2016

SJ9422 : Stafford Riverway Link restoration near Baswich

taken 8 years ago, near to Weeping Cross, Staffordshire, England

Stafford Riverway Link restoration near Baswich
Stafford Riverway Link restoration near Baswich
This is where a short aqueduct to St Thomas Lock used to be, dropping the Sow Navigation from the holding basin to a channel leading north-west to the River Sow. Since the route closed in the 1920s, the River Penk has been diverted along the former Deepmore drainage channel which crossed at the foot of the lock, so that will be a new problem for the engineers restoring the project now.

The project to reopen the link between the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal and the River Sow has started. This navigation, dating from 1816, closed in the 1920s.
LinkExternal link (Archive LinkExternal link )
The Stafford Riverway Link

The Stafford Riverway Link is a new name for the former Stafford Branch Canal or River Sow Navigation which used to link the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal at Baswich with the town centre of Stafford. A restoration project plans to reconstruct the link "for community benefit".

The link consisted of a short section of canal branching off the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal near St Thomas Bridge 101. This led via a basin and an aqueduct over a drainage channel and into St Thomas Lock, then down into the River Sow. From here the river course was straightened and made navigable for about a mile and a half to the terminus at a basin near Green Bridge in Stafford.

The canal opened in 1772, the River Sow Navigation in 1816. It ceased operations in the 1920s.

Information from the IWA here: LinkExternal link

Note: Immediately below the lock now is the River Penk, which was diverted along the former Deepmore drainage ditch during flood control activities in the 1970s, so no longer joins the Sow at its original confluence SJ94272281. It now does so 300 metres further east at SJ94572287.


Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Roger D Kidd and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Farm, Fishery, Market Gardening Grassland Rivers, Streams, Drainage Construction, Development Canals other tags: Former Lock Pasture Flood Plain Click a tag, to view other nearby images.
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SJ9422, 267 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Roger D Kidd   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Wednesday, 28 September, 2016   (more nearby)
Submitted
Monday, 4 December, 2017
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! SJ 9440 2279 [10m precision]
WGS84: 52:48.1581N 2:5.0703W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! SJ 9440 2277
View Direction
NORTH (about 0 degrees)
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Image Type (about): geograph 
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