Progress on the Lichfield Canal

Progress on the Lichfield Canal

June 2016

Having been a member of the Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust for many years its horrifying that I have never actually visited the main base of operations on Tamworth Road where they have been working tirelessly to reinstate the Ogley Sixth Flight including locks 24 - 26 and prepare the ground for the staircase pair in Darnford Park replacing locks 27, 28 and 29 within a new diversion.

Lock 25 

I guess I spend too much time exploring lost canals and the active restorations fall somewhere outside my remit. I have explored the route down from Ogley Junction all the way to Lichfield, but I have never ventured east of Birmingham Road. Of course, I have followed progress with great interest via the internet based monthly update and the quarterly Cut Both Ways magazine - but none of this is good as planting ones size 11's on the ground.

Pound between Locks 25 and 26

Well, today I was passing and I actually needed a photo of the canal so I stopped and spent 15 mins having a look, and very impressed I was too. The chambers of locks 24, 25 and 26 are all restored. The pound between locks 25 and 26 is full of water (and weed) and the long pound below lock 26 is nearly waterproofed in concrete now the "Big Pipe" has finally been removed. This opens the way to some serious slabbing as far as the narrows beyond the new winding hole and then the last of the Big Pipe can be removed, the pound filled and the residue flowing out via an overflow pending the creation of a navigable route under the A51.

 Detail at Lock 25

I guess attention will then revert to the pound between locks 24 and 25 which appears complete save the removal of another section of the Big Pipe.

Downstream from Lock 26 - nearly ready for water

Not content with simple reinstatement, the volunteers have added decorative bridges and by washes, which will ensure the end result has character and retains the feel of a BCN canal. Of course, there is lots of activity elsewhere in the line, particularly overcoming the significant obstacles in its course, but it is so encouraging to see a credible length of canal being brought back into service.

Pound between Locks 24 and 25 waiting for the removal of the Big Pipe

In the Dock

Calf Heath Boatyard

Hatherton Canal

April 2011

The boating season is finally upon us and preparations are being made for the first trip of the 2011 season.

Wand'ring Bark in the upper basin for repair

But we have a git of a snag - no cooker. I ripped out the old one before Christmas but with one thing and another I havn't managed to get the new one fitted in. The trouble is that it involves gas, which is dangerous stuff in the confines of a boat and demands professional help. We have finally had the installation scheduled into the hectic life of the Calf Heath boatyard on the stub of the old Hatherton Canal.

The upper basin looking towards the lock into the Staffs and Worcester Canal

Saturday saw me taking the short trip up the private lock into the upper basin, to be greeted by Phil Jones who directed me to the right spot, three abreast just below the second lock on the canal.

The first lock has been on trouble for years, leaking and very rickety and the owners have finally bitten the bullet and installed new bottom gates. These things don't come cheap - costing £15k for the build alone plus the fitting.

Next time I wonder where my mooring fees go I will have an answer! Back next week to pick Wand'ring Bark up and then we are ready for out 10 day Easter cruise.

Hatherton Canal, Churchbridge Locks

Hatherton Canal, Churchbridge to Rumer Hill Junction

February 2010

The Churchbridge flight if locks are a casualty of 1960's and 1970's opencast mining, with all traces swept away first by the NCB and then redeveloped into the Orbital Business Park.

 April 2020 update: Over the years I have managed to find a good collection of photos of this lost section of canal, which were jointly built by the BCN and the Staffs and Worcester Canal (owners of the Churchbridge Branch). BCN bought the land and S&W paid for the locks.

Churchbridge flight from the air

Rumer Hill Junction, Cannock Extension Canal 1950's
(I particularly like the "volcano" in the background, complete with its puff of smoke ;-)

A selection of photos of the top lick (Lock1):

Locks 4 - 1

Lock 5 down

Unidentified lock and pound

Watling St Bridge

Locks 13 to 9

The scene on ground gives little credibility to this proposed location but I can assure you that it is absolutely true. Having crossed the path of the A5, the Cannock Extension Canal took a swing westwards, stopping just short of the north / south railway line, before resuming a northerly course to terminate at Hednesford. It was at this point, just before the railway line at Churchbridge, that a connection was built to the Hatherton Branch Canal below.

