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Alan
Barnes follows the remarkable progress
made by the Lichfield & Hatherton
Canals Restoration Trust in putting back
an important ‘missing link’
in Britain’s canal network.
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Volunteers
have been clearing the tow path
on some stretches of the old Hatherton
Branch and rebuilding Saredon
Mill Bridge seen here.
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The
British restoration ‘industry’
is booming, with enthusiasts working on
the widest variety of projects imaginable.
I have met vehicle owners who have spent
more than 20 years working on buses or
lorries, while others have returned a
favourite vehicle to the road after only
a few months of intensive work. However
canal restoration definitely falls into
the ‘long-term’ category,
for returning a 200-year-old waterway
to navigable condition is not a task to
be undertaken lightly.
Formed in 1988, the Lichfield & Hatherton
Canals Restoration Trust is a registered
charity whose aim is straightforward –
to restore the Lichfield Canal and the
Hatherton Canal and re-open a lost waterway
link between Staffordshire and the West
Midlands. Although the aim might be straightforward,
completing this project is a hugely complex
task involving not only dedicated volunteer
groups but also the co-operation of local
authorities and various funding bodies.
However, while the sight of boats on a
newly-opened waterway might be many years
away, a great deal of progress has already
been made.
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Land around Darnford Lane was bought
by Lichfield District Council in
1995 and licensed to the Trust.
A new cut has been excavated to
allow the canal to pass under a
road without re-installing the original
hump-back bridge, and the steel
Darnford Lift Bridge (originally
on the Peak Forest Canal) will allow
the tow path to cross the canal
and avoid a nature reserve.
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These
two canals are part of the Birmingham
Canal Navigations. The name Lichfield
Canal has been given to the disused part
of the Wyrley and Essington Canal which
ran from Ogley Junction on the BCN to
Huddlesford Junction on the Coventry Canal
a distance of some seven miles. The Hatherton
Canal is a branch of the Staffordshire
and Worcester Canal, and its restoration
will involve a diversion from the original
route to the south of Cannock.
An Act of Parliament passed in 1792 authorised
the building of a canal from the collieries
at Wyrley Bank and Essington to Wolverhampton,
with a branch to Birchills near Walsall.
Two years later a supplementary Act was
passed granting permission to extend the
canal network to Brownhills and then through
30 locks in a descent to Huddlesford,
on the Coventry Canal. Engineer William
Pitt began work in 1794, and the main
route to Huddlesford was completed some
three years later, although it immediately
encountered water supply problems. This
was first solved by draining water from
Norton Bog, but it wasn’t until
1800, with the completion of the Chasewater
Reservoir, that the water supply problems
were alleviated. The arms to Wyrley Bank
and Essington were completed by 1799,
and the cut was then further extended
another mile and a half towards Great
Wyrley.Completion of the canal brought
the means of transporting cheap coal to
Lichfield and created new regular traffic
to Derby, Burton and London.
After the initial canals had been completed
by 1800, the whole system was surveyed
with a view to constructing commercially-effective
extensions to boost revenue. The system
was a great success, not only bringing
a rapid growth in traffic but also being
in the position to sell water to other
nearby canal companies. In 1840 a flight
of eight locks was built at Walsall to
link with the Birmingham Canal Branch,
and the two canal companies merged that
year to form the Birmingham Canal Navigations(BCN).
During the next few years growth and expansion
continued, with improved engineering techniques
being used to add links to important industrial
areas. In 1854 an Act was passed for the
building of the Cannock Extension, planned
to meet the Trent and Mersey Canal but
in the event terminating at Hednesford.
However the new canal was linked to the
Hatherton Branch of the Staffordshire
& Worcestershire canal through an
impressive flight of 13 locks at Churchbridge,
once described as one of the most impressive
flights in the country but now sadly lost.
End
of the On-line article. You can read the full article in the latest
issue of Old Glory.
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