The Rushall Canal is a straight, , narrow

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

suitable for boats which are wide, forming part of the

Birmingham Canal Navigations Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN) is a network of canals connecting Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and the eastern part of the Black Country. The BCN is connected to the rest of the English canal system at several junctions. It was owned and opera ...

(BCN) on the eastern side of

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

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 motorway The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 and the western end of the A14 at ...

s) on the

Tame Valley Canal The Tame Valley Canal is a relatively late (1844) canal in the West Midlands of England. It forms part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations. It takes its name from the roughly-parallel River Tame. Geography The canal runs from Tame Valley Junc ...

and climbs due north through nine

locks Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

to Longwood Junction at Hay Head, where it joins the 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 Catshill Junction () is a canal junction at the northern limit of the Daw End Branch Canal where it meets the Wyrley and Essington Canal main line, near Brownhills, in West Midlands, England. History When the Wyrley and Essington Canal was a ...

near

Brownhills Brownhills is a town and former administrative centre in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. A few miles south of Cannock Chase and close to the large Chasewater reservoir, it is northeast of Walsall, a similar dista ...

. 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 Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...

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 Cannock () is a town in the Cannock Chase district in the county of Staffordshire, England. It had a population of 29,018. Cannock is not far from the nearby towns of Walsall, Burntwood, Stafford and Telford. The cities of Lichfield and Wolv ...

mines to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

and the Black Country. The engineer was James Walker. It was specified to be wide with towpaths on both sides. The towpaths were to be wide, but only one of them (on the west side) was constructed. It was completed 1847. p116

Points of interest

References

* {{coord, 52.5504, -1.9565, display=title, region:GB_dim:6000 Birmingham Canal Navigations Canals in the West Midlands (county) Transport in Walsall Canals opened in 1847 1847 establishments in England

Route

History

Points of interest

See also

References