 Line of the Hatherton and Cannock Extension Canals 1936

The Churchbridge flight was among the last set of locks to be built, and were said to be among the best engineered on the system. Sadly, following the abandonment of the canal in the 1950's  these venerable chambers stood in the way of progress, and in particular in the way of the Churchbridge opencast mine which was opened up so scour out the last remnants of coal left by the preceeding 100 years of mining activity. 

A few images of its destruction:

From the bridge below lock 4

The Lichfield and Hatherton Canan Restoration Trust's website contains a splendid collection of black and white images of these locks, just as they were being demolished. The following is a particularly good shot looking down towards the White Heart Hotel, which stood at the bottom, somewhere near today's Renault showroom. It would appear that the actual line of the locks lies beneath the multitude of roundabouts built on the incline leading to the Orbital Business Park.

The Churchbridge flight of locks, Hatherton Canal 1950's

Gilpins Works in the foreground

There is little point seeking out evidence on the ground as the line was completely obliterated, scoured out and then replaced by the old overburden. It's a shame, but at least we have a few photos left behind to give us an idea of how things used to be.

Lock 13

Hatherton Branch Canal, Wedges Mill to Churchbridge

Hatherton Branch Canal

Wedges Mill to Churchbridge

February 2009

There are few stretches of canal that are so utterly lost that it is as if they never existed at all. This is one of them.

Whilst a short length of the old the line extends east from Wedges MIll, passing behind Halfords, it is quickly swamped by the mass of Finning's huge CAT factory. That is the last we see of the old Hatherton Branch Canal, buried beneath a couple of miles of industrial sprawl, with it's final passage under the railway embankment lost as part of the M6 Toll construction.

Just as I was dispairing of finding anything meaningful to post on the length ,I unearthed two facets which are both significant and interesting.

Map and photo of Hawkins Basin with its aqueduct.

Firstly, the canal used to have an arm which extended into the extensive Hawkins Basin, crossing Wyrley brook by means of a brick built aqueduct. 

Lift bridge at entrance to Hawkins Basin 1957

Hawkins Basin 1920 (2 acres)

Oddly, this was the last trace of the canal to be lost, and was briefly unearthed when the adjacent motorway was built.

Walkmill Lock - early 1970's

Canal path along VInes Road and beyond

And then when I followed the map of the modern industrial estates it became apparent that the access road had been built directly over the canal's path.

Not a lot to see, just a couple of fragments, but you take what you can get in this game.

Hatherton Canal Cherry Tree Bridge

Hatherton Canal

Cherry Tree Bridge and Wedges Mill Lock

February 2010

The end of this pleasant waterside path is marked by Cherry Tree Bridge, which  comes complete with a fake crossover ramp built to give walkers access to the towpath. I suppose you could make a round trip of it and return down the edge of the noisy A5, but I would suggest that this canal walk justifies a trip in both directions.

Cherry Tree Bridge at Cannock

Beyond Cherry Tree Bridge there are only a couple of hundred yards of overgrown and inpenetrable ditch before the course is truncated by yet another embankment on which indiusrial units have been built beside the A4601 Wolverhampton Road. Whilst this is the end of the road for waterside wandererers, the line of the canal continues beyond the road to the site of Wegdes Mill Lock, behind Halfords.

Hatherton Canal nr Wedges Mill crossing

For the next quarter of a mile the old canal track is retained, now carrying Wryley Brook. After maybe 400 yards the course on the canal is lost, buried beneath the huge CAT Finning works never to re-emerge. The course followed what is now Vines Road, the site of Brick Lock (No 6) ,with the final two locks now buried beneath an access road between two warehouses.

This area also contained the extensive Hawkins Basin, accessed by an aqueduct over Wyrley Brook, which was briefly exhumed as part of the M6 Toll construction.

As for the rest of the line up to Churchbridge, this was all infilled in 1988 leaving no traces on the ground.

Hatherton Canal, Meadow Lock

Hatherton Canal

Cross Bridge to Meadow Lock , Cannock

February 2010

With the road veering off to the north, the Hatherton Canal enters a rural stretch, bordered by farmland on either side. The towpath has been lovingly tended by the Canal Trust and from the footprints in the  snow, it is a popular route for dog walkers.

Remains of Bridge No 8, Hatherton Canal

It is only a short distance to an embankment built to carry a farm access track over the canal, replacing the collapsed Cats (or maybe that's Catch) Bridge, demolished by the restoration group after subsudence rendered it unsafe. 

