2020

SP0686 : The Worcester Bar

taken 4 years ago, near to Birmingham, England

The Worcester Bar
The Worcester Bar
This is the point where the Birmingham Canal Navigations Main Line turns into the Worcester and Birmingham Canal where at one time all goods had to be transhipped. It's all part of one network now of course but there are still contrasting signage styles.
The Worcester and Birmingham Canal

The Worcester and Birmingham Canal was built in stages between 1791 and 1815 to connect the River Severn in Worcester to the Birmingham Canal System using a quicker route than the earlier Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. Opposition from other canal companies meant that for twenty years there was no direct connection in Birmingham, the last two and a bit metres of canal there being left uncompleted in 1795. LinkExternal link

This lunacy was eventually resolved by an Act of Parliament in 1815 and a stop-lock constructed.

Grain, timber and agricultural produce were carried to the Midlands. Industrial goods and coal were carried down towards Worcester, often for onward transport to Bristol. Later, salt carrying was added as a regular cargo. Pairs of donkeys were often used in preference to horses, maybe because they could easily be put onto the boats which had to be legged (or pulled by tug) through the tunnels.

The canal has five tunnels. The longest at Kings Norton is just under two miles long. Steam tugs were used from the 1870s to haul strings of narrowboats through Wasts Hill, Shortwood and Tardebigge tunnels. The Worcester and Birmingham Canal has locks, 58 of them, climbing 428 feet (130 metres) from the level of the River Severn in Worcester up to Birmingham.

In the twenty-first century the ring now formed by the two canals and the river makes a popular two weeks holiday route, albeit partly a strenuous one, lockwise, but there are plenty of pubs, though some are now merely restaurants with a bar. The Worcester and Birmingham Canal travels through some very pleasant countryside, climbing from the Severn through rolling fields and wooded cuttings and slicing through a hilly ridge south of Birmingham.

LinkExternal link


Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Stephen McKay and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Canals Primary Subject: Canal other tags: Sign Click a tag, to view other nearby images.
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Birmingham [2305] · Birmingham Canal [481] · Worcester and Birmingham Canal [148] ·
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1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
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SP0686, 3408 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Stephen McKay   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Friday, 7 February, 2020   (more nearby)
Submitted
Tuesday, 11 February, 2020
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! SP 0622 8658 [10m precision]
WGS84: 52:28.6269N 1:54.5910W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! SP 0622 8658
View Direction
Northeast (about 45 degrees)
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Image Type (about): close look 
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