Rushall Canal (BCN)
 Daw End Branch, Wyrley and Essington Canal
 Longwood Junction, Hay Head Nature Reserve
 Start of Rushall Canal
 Lock 1
 Lock 2
Lock 3
 Lock 4
 A34 road
 Lock 5
 Lock 6
 Lock 7
 Lock 8
 Lock 9
M6 motorway
 End of Rushall Canal
 Rushall Junction, Tame Valley Canal
Rushall bottom lock in distance

The Rushall Canal is a straight, 2.75-mile (4.43 km), narrow canal suitable for boats which are 7 feet (2.1 m) wide, forming part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN) on the eastern side of Walsall, West Midlands, England.

Route

The Rushall Canal runs from Rushall Junction (which is within the triangle formed by the flyovers of the junction of the M5 and M6 motorways) on the Tame Valley Canal and climbs due north through nine locks to Longwood Junction at Hay Head, where it joins the 5.25-mile (8.45 km) long Daw End Branch, a meandering, lock-free branch of the Wyrley and Essington Canal (W&E) which joins the main W&E at Catshill Junction near Brownhills. A short, non-navigable, arm at Longwood Junction leads to Hay Head Nature Reserve, which was once an area of limestone mines.

History

The canal was built in the, then, county of Staffordshire under an Act of Parliament of April 1844 (four years after the merger of the BCN and W&E) to connect the Daw End Branch to The Tame Valley Canal to take coal from Cannock mines to Birmingham and the Black Country. The engineer was James Walker. It was specified to be 36 feet (11 m) wide with towpaths on both sides. The towpaths were to be 9 feet (2.7 m) wide, but only one of them (on the west side) was constructed. It was completed 1847.[1]

Points of interest

Point Coordinates
(Links to map resources)		 OS Grid Ref Notes
Longwood Junction 52°35′25″N 1°56′33″W / 52.5904°N 1.9424°W / 52.5904; -1.9424 (Longwood Junction) SP039991 Continues as the Daw End Branch
Rushall top lock 1 52°35′22″N 1°56′34″W / 52.5895°N 1.9428°W / 52.5895; -1.9428 (Rushall top lock 1) SP038991
Rushall bottom lock 9 52°33′46″N 1°57′08″W / 52.5629°N 1.9521°W / 52.5629; -1.9521 (Rushall bottom lock 9) SP032961
Rushall Junction 52°33′01″N 1°57′23″W / 52.5504°N 1.9565°W / 52.5504; -1.9565 (Rushall Junction) SP030947

See also

References

  1. ↑ Broadbridge, S. R. (1974). The Birmingham Canal Navigations, Vol. 1 1768 - 1846. David & Charles. ISBN 0-7509-2077-7. p116
  • Pearson, Michael (1989). Canal Companion - Birmingham Canal Navigations. J. M. Pearson & Associates. ISBN 0-907864-49-X.

52°33′01″N 1°57′23″W / 52.5504°N 1.9565°W / 52.5504; -1.9565

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