Bentley Canal, Anson Junction

Bentley Canal

Anson Junction

December 2009

I would like to report that after 3.5 miles of near total obliteration, the eastern end of the Bentley Canal comes to a glorious conclusion. Sadly, that would be quite untrue, although it does end in water.

The new Black Country Spine Road slices across the eastern extremity of this waterway, leaving less than half a mile of track to it's conclusion on the Anson Branch Canal. The course is picked up again, but this time overlaid by a patchwork of allotments running down the back of Wrexham Avenue.

Bentley Canal's eastern extremity, under allotments at Wrexham Avenue

Access to this stretch is tricky, and whilst you can't wander across the potatos and runner beans, you can exit at the bottom end of Wrexham Avenue to reach the Anson Canal embankment at the site of the Rea Aqueduct. From the Anson towpath you can backtrack and identify the entrance to the Bentley Canal as it passes under a lonely pipe bridge set amid the reeds.

Bentley Canal's junction with the Anson Branch 2009

I guess that the saving grace is that there is still water in the Anson Canal at the old junction, which adds some scope for a final reflection filled photo.

Clarke's Lane to Black Country Spine Road, Bentley Canal

Clarke's Lane to Black Country Spine Road

Bentley Canal

December 2009

Clake's lane to the Black Country Spine Road covers about three quarters of a mile, of which the first half a mile is pleasant open greenway  part of which skirts Willenhall Cemetry.

The route involves a number of shallow (20ft) cutings which make for a boggy path, arriving first at Farm Bridge and then an embankment which now carries the Wolverhampton Road over the line.

Hopyard Bridge

Next up is the crumbling remains of Hopyard Bridge which serves as a barricade to travel along the line, with the ground given over to school playing fields. This school is called County Bridge Primary so I am guessing that another bridge existed in it's vicinity! Eric Richardson suggested that this name belonged to the Wolverhampton Road crossing to the west, but that seems very distant.

East from Hopyard Bridge

With the Black Country Spine road roaring in yours ears you can follow the line along Anson Road to the point where the old Bantley Canal route is emphatically terminated, dangling over the edge of a deep cutting.

Jeff, my expedition supporter

Bantley Canal, Fibbersley Cycleway

Bentley Canal
Fibbersley Cycleway detour
December 2009

As part of our expoloration of the area we took a trip down a well made cycleway, which starts at Fibbersley Nature Reserve. The route follows an abandoned railway line through some very pleasant cuttings ending up near Clarke's Lane where one can rejoin the obliterated line of the Bentley canal.

The cycleway is paved and continues to follow the route of the railway, tracking through the Temple Bar bridge and then on through the wide span of Cemetry Road Bridge.

Temple Bar Bridge

Cemetry Road Bridge

An interesting detour if you fancy making a circular route of it.

If the going is soft underfoot, this well maintained route is a good alternative to the heavily overbuilt and boggy section of the Bentley Canal to the north.