Andy Tidy returns to the Ridgeacre
Branch in West Bromwich, an area he started to explore 18 months ago. At that
time he re-traced the line of the Balls Hill Arm of the Wednesbury Old Canal,
following a path from the Ridgeacre Pub to the end of Bridley’s first canal at
Golds Green, built in 1769.
This time we head east and
explore a further three miles of canal built in 1828 which threaded around Hill
Top, assessing the extensive coal measures in the area and supplying the
industries built up using the copious fuel available.
Irritatingly, not all canals
offer convenient circular walks, and this set are sprawling and their
exploration requires a bit of ferreting around, jumping here and there to find
the remains on the ground.
Ridgeacre
Branch
It’s not many years ago that
the Ridgeacre Branch was fully navigable, with boats able to follow the
Wednesbury Old Canal from the top of the Ryders Green Locks to the site of the
interchange basins and Gas Works and then right into the Ridgeacre Branch. This
option was lost in 1995 when the Black Country New Road was built at a low
level which cut off half a mile of canal, with no hope of future restoration.
Whilst this arm may be
terminally disconnected, it remains in water and is well stocked with fish and
is used by a local angling club as a linear fishing pond. Better this end than
a stagnant rubbish filled ditch.
You can pick up this canal
from the Ridgeacre Pub, following a well made towpath under the railway bridge
which now carries the Wolverhampton to Birmingham tram line. Between the
railway bridge and the next road bridge which carries Hill Top Road, there was
a string of basins to the south serving the West Bromwich Gas Works and the
Blacklake Colliery, which was linked by one of many tramways in the area.
The end of the watered
section is perhaps a couple of hundred yards short of its final basin at the
Coppice Colliery and the Ridgeacre Oil Works. The area is now a Local Nature
Reserve, once well developed but now looking sadly run down.
Dartmouth
Branch
Just before the end of the
watered canal the Dartmouth Branch left heading due north, a line which can be
picked up as it tracks Salop Close and along the top of an escarpment which
borders Hateley Heath College grounds. The canal track is reflected in a long
stand of trees which extends all the way to Coles Lane where a substantial
colliery basin exited to the east beneath what is now Monmouth Drive.
A further quarter mile of
canal continued beyond Coles Lane and Witton Lane to Cookhay Iron Works. The
area has been completely redeveloped in the years since its abandonment in 1954
and sadly there are no remain in the area today, unless you can tell me
differently!
Halford
and Jesson Branches
Having explored to the north
we now turn south from the end of the Ridgeacre Branch. The junction is still
very apparent with a stretch of canal sized woodland squeezed between an
industrial estate and a new housing estate, all built on the sites of Waterloo
Iron Works, the Cyclops Iron Works and the Ridgeacre Oil Works. But then
progress is halted by a big embankment where the ground has been heavily
re-profiled.
The walk then has to be
interrupted as you skirt round to Church Lane where the line can be picked up
beneath Whites Road. Its passing can still be seen by a hump in the road and
the bridge itself exited into the car park of the works alongside Gladstone
Street.
Just south of Church Lane
the significant Jesson Branch continued due south serving the Ridgeacre Tube
Works. All trace of the channel itself has disappeared but its line lives on in
a stand of trees which terminate at Greswold Street.
The Halford Branch continued
under the current car park which surrounds the industrial works. Developers are
really reluctant to build on old canal beds. Eventually the branch completes a
180 degree turn and loops back under Church Lane identifiable by another rise
in the road to terminate in another basin beneath today’s Tiverton Drive, which
was linked to the Hall End Collieries by a series of tramways. Whilst the
Church Lane bridges may have been removed it is clear that both humps are on
the same contour with the canal hugging the hillside.
Of all my lost canal walks
this one is perhaps the hardest to follow. The Ridgeacre Arm offers a good
starting point, but the rest have been filled in, re profiled and re built to
the extent that the old canal tracks are only just discernible, leaving just
the lightest of traces on the ground today.
Having completed this
section, make your way back to the Ridgeacre Pub for a well earned drink.
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