Well I’m most disappointed, not one person had a go at my
quiz, but as promised here are the answers.
1 The Groveland aqueduct carrying Brindley's old canal over
the Netherton Tunnel Branch. Here a two channel stop lock was installed where
boats were gauged for tolls, there used to be a toll office on the central
island which, like all of them on the BCN, has been demolished. What is interesting is the small building on
the tunnel end of the island and the large pipes connecting it to the upper
level. This used to house a water
turbine turned by letting water drop from the old to the new main line,
generating electricity for the lighting system through the tunnel, some of the
insulators are still in situ through the tunnel.
2 The Northern portal of the 2880 yard Harecastle Old tunnel
built between 1770 and 1777 The tunnel suffered subsidence in the early 20th
century and was closed after a partial collapse in 1914 Inspections of the
disused tunnel continued until the 1960s, but since that time, there has been
no attempt to investigate the interior of the tunnel at any significant
distance from the portals.
3 BCN Head offices. The 1773 Paradise Street Branch split off the
new main line at Old Turn Junction and headed through Broad Street Tunnel,
turned left at what is now Gas Street Basin and under Bridge Street to wharves
on a pair of long basins. Known as Paradise
Wharf, also called Old Wharf. The Birmingham Canal Company head office was
finally built there, opposite the western end of Paradise Street. These offices were demolished in 1913 and the
canal in filled in 1931
4 Latchford canal . This old canal, called the Latchford
Canal, went from Runcorn to Warrington. It was completely destroyed by the
building of the Manchester Ship Canal in the 1890's. The chemical works shown
has also now-disappeared (Wigg works), which made Sulphuric Acid by the lead
chamber process.
5 Broad Street bridge Wolverhampton. This bridge carried the Wolverhampton to
Wednesfield Road over the Birmingham Canal, close to the point where the road
goes beneath the London Midland Railway line, resulting in the road taking a
very steep drop to go under the main railway bridge. While building the
Wolverhampton Ring Road it was removed and replaced with a new, wider bridge.
The old bridge was removed in the late 1970’s and rebuilt at the Black Country
Living Museum.
6 Old Cardiff canal The
route of the canal was a very difficult journey. Merthyr is very much higher
than Cardiff, and there are several very steep bits along the way. So that
meant that there would have to be a number of locks to lower the level of the
water where necessary. In the one mile
between Quakers Yard and Abercynon there were 16 locks, 11 of them in only a
quarter of a mile. By the time a boat
reached Tongwynlais, it had passed through 41 locks. But with all this to build, the canal was
completed in 3 ½ years. It was 25 miles long, had 50 locks and an
aqueduct, and was later extended from the town wall in Cardiff down to the
shore.
7 Tipton Junction. The
junction where the Dudley canal joins the Old Main line. A stop lock was installed for gauging and
toll purposes (Known locally as Batsons stop) and on the off side a lay bye and
wharf, which at the time of the photo was operated by a coal merchant, now
fenced in and owned by the oil Company (Batsons) In the 1960’s (photo about
1964) the lay bye was used by the Dudley Canal Tunnel Preservation Society to
store their wooden Joey boats used for tripping through the Dudley tunnel to
raise preservation funds.
8 Kidderminster lock and the Old canal warehouse, Staffs & Worcester
canal, Kidderminster The well-photographed church is beyond, but the point of
interest here is the canalside warehouse which has long since been demolished.
9 Bloomfield exchange basins.
The Wednesbury Oak Loop, sometimes known as the Bradley Arm, is part of James
Brindley's main line, but became a loop when Thomas Telford's improvements of
the 1830s bypassed it by the construction of the Coseley Tunnel. The
south-eastern end of the loop was closed and in parts built over, following the
designation of the entire loop as "abandoned" in 1954. At Bloomfield
Junction the canal split into several basin arms forming the Bloomfield Railway
Exchange Basins.
10 Widnes, Runcorn.
Picture shows one of the last commercial boats to be built for British
waterways these were of all welded construction.
11 Boatmans Mission Tipton In all, The Seaman’s & Boatman’s
Friendly Society had five missions catering for both the Physical as well as
the spiritual wellbeing of boat families on the
BCN. And they put considerable
effort into helping the boaters, who were often treated as outcasts in wider
society.
12 Litherland canal bridge in Liverpool about 1910. Footbridge
over the Leeds & Liverpool Canal at Litherland, Liverpool, Merseyside,
England. This Victorian iron foot bridge dates from the 1880s and is also used
to carry gas, water and electricity services to the east side of the canal. The
bridge is to be demolished in the near future. An attempt save the bridge by a
local group was unsuccessful.
13 Aqueduct over GWR at Dudley Port. This blue brick aqueduct
was replaced in the late 1960’s. To the
right of the canal bridge can be seen the pre cast concrete trough that was to
be craned into position. This was right
next to where I was born and lived as a small child.
14 This is bridge number 208 on the Leeds-Liverpool canal,
known as Junction Bridge, Shipley. Just beside it (left of the photo) the canal
was linked to the Bradford Canal, a 3.5 mile spur that ran directly into the
centre of Bradford. That was closed in 1922 and though there has been talk of
reopening it, the plans have not progressed.
15 Factory bridge. This
original bridge carried the A403, Hurst Lane over the canal at Factory
Junction. It was removed and replaced by
an unimaginative concrete span when the road was widened.
16 Junction of the W & E
and Bentley canal This branch turned off at what is now known as Wednesfield
Junction and went under a cast iron roving bridge. There was a Toll Office
before the first lock and the first bridge was New Cross bridge. There were 6
locks in the Wednesfield section. The
Toll Office or Lock House, BCN number 245, appeared to be a bungalow but had a
lower storey built in to the bank. The first lock had ground paddles at both
ends originally, but was modified at a later date with gate paddles at the
lower end. Locks 2 and 3 followed, and lock 4 came after the brick and girder
bridge with a lock house number 246. Well Lane bridge was next.
17 The Beehive Pub at Tipton Green Junction by the top of
Tipton Green locks. This was where the
Tipton & Toll End Communication canal left the Old Main Line opposite
coronation gardens
18 Runcorn locks looking west down the new locks towards the
ship canal and Mersey estuary, the old locks lead off to the right
19 Tipton Gauging station.
Located at the side of Factory Three top lock and where boats went to be
gauged. By loading known weights into
the boat and taking measurements of dry inches of side, The future cargoes of
boats could be calculated by referring to these registers.
20 Hertfordshire, Rickmansworth, old photo of the canal and
bridge. A young boaters child can be
seen riding the boat horse along the canal.
21 Tipton Green Locks.
The top two of the Tipton Green three locks. This is exactly how I remember the BCN as I
grew up. As a child although still in
water and everything still in place, I don’t ever recall ever seeing a boat
using these locks.
22 ‘Sorry could not resist this one’ The Ohio canal This canal tunnel is located across the
Potomac river from PawPaw, West Virginia. It was cut through over 4,600 feet of
mountain. Because of the winding river, it reduced the length of the total
canal by over 3 miles.
23Tipton Green toll office and stop. I clearly remember this
octagonal toll office at this stop and also remember it being dismantled and
taken to the Black Country Museum for re building (though it never has and as
there are none left in situ, it is an important piece of BCN history) If
passing, you can still see the outline of the octagon in the ground.
Well there you go, hope you enjoyed my bit of fun so till next time,
Don't bang 'em about
Blossom
