Hawne Basin and Coombswood

Hawne Basin and Coombswood

December 2022

The Coombswood area of the BCN on the Dudley No 2 Canal is far from lost, but it's certainly rarely travelled apart from the local boaters heading into Hawne Basin for moorings, diesel or blacking.

Whilst it's not abandoned, the stretch south from Gosty Hill Tunnel is very atmospheric and justifies a page of its own, separating the images out from those covering the stretch of lost canal from Halesowen to the northern portal of the collapsed Lapal Tunnel.

The following images include the Gosty Hill Tunnel, the remains of the Stewart and Lloyds Tube Works and Hawne Basin, which used to be a railway interchange.

On the Dudley No2 Canal

Northern Portal of Gosty Hill Tunnel with tug boathouse

Southern portal of Gosty Hill Tunnel

Legging through Gosty Tunnel

Into Stewart and Lloyds Tube Works

Stewart and Lloyds

Stewart and Lloyds boat dock

Dudley No2 Canal with Hawne Basin

Burton Bridge - Entrance to Hawne Basin

Around the basin when used to store tubes

1966

1987

Hawne Basin 1987 - the start of its rebirth as a boat mooring

The last pit pony at Coombs Wood Colliery

The above photos have been assembled from various sources, including those freely found on the internet. My thanks go to the many photographers alive and dead who have contributed to this collection and in so doing, are keeping the memory of these lost canals alive. These images are reproduced for ease of research are are not necessarily the property of this blog, and as such should not be used for commercial gain without the explicit permission of the owner (whoever that may be).

Camp Hill

Camp Hill

December 2022

Ok, so Camp Hill isn't part of the BCN, but like the Stourbridge and Hatherton Canals to the west and north I think it's fair to say that given their proximity, they share the same DNA as the BCN network.

Camp Hill was originally the northern end of the 1796 Warwick and Birmingham Canal which had its terminus in Digbeth, alongside Fazeley Street, a waterway which was subsumed into the Grand Union Canal Company in the 1930's.

The area above the six Camp Hill Locks became known as Sampson Road Wharf, an area which was heavily developed in the 1930's in conjunction with the Grand Union improvements scheme as it represented the closest point to the local railway network and became known as Birmingham Quay. In addition to the canal frontage opposite the extensive BSA site, there was a T shaped basin, part of which survives today and also a wide basin which was covered by the warehouses built in the 1930's.

I suspect that the correct naming of the canal mattered little to the boaters of old who simply referred to it as the "Middle Road" - the Bottom being the Birmingham and Fazeley and the Top being the North Stratford.

Anyway, the proximity of the canal to the city of Birmingham as it makes its way through Sparkbrook and Tyseley towards Solihull means its is of interest to me, and I need somewhere to store my collection of images of the area. These were the images gathered for the Cannock Coal YouTube series on Canal Hunter.

So, starting at Bordesley Junction and heading up the locks here is how the area used to look "back in the day".

Bordesley Junction 1976

Bordesley Junction 1978

Camp Hill Bottom Lock

Bottom Lock 1978

Camp Hill Bottom (6) 1977

Bordesley Junction 1961

Camp Hill Lock Five 1978

Camp Hill Second Lock 1970

 Second Lock 1962

Camp Hill Lock 3

Second Lock 

Top Lock 1970

Top Lock 1970

Camp Hill top lock 1998

Camp Hill Top Lock 1930's

Sampson Rd Wharf 1998

Sampson Road Wharf 1930's

GU's Sampson Rd Depot being built

Covered Wharf

NB Whitby in GU's Wharf

Sampson Road Loading Dock 1930's

Sampson Road Wharf

Trial cargo boxes at Sampson Road

Camp Hill 

Sampson Road Wharf 1990

1930's

BSA Works Armoury Road 1927

BSA Works from above

Above Camp Hill Top 1970

BSA Works in Small Heath

The above photos have been assembled from various sources, including those freely found on the internet. My thanks go to the many photographers alive and dead who have contributed to this collection and in so doing, are keeping the memory of these lost canals alive. These images are reproduced for ease of research are are not necessarily the property of this blog, and as such should not be used for commercial gain without the explicit permission of the owner (whoever that may be).

Monway Branch

December 2022

The Monway Branch has to be one of the most obscure lost branches of the BCN, built to service heavy industry of Wednedbury to the east of the Walsall Canal between the better known (but also lost) Gospel Oak and Bradley Locks branches.

This "L" shaped branch was about 3/4 mile in length and its construction was approved in Parliament in 1783, at the same time as the Ryders Green extension of the old Birmingham Canal to reach the collieries of Broadwaters (later becoming the Walsall Canal) but economic uncertainty delayed construction till 1812.

The area was very prosperous for several decades with the surrounding land being used for heavy industry till the depression arrived in the late 1870's. 

After clearance of the first wave of industry on the site the Patent Shaft Works was built in the 1950's and became the most significant business on its banks. The branch canal became less relevant over the years till finally just the entrance bridge remained during Hugh Potter's visit in the early 1970's.

These days the only echo of the branch and its industry is the name of the main road through the area - The Patent Shaft Way.

Fortunately a few photos have emerged which capture this backwater, if not in its heyday then at least in its decline!

Monway Branch entrance in about 1973 Hugh Potter

A. new Railway Bridge over the Monway Branch in 1958 Mark Hooper

Into the works in 1956 from Railway Bridge Mark Hooper

The "back arm" from the air

Patent Shaft works on the Monway Branch 1959 - Mark Hooper

The complete Monway network

Patent Shaft site 1956 with Ocker Hill Power Station in the gloom beyond - Mark Hooper

The "Back Arm" over the Patent Shaft site 1956 Mark Hooper

Patent Shaft and Axletree Works on the Monway Branch

The Monway site in operation in the late 1950's

Slightly off the Monday Branch but with the chimneys of Patent Shaft in the background if this good shot of Round's scrapyard near Leabrook Road Bridge with a Cadbury's steam shunting engine in the middle - see press article for the story.

Rounds Scrapyard on the Walsall Canal early 1960's  Source RCHS Ian Husselbee

The above photos have been assembled from various sources, including those freely found on the internet. My thanks go to the many photographers alive and dead who have contributed to this collection and in so doing, are keeping the memory of these lost canals alive. These images are reproduced for ease of research are are not necessarily the property of this blog, and as such should not be used for commercial gain without the explicit permission of the owner (whoever that may be).