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Narrow canal,
30
miles, 58 locks, 4 tunnels. 2 energetic days to cruise. |
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 The
Worcester and Birmingham canal links the two cities, built to
connect the River Severn in Worcester to the Birmingham Canal
System via a quicker route than the Staffordshire and
Worcestershire Canal. At first, because of opposition from other
canals, there was no direct connection in Birmingham, the last
few feet of canal in Birmingham were left uncompleted. These
days the ring formed by the two canals and the river makes a
popular two weeks holiday route.
The 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.
Worcester has a fine Cathedral which dates
from 1074 and Georgian buildings. Close to Hanbury is the 16th
century Hanbury Hall. At Bournville is the Cadbury's Chocolate
Factory which has tours and exhibitions. Cadbury's had a fleet
of immaculately painted narrowboats which carried their raw
materials to the factory. There is also the village built by the
firm for its workers and two half timbered houses which were
moved here from other parts of Birmingham.
The canal has four tunnels, the longest at
Kings Norton near the junction with the Stratford Canal is just
under two miles long. Steam tugs were used from the 1870's to
haul strings of narrowboats through the four tunnels. There's
also the famous flight of thirty locks at Tardebigge, hard but
interesting work for boat crews. The locks fill and empty very
quickly so it's possible to do them all in an (energetic)
morning! The Worcester and Birmingham has plenty to see and
plenty to do!
The Worcester and Birmingham canal is well
known for its locks, 58 in all climbing 428 feet from the level
of the River Severn in Worcester up to Birmingham. Originally it
was planned to use lifts to greatly reduce the number of locks
and to save canal water. However there was some concern over
whether the lifts would be robust enough, and good water
supplies were secured by building reservoirs at Tardebigge and
later at Upper Bittal, so locks were built instead. Tardebigge
reservoir was below the canal summit level so a steam engine was
used to lift the water above the locks. The engine house still
stands. One lift was built, but it was not reliable and became
the top lock at Tardebigge. This accounts for it's great depth,
fourteen feet, one of the deepest on the canal system. |
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The top
lock and lock cottage at Tardebigge. |
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Hireboats on the Worcester & B'ham |
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 The
Starline Narrowboats base at Upton Upon Severn offers short
breaks or weekly hire offering tranquil river cruising combined with
the canal heritage and locks of the spectacular Worcester to
Birmingham canal. |
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One of the Astwood flight of six
locks, a few miles south of the Tardebigge flight.
(Both photos by Tony Lewery) |
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The
'Avon Ring' also includes the
