operation in our modern age are a fraction of
4539-501: The coalfields at Walsall did not have canal access, and a public meeting was held at Lichfield on 18 August to discuss an independent link from Walsall to Fradley Junction on the Trent and Mersey Canal , passing through Lichfield. Opposition from local landowners resulted in the plan being shelved, but a further plan was proposed at a meeting held in Warwick in August 1781, for a canal to run from Wednesbury through Fazeley to Atherstone, which
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#17328453220684628-452: The construction of the section between Minworth and Fazeley. In late 1786, George Pinkerton found out that the levels, which had been surveyed by Bough, were wrong. Samuel Bull, the engineer for the canal company, investigated and reported that Pinkerton was right. The Pinkertons started to work on the project from January 1787, even though the contracts were not signed until May. Bough made a series of allegations that Pinkertons' workmanship and
4717-499: The contour of the land but with deviations to factories and mines in the Black Country and Birmingham. A branch led to Matthew Boulton's Soho Manufactory . The original Birmingham Canal was extremely successful but there was a problem with supplying sufficient water to the Smethwick Summit. Matthew Boulton's partner, James Watt , had just patented an improvement to the steam engine involving an external condenser which improved
4806-505: The cutting was completed. The canal was closed for only 14 days. The lowered summit was at the Wolverhampton Level and simplified water supply. Water was also pumped from several local coal mines. The Spon Lane engine was removed and sold but the Smethwick Engine continued to be used to pump used water from the Birmingham Level . The Act allowed for branches to extend from the main line, and for private wharves and basins. In May 1821
4895-399: The drop follows an s-shaped curve to create a smooth transition and reduce turbulence . However, this smooth transition does not dissipate the water's kinetic energy, which leads to heavy scouring. As a result, the canal needs to be reinforced with concrete or masonry to protect it from eroding. Another type of canal fall is the vertical fall, which is "simple and economical". These feature
4984-579: The efficiency (and therefore reduced the amount of coal needed to run it). Steam engines were constructed at either end of the Smethwick Summit to pump water used in the operation of the locks back to the summit. The Smethwick Engine (5 June 1779) pumped water from the Birmingham side of the summit, and another, the Spon Lane Engine (April 1778) operated from the Wolverhampton side. In 1784, after two years of counter-productive attempts at legislation,
5073-648: The first summit level canal to use pound locks in Europe was the Briare Canal connecting the Loire and Seine (1642), followed by the more ambitious Canal du Midi (1683) connecting the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. This included a staircase of 8 locks at Béziers , a 157 metres (515 ft) tunnel, and three major aqueducts. Canal building progressed steadily in Germany in the 17th and 18th centuries with three great rivers,
5162-456: The freedom to make deliveries well away from rail lined road beds or ditches in the dirt which could not operate in the winter. The longest extant canal today, the Grand Canal in northern China, still remains in heavy use, especially the portion south of the Yellow River . It stretches from Beijing to Hangzhou at 1,794 kilometres (1,115 miles). Canals are built in one of three ways, or
5251-747: The higher waters of the Charles River and the mouth of the Neponset River and the sea. It was constructed in 1639 to provide water power for mills. In Russia, the Volga–Baltic Waterway , a nationwide canal system connecting the Baltic Sea and Caspian Sea via the Neva and Volga rivers, was opened in 1718. BCN Main Line The BCN Main Line , or Birmingham Canal Navigations Main Line
5340-405: The junction to Typhoo Basin and contains 6 locks. A short cut runs from near the end of the branch to the Grand Union Canal at Bordesley Junction. Below the junction there are another 11 locks, which form the Aston flight. Holborn Hill bridge carries the railway to Aston station over the canal, just before the bottom lock of the flight is reached. At Salford Junction, the Tame Valley Canal runs to
5429-422: The load were carried by a barge on a waterway, then up to 30 tons could be drawn by the same horse. — technology historian Ronald W. Clark referring to transport realities before the industrial revolution and the Canal age . Hohokam was a society in the North American Southwest in what is now part of Arizona , United States, and Sonora , Mexico. Their irrigation systems supported the largest population in
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#17328453220685518-401: The locks at Smethwick Summit were still a constriction. In 1824 Thomas Telford was commissioned to examine alternatives. He famously travelled the route of the Old Line and reported the existing canal as: "... little more than a crooked ditch, with scarcely the appearance of a towing path, the horses frequently sliding and staggering in the water, the hauling lines sweeping the gravel into
5607-412: The longest canal in the world today and the oldest extant one. It is 1,794 kilometres (1,115 mi) long and was built to carry the Emperor Yang Guang between Zhuodu ( Beijing ) and Yuhang ( Hangzhou ). The project began in 605 and was completed in 609, although much of the work combined older canals, the oldest section of the canal existing since at least 486 BC. Even in its narrowest urban sections it
