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Untitled Brownhills

Wyrley & Essington

In 1794 an act of Parliament was passed to enable the Wyrley and Essington Canal Co. to extend its exsistng Cannock to Wolverhampton branch. This canal would link up with the Coventry Canal at Lichfield, and thereby the ports of the east coast. The Wryley and Essington ran from Birchills in Walsall to Ogley Hay in Brownhills, where it joined the Daw end branch, and took three years to build.
To provide water for the canal and to keep it topped up a reservoir was created by damming the Crane brook at Norton. This created what is now known as Chasewater. This dam burst in June 1799 causing much damage to farmland, and roads an bridges. By March 1800 the dam had been rebuilt and has stood ever since!
Although the Wyrley & Essington Canal was fairly successful for over 40 years, the company was no match for the BCN ( Birmingham Canal Navigation) who had a virtual monopoly of the waterways in the Black Country.With railways also becoming an ever bigger threat the Wyrley & Essington company decided to amalgamate with the BCN in April 1840. This merger was good for the BCN as previously they were having to pay to top up their canals with water from Chasewater. The boundary posts of the BCN can still be found around Chasewater and Anglesey basin.
This trail starts at the Pelsall/Brownhills border, through brownhills to Walsall Wood,

The Norton Branch railway bridge of 1858, showing the disused span for the Slough arm. Detail of the arch brickwork of the roof.

Underneath the Norton Branch bridge,showing the slots for fitting wooden planks to block off the canal if any maintenance work was required.

The view on the left shows Birch Coppice on the opposite side of the towpath. This was the scene of some of the earliest industrial activity in Brownhills. Following the canal round under the modern Jolly Collier bridge(in the background), you come to the South Staffordshire Railway bridge of 1848.

Coopers bridge, named after the owner of the farm to which the bridge led to. This bridge replaced an earlier swing bridge, and the farm that was next to it was called Swing bridge farm. The right hand view shows the remains of the roller mechanism left over from the days of horse drawn barges. A wooden roller was attached to the spindle, and the ropes pulling the barge ran on these to protect the brickwork of the bridge from damage.

On the left, the track over Cooper's bridge to Swingbridge farm, and on the right looking down the track leading from the Pelsall road to Cooper's bridge.

View from Cooper's bridge looking towards Brownhills, and the remains of the Midland Railway bridge. The right view looking back to Cooper's bridge.

Brownhills coal loading wharves. Tramways led to here from the pits on Brownhills common, and a track from the South Staffs railway branched off to here from the station. The wharf on the left was once covered. The wharf on the right is filled in.

Catshill junction footbridge, and Catshill junction. Under the bridge is the Daw end branch of the Wyrlry and Essington leading to Walsall wood ,Aldridge and Rushall. The plaque on the bridge is dated 1892, but this replaced an older bridge.The narrowing of the canal here was due to the presence of a toll house. The main line of the Wyrley carries off to the left towards Ogley Junction.

On the left marked by the line of trees is the path of the Sandhills branch canal, which led to lime kilns and a wharf at Sandhills. Built around 1815 and was in use for about 70 years. On the right is the Ogley Hay Steam Flour Mill, built around 1840. Now converted into apartments.

Footbridge at Ogley Junction. On the right a view from the footbridge looking towards what were Ogley locks. This was a series of eight locks that took the canal to Huddlesford Junction in Lichfield. On the right can just be seen the roof of the lockkeepers cottage. The Anglesey Branch joins the main canal here.

A series of 8 locks carried the Wyrley and Essington from here to the Coventry canal at Huddlesford in Lichfield.
They were closed in 1954 due to lack of traffic and high maintenance costs. most of the line has now been filled in though there are still some visible remains of the locks to be seen.

The lock in the best state of repair is the old No8 lock.Although the date on the lock is given as 1858,this is the date the system of locks were strentghened. They were actually built in the 1790's. Some of the original brickwork can still be seen at the lock bottom. This lock will be covered over if ever the Lichfield and Hatherton canal trust "restore" the line. Some preservation.
Below are some images of the lock. Unfortunately this lock is now inaccessable due to the M6 Toll.