Cats or Catch's Bridge in the early 1970's

Whilst Cats bridge has been consigned to the history books, the next bridge called "No 8" has survived. Well, the northern end has survived but as it goes from no where to no where, no one seems too concerned at its passing.

Meadow Lock, Hatherton Canal

Then  comes the highlight of the walk, Meadow Lock. After months and months of wandering round the lost sections of the BCN is is quite exciting to see a genuine lock chamber, complete with sluice channels and gate hinges. Sure there are trees growing out of the walls, but at least the structure is visible and exists as a tangible reminder of what went before.

Gate remains on Meadow Lock

To this point that canal has been maintained at normal navigation levels, carrying the Wyrley Brook to the Staffs and Worcester further down the valley. This stream bubbles up into the canal bed just below Meadow Lock, beyond which the canal has been drained leaving only a small  ditch carved into it's old base.

Hatherton Canal at Saredon Mill

Hatherton Canal
M6 to Cross Bridge
February 2010

Having been ignomiously channelled beneath the M6 in a concrete pipe, the Hatherton Canal emerges fresh and breezy at Scawpers End Bridge on Oak Lane. This lowered bridge marks the start of a very pleasant towpath walk, which continues on for about a mile and a half to the back of the Roman Way Hotel on the outskirts of Cannock. For those of you not familiar with the hotel, it is near the A460 roundabout surrounded by Land of Leather, Pizza Hut, Motor Nation and a Shell garage.

Hatherton Canal at Saredon Mill

At the time of our visit the canal was covered with a thick layer of snow, and with temperatures dropping to a calorifier bursting minis 8C, even this fast flowing waterway was starting to freeze over. All this cold weather did have an upside as the canal line had been transformed into a scene straight out of Narnia, with the normally soft towpath rendered as hard as iron.

Shortly after Scawpers End Bridge you come to the beautifully preserved Saredon Mill access bridge, right beside a convenient lay by.

Saredon Mill Bridge, Haterton Canal

The canal then follows a winding course with water meadows on one side and a country lane on the other. Eventually, this lane crosses the canal on a skew bridge which had been 'de humped' and lowered leaving about four feet of air draft. The whole structure seems to have subsided over the years as the canal now laps over the towpath, presenting us with a mini skating rink which we would have to negotiate doubled up if we were to pass under the road.

Cross Bridge, Hatherton Canal

Hatherton Branch Canal two weeks after closure in 1952
Source- Journeys of the Swan - John Liley

Common sense prevailed and, forsaking the opportunity of an impromptu Bolero masterclass, we crossed over the snow caked road dropping down to the towpath on the far side to continue our exploration of this waterway.

Hatherton Canal at Calf Heath

Hatherton Canal at Calf Heath

February 2010

You could be forgiven for thinking that the Hatherton Canal is a living and breathing arm of the Staffs and Worcester, branching off the summit pound at Calf Heath, about three miles from Gailey top lock.

However, If you should venture into the first lock, which sits just off Hatherton Junction, you would soon discover the truth. This one decrepit lock is maintained solely to provide access to the small boatyard and moorings above, nothing more.

Hatherton lock no 2

Tecnically I guess you could say that the second lock remains operable as well, but only to lift boats into an improvised dry dock carved out of its side in the 1960's. The top gates are jammed, trapping the rotting remains of an old working day boat above them.

Lock No 2 Hatherton Canal, with sunk day boat

The Hatherton Canal remains in water above lock number two, but access is tricky on account of there being no towpath. However, the water can be glimpsed by walking to the back of therCalf Heath playing fields seeing the canal bend round to the north before it is culverted beneath the 'mile straight' road. Here Dog Bridge was removed for safetys sake, next to the Dog and Partridge pub, an old boaters inn. The canal line emerges on the far side but is promptly blocked by the huge M6 embankment, on which a ceaseless procession of traffic makes it's way north and south ensuring that, as the locals say, "it is never really quiet in Calf Heath".

The motorway embankment was built in the 1950's soon after the canal was abandoned, and about the time that the Churchbridge section was bulldozed away. As such it forms the single major obstacle to restoration at the western end. There are hopes that if the motorway is ever converted to four lanes, a culvert could be inserted to aid future restoration. There is no sight of this at the present time but, as we all know, canal restoration is a long game measured in decades, not years.