5696-419: The longest one of that period being the Hong Gou (Canal of the Wild Geese), which according to the ancient historian Sima Qian connected the old states of Song, Zhang, Chen, Cai, Cao, and Wei. The Caoyun System of canals was essential for imperial taxation, which was largely assessed in kind and involved enormous shipments of rice and other grains. By far the longest canal was the Grand Canal of China , still
5785-403: The loop of the main line around Oldbury was bypassed by a straight cut, shortening the route between Birmingham and Wolverhampton. Over the next thirty years, as more canals and branches were built or connected it became necessary to review the long, winding, narrow Old Main Line. With a single towpath boats passing in opposite directions had to negotiate their horses and ropes. As traffic grew
5874-430: The loops of the Old Main Line, creating Oozells Loop, Icknield Port Loop, Soho Loop, Cape Loop and Soho Foundry Loop, allowing continued access to the existing factories and wharves. A year earlier he had built an improved Rotton Park Reservoir ( Edgbaston Reservoir ) on the site of an existing fish pool, bringing its capacity to 300 million imperial gallons (1,400,000 m ). A canal feeder took water to, and along,
5963-405: The materials used were of poor quality. The company stopped paying Pinkerton in late 1788, as the costs were exceeding the original estimates, and the contract was taken away from them in February 1789. There was then a financial dispute over money which had been paid to Pinkerton as "extras", but which the company then claimed were overpayments. Some £2,750 was at issue, and the case rumbled on for
6052-480: The north west, and the Grand Union Canal runs southwards, while the Fazeley heads eastwards. Three more locks continue the descent at Minworth, and the character of the surroundings changes from an urban and industrial landscape to open countryside. There is a short 57-yard (52 m) Grade II listed tunnel at Curdworth, after which fields and flooded gravel pits line the canal. At Drayton Bassett, an eccentric Grade II listed footbridge with Gothic-style towers crosses
6141-506: The numbers that once fueled and enabled economic growth, indeed were practically a prerequisite to further urbanization and industrialization. For the movement of bulk raw materials such as coal and ores are difficult and marginally affordable without water transport. Such raw materials fueled the industrial developments and new metallurgy resulting of the spiral of increasing mechanization during 17th–20th century, leading to new research disciplines, new industries and economies of scale, raising
6230-402: The old and new canals, just north of Brasshouse Lane Bridge in Smethwick. Late in the 20th century, a pair of concrete tunnels near Galton Bridge were built to carry the Telford Way road. Ryland Aqueduct, built in 1836 carrying the canal over the main A461 road at Dudley Port, Tipton , was rebuilt in the late 1960s at a cost of £170,000 (equivalent to £3,897,400 in 2023). Demolition of
6319-411: The pre-railroad days of the industrial revolution, water transport was the gold standard of fast transportation. The first artificial canal in Western Europe was the Fossa Carolina built at the end of the 8th century under personal supervision of Charlemagne . In Britain, the Glastonbury Canal is believed to be the first post-Roman canal and was built in the middle of the 10th century to link
6408-416: The price of coal sold to domestic households in Birmingham halved overnight. Vested interests of the sponsors caused the creation of two terminal wharves in Birmingham. The 1772 Newhall Branch and wharf (now built upon) originally extended north of, and parallel to Great Charles Street. The 1773 Paradise Street Branch split off at Old Turn Junction and headed through Broad Street Tunnel , turned left at what
6497-603: The route authorised by the Coventry Canal Act 1768 ( 8 Geo. 3 . c. 36), but although the Coventry Canal subsequently bought back the northern section from the Trent and Mersey Canal, the southern section remained in the ownership of the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal. However, it is often regarded as being part of the Coventry Canal, with the Canal and River Trust quoting the length of that canal as being 38 miles (61 km) which includes
6586-480: The standard of living for any industrialized society. Most ship canals today primarily service bulk cargo and large ship transportation industries, whereas the once critical smaller inland waterways conceived and engineered as boat and barge canals have largely been supplanted and filled in, abandoned and left to deteriorate, or kept in service and staffed by state employees, where dams and locks are maintained for flood control or pleasure boating. Their replacement
6675-1050: The stonework. It reads: "Pax Missa Per Orbem, Pax Quaeritur Bello", which translates as "Peace Is Sent Throughout The World, Peace Is Sought Through War". The inscription comes from two coins, the first part from the Queen Ann Farthing , and the second part from the Cromwell Broad . Download coordinates as: [REDACTED] Media related to Birmingham and Fazeley Canal at Wikimedia Commons 52°31′21″N 1°47′45″W / 52.5225°N 1.7957°W / 52.5225; -1.7957 ( Birmingham and Fazeley Canal (nominal) ) Canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation ) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi ). They carry free, calm surface flow under atmospheric pressure , and can be thought of as artificial rivers . In most cases,
6764-492: The summit level. In 1770 work started towards Wolverhampton, from above the third Spon Lane lock at what is now the Wolverhampton Level . On 21 September 1772 the canal was joined with the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal at Aldersley Junction via another 20 locks (increased to 21 in 1784 to save water). Brindley died a few days later. The canal measured 22 + 5 ⁄ 8 miles (36.4 km), mostly following
