Walsall Canal

The Walsall Canal is a narrow canal, 7 feet or 2.1 metres wide, and 7 miles (11 km) long, forming part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations, and passing around the western side of Walsall, West Midlands, England. It was built in four stages, the first being a detached part of the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal from Ryders Green Junction to Broadwaters, started in 1783. The Birchills Branch of the Wyrley and Essington Canal opened in 1798, the end of which eventually formed another part of the canal. The third section was built in two phases, from Broadwaters to Darlaston and from there to Walsall. This opened around 1800. The final section was a flight of eight locks to link the canal at Walsall to the Birchills Branch, and this was opened in 1841.

The authorising act of Parliament for the Broadwaters section, the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal Act 1783 (23 Geo. 3. c. 92), also allowed the company to build six collateral cuts, to serve the growing coal mining and ironstone industries. This increased to ten branches, but three of them became interconnections to other parts of the canal network. The Toll End Branch was extended by the Toll End Communication Canal to join the Birmingham Canal Navigations main line at Tipton Green. The Bradley Hall Extension was extended to become the Bradley Branch, linking to the Gospel Oak Loop Line, originally part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations old main line until it was bypassed. The Anson Branch remained a branch, but the Bentley Canal was a branch of it until it was extended to the Wyrley and Essington Canal at Wednesfield. All three interconnections have been closed, but there is an active restoration project to reinstate the Bradley Branch.

The canal starts at the Birmingham Level at Ryders Green Junction, descends 45 feet (14 m) through the eight Ryders Green locks to the Walsall Level, and rises 65 feet (20 m) through the eight Walsall locks to the Wolverhampton Level of the Wyrley and Essington Canal.

At its southern end, the Walsall Canal is accessible from Pudding Green Junction on the Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN) main line via a short section of the Wednesbury Old Canal, which runs for 0.7 miles (1.1 km) to Riders Green Junction. The Wednesbury Old Canal continues for another 0.5 miles (0.8 km) to a junction with the former Ridgeacre Branch Canal, after which it has been abandoned. From Riders Green Junction the canal immediately starts to descend through the Rider's Green flight of eight locks, which lower the canal by 45 feet (14 m). The B4149 Phoenix Street crosses just below the first lock, and Great Bridge Street crosses below the seventh. The towpath is on the west bank of the canal. The canal passes beneath two further bridges, carrying Brickhouse Lane South and the A461 Great Western Way and over an aqueduct crossing the River Tame to reach the final lock of the flight. The canal is now at the 408-foot (124 m) Walsall Level. The west face of the aqueduct was rebuilt by workers from the Birmingham Canal Navigations, and carries a plate showing a date of 1901.

The former South Staffordshire line railway crosses, and there used to be a junction with the Toll End Communication Canal which rose through seven locks to the BCN Main Line. From Doe Bank Junction the Tame Valley Canal heads eastwards and the very short Ocker Hill Tunnel Branch, now private moorings, fed water to the Ocker Hill pumps to replenish the Wednesbury Oak Loop and hence the Wolverhampton Level. It continues northwards, where it is crossed by the A4037 Leabrook Road Bridge. Just before it reaches the junction with the unnavigable Gospel Oak Branch, the towpath crosses to the east bank at Wiggins Mill Bridge. The West Midlands Metro line crosses next, using the trackbed of the former Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Dudley Railway, and the canal passes the stub of the Bradley Branch at Moorcroft Junction. Holyhead Road Bridge and Darlaston Road Bridge are part of a roundabout, where the A41 and A4038 meet. The canal continues along the western edge of Darlaston, passing under Wolverhampton Street bridge and Midland Road Bridge, which carries the A462.

As it passes under Bughole Bridge which carries Willenhall Road and Bentley Road Bridge, the canal turns to the east. An aqueduct carries it over the Grand Junction Railway, to the north-east of Darlaston, and it reaches the junction with the former Anson Branch, which once led to the Bentley Canal, abandoned in 1961. Another aqueduct carries it over Bentley Mill Way and the River Tame, before it reaches the M6 motorway bridge, just south of junction 10. The A4148 crosses at Pagetts Bridge as it turns to the north and there are bridges at Rollingmill Street and Bridgeman Street, where the towpath crosses to the west bank, but continues on the east bank along the Walsall Town Arm. This turns off at Walsall Junction, heading to the east into Walsall, and the main canal continues northwards, ascending 65 feet (20 m) through the Walsall Locks flight, numbered from 1 to 8 from the top downwards. The A454 Wolverhampton Road crosses between locks eight and seven, Birchills Street Bridge crosses between locks five and four, and Birchills Bridge crosses between locks two and one. An aqueduct crosses a dismantled railway line, part of the Wolverhampton and Walsall Railway, and Stephenson Avenue passes over the canal before it reaches Birchills Junction on the Wyrley and Essington Canal.

The canal starts at the Birmingham Level, descends 45 feet (14 m) to the Walsall Level, then rises 65 feet (20 m) to the Wolverhampton Level.

The Walsall Canal has a complex early history. When the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal was first promoted, it was intended to link the mineral resources of Wednesbury to the Coventry Canal and the Oxford Canal. A network of small canals in the Wednesbury area would serve the coal and ironstone mines, which were at a lower level than the Birmingham Canal, later the Birmingham Canal Navigations. The new canal was a competitor to the Birmingham Canal. It was supported by the Earl of Dudley, whose property near Broadwaters would benefit from its construction, and opposed by the Earl of Dartmouth, as the canal would cross his land. The Birmingham Canal proposed an alternative, involving branches from the Wednesbury Canal, a little further to the south.