Monday 22 March 2010

Danks Branch Canal (north) BCN


Danks Branch Canal
Northern Section - BCN
March 2010

The northern section of the Danks Branch Canal was by far the longest, extending for just under half a mile from the junction with it's shorter southern arm.

Line of the Danks Branch Canal - heading for the grey building in the distance

In addition to the coal workings along it's route, there were also a number of brick and tile works. As a result the landscape 100 years ago would have been very different to that seen today. The old maps show great water filled quarries where clay was extracted, slag heaps from the mining and esoterically named "Slag Works", which made us of the industrial residue. It seems that one man's industrial waste was another's raw material, and it was all moved by boat.

I can't see that the line of the Danks Branch was ever anything more than utilitarian, surrounded by mines and industry, flanked by the railway and infused with the heady aroma arising from the Tipton Sewage Works.

Access to the line is difficult as it heads straight into a vehicle park after the southern railway bridge, then skirting a major industrial warehouse, before heading due north to recross the railway line further on. As the railway is abandoned, and sporting a good collection of maturing trees between its rusting rails, we used the line to provide a means of access.

Northern railway crossing

The canal was picked up again about half way along, as it passed beneath the railway at an angle before curling round what is now an open meadow occupied by a number of horses and a couple of electricity pylons. The end of the canal is within a stones throw of the Tame Valley Canal at a place called Danksbranch Wharf.

Danksbranch Wharf

This flat and exposed site was home to a small community of modest houses, probably miners cottages now all demolished and swept away. The outline of the wharf is just visible as a depresion in the ground but there are few other clues that the site was ever home to man or industry.

For the canal hunter, there is no need to retrace your steps, as a footpath exists up the hillside through the old mines to Shaw Street, and the northern end of the Wednesbury Old Canal / Balls Hill Branch.

One would assume that the canal was named after a Mr Danks who owned a mine or a brick works along its route. However, having surveyed the damp and dismal location I would prefer to think that it reflects the nature of its surroundings!

6 comments:

canalwalker said...

Hi Andy, I think your site is great, however I have a query on the second canal crossing you have shown as I believe it to be the remains of a lane down to the Danks Branch Wharf area.I have known the Danks Branch for some 50 years and have yet to identify the Golds Green crossing and the north canal crossing as I think they were both removed back before my time by the railway company and an embankment replaced them. I look forward to being proved wrong as I would love to find them.
Keep up the good work.

Andy Tidy said...

Canalwalker - do you mean the second railway crossing? If so it still exists if you scramble down the embankment and you will find a towpath and channel very similar to the one nearer the junct. Feel free to contact me on andrew.tidy@sky.com

Steve Abbott said...

Hi Andy
You say that the Danks Branch stopped just short of the Tame Valley Canal. I had the impression from Richard Dean's Canals of Birmingham and the Black Country, that the original terminus of the Danks Branch was north of the Tame Valley line, having predated that canal. I only have access to an old enough map in 1 inch scale (Cassini Old 1831-35 OS map) which is too small to confirm this. I had always assumed that the Danks Branch had a junction with the Tame Valley Canal and this appears the case in the Cassini 1901-02 1 inch map. It seems possible as it would have been at the same (Walsall) level. The 1892-1914 25 inch map doesn't make it clear if there was a connection. Danks Branch Wharf is certainly very close to the Tame Valley, though the junction would have been oblique, making it difficult to turn west from the branch. The benefit of a connection would be obvious as it would have saved boats from winding at the end of the branch. Looking closely at the map, there is no break or accommodation bridge indicated in the Tame Valley towpath, but I have seen other junctions where this is the case, the nearby Toll End Junction being an example.
I would be interested to know if the Danks Branch originally extended further north before being cut by the Tame Valley and if a junction was made between the branch and the Tame Valley.

Steve Abbott said...

Hi again Andy

After making my previous comment, I looked at the photos of the Lost 60 miles section and see that you have a photo with the Danks Branch continuing beyond the Tame Valley Canal for a short distance, so it looks like my thoughts were correct.

Incidentally, I was in the Birmingham University Canal Society 1977-1981, shortly after Richard Chester-Browne had been a member. He did a talk for us on The Other 60 Miles. I think the President at the time was Will Suter, from Bradford. I later taught at Alexander High School in Tipton 1981-84, but curiously never explored the Toll End Canal, even though it basically crossed the school field! However, I paid a visit in 2019 and found the location of the junction with the Tipton Green Branch and walked the line of the Toll End Communication.

Andy Tidy said...

Steve - I wrote this up many years ago when I knew less! The original plan when building the Tame Valley was to use the Danks for the last bit to the Walsall, but in the end it was felt it was too small and indirect so a direct new route was dug. This meant that the section which extended just beyond the new line of the Tame Valley was cut off (under todays electrical sub station). If you get on the ground and look at the bridge at the site the entrance to this last bit can still be seen. The connection to the Danks was blocked off, probably because they had a toll station at the TV / Walsall Junction and didn't want boats slipping past for free.

Andy Tidy said...

Steve (again) - If you like these you will probably like my Canal Hunter videos which are on my YouTube channel Life at 2.3 MPH (links from BCNS website) - this will include a photostream of the Toll End on Saturday week.