6853-461: The thirteen locks at Farmer's Bridge and eleven at Aston, all running downhill and taking water out of the Birmingham system. There were problems of congestion at Smethwick caused by the time taken to traverse the locks and with supplying sufficient water to the summit level. John Smeaton was engaged to advise on a solution. He specified a 1000-yard cutting through the top eighteen feet of the summit, eliminating three locks from each end, and doubling
6942-509: The valley of the River Dee . Another option for dealing with hills is to tunnel through them. An example of this approach is the Harecastle Tunnel on the Trent and Mersey Canal . Tunnels are only practical for smaller canals. Some canals attempted to keep changes in level down to a minimum. These canals known as contour canals would take longer, winding routes, along which the land was
7031-417: The whole route. The Trent and Mersey would finish that link by building the remainder of the route to Fradley Junction. A second bill was put before Parliament, and at the same time, the Birmingham Canal presented a scheme for a canal from Riders Green to Broadwaters, near Walsall, with eight branches, and a second canal from Newhall to Fazeley. The Birmingham and Fazeley was authorised by an act of Parliament ,
7120-466: Was also expensive, as men expect compensation in the form of wages, room and board. This was because long-haul roads were unpaved, more often than not too narrow for carts, much less wagons, and in poor condition, wending their way through forests, marshy or muddy quagmires as often as unimproved but dry footing. In that era, as today, greater cargoes, especially bulk goods and raw materials , could be transported by ship far more economically than by land; in
7209-458: Was an option in some cases, sometimes supplemented by other methods to deal with seasonal variations in flow. Where such sources were unavailable, reservoirs – either separate from the canal or built into its course – and back pumping were used to provide the required water. In other cases, water pumped from mines was used to feed the canal. In certain cases, extensive "feeder canals" were built to bring water from sources located far from
7298-452: Was changed to Birmingham Canal Navigations in 1794. In 1926 the construction of Salford Bridge which spans the River Tame and the Tame Valley Canal at the end of Lichfield Road at the foot of Gravelly Hill resulted in the demolition of the cast-iron roving bridge over the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, and also four cottages belonging to the canal company. The cast-iron bridge was replaced with
7387-567: Was completed first. The project did not go smoothly, as there were disputes between James Bough, the superintendent of the canal company, and Pinkertons, who were the civil engineering contractors employed to carry out the work. The issue concerned the cement that the Pinkertons were using. Work on the Fazeley line began in April 1786, with Bough still acting as superintendent, and the Pinkertons responsible for
7476-463: Was gradual, beginning first in the United States in the mid-1850s where canal shipping was first augmented by, then began being replaced by using much faster , less geographically constrained & limited, and generally cheaper to maintain railways . By the early 1880s, canals which had little ability to economically compete with rail transport, were off the map. In the next couple of decades, coal
7565-424: Was increasingly diminished as the heating fuel of choice by oil, and growth of coal shipments leveled off. Later, after World War I when motor-trucks came into their own, the last small U.S. barge canals saw a steady decline in cargo ton-miles alongside many railways, the flexibility and steep slope climbing capability of lorries taking over cargo hauling increasingly as road networks were improved, and which also had
7654-426: Was once used to describe linear features seen on the surface of Mars , Martian canals , an optical illusion. A navigation is a series of channels that run roughly parallel to the valley and stream bed of an unimproved river. A navigation always shares the drainage basin of the river. A vessel uses the calm parts of the river itself as well as improvements, traversing the same changes in height. A true canal
7743-657: Was opened together with the 360 yard Coseley Tunnel, complete with double towpath, cutting out the long detour around Coseley and Wednesbury Oak, and therefore relegating it as the Wednesbury Oak Loop . As with many of the branch canals on the BCN, most of the Wednesbury Oak Loop became officially abandoned from 1954, but the northern stretch remains navigable to the British Waterways workshops at Bradley . By 1838
7832-403: Was passed to allow the building of the canal, with branches at Ocker Hill and Wednesbury where there were coal mines. The Staffordshire and Worcestershire company was given the right to make the connection to their canal if the Birmingham company failed to do so within six months of opening. On 2 March Brindley was appointed engineer . The first phase of building was to Wednesbury whereupon
7921-539: Was the end of the Coventry Canal at the time. The plans were changed somewhat in October, but shareholders in the Birmingham Canal saw it as a serious threat. Two bills were put before Parliament in 1782, one for the Birmingham and Fazeley, and a rival one from the Birmingham Canal for a branch from Wednesbury to Walsall. Both sides opposed the other's proposal, and both bills were defeated. The promoters then opened negotiations with other canal companies, to ensure that when
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