Anson Branch
The canal near Bentley Mill Bridge
Specifications
Locks	0
Status	derelict but watered
History
Original owner	Birmingham Canal Navigations
Date of act	1768
Date of first use	1830
Geography
Start point	Bentley Mines
End point	Walsall Canal
Branch(es)	Bentley Canal (defunct)
Branch of	Walsall Canal

v t e Anson Branch
Legend
Bentley mines and quarry Basin Bentley Lane Bloxwich Lane M6 motorway Jn 10 Bentley Mill Way Bentley Canal River Tame Aqueduct Walsall Canal Aqueduct Foresters Bridge

TheAnson Branch is a shortcanal in theWest Midlands, England. It runs for just over one mile from its junction with theWalsall Canal near Forster's bridge. It forms part of theBirmingham Canal Navigations.

The canal is only partially watered and is no longer navigable. It formerly connected with the now defunctBentley Canal which, in turn, connected with theWyrley and Essington Canal. The canal has no locks.

The branch was authorised by theBirmingham Canal Navigation Act 1768 (8 Geo. 3. c. 38), but was not completed until 1830.^[1] It was surveyed byThomas Telford, who estimated that it would cost £9,499 to build. The route had to cross theRiver Tame, just to the north of the junction with the Walsall Canal, and this required an aqueduct and an embankment. Telford wanted Thomas Townsend to build it, but he was not keen to accept the contract, as he believed that Telford's estimate was too low. However, he was persuaded, and the contract was signed in March 1830.^[2]

It was built to serve the coal mines and a limestone quarry in Bentley,^[3] which were owned by the Earl of Lichfield. From the Walsall Canal, it headed in a north-easterly direction, and was almost straight for most of its length, apart from near the mines, where it turned to the north to reach a wharf, from which horse tramways connected to the Bentley mines and furnaces. By 1832, several blast furnaces had also been built near to the terminal basin. In order to tap into the mineral resources further to the north, the Bradford Branch was proposed, but only a small section was built as a canal, and the rest was constructed as a narrow-gauge tramway. It was completed in 1840, and was owned and operated by the canal company.^[2]

Following the amalgamation of theWyrley and Essington Canal with the Birmingham Canal Navigations on 9 February 1840, the new company were keen to create junctions between the two systems. TheBentley Canal was one of these, and ran from the Anson Branch to the Wyrley and Essington atWednesfield.^[4] It opened in 1843.^[1]

By the 1890s, many of the mines had been worked out, and the local industry was in serious decline in the early twentieth century. However, the canal found a new use, when a power station was built atBirchills. Construction began in 1914, and some of it was operational by 1916, although it was not officially finished until 1922. It required a water supply, and a pumping station with twoMather and Platt pumps was installed beside the canal. The pumps could deliver 10.6 milliongallons (48 Megalitres) per day, and once the water had passed through the power station, it was discharged into the Wyrley and Essington Canal to supply the Wolverhampton level of the Birmingham Canal Navigations. As a result, a pumping station near the top of Birchills locks was switched off and dismantled. From 1927, the power station became the responsibility of West Midlands Joint Electricity Authority, and then theBritish Electricity Authority following nationalisation in 1948. A second power station was commissioned in 1949.^[2]

The section above the Bentley Canal junction was abandoned as a navigation in 1956, and the Bentley Canal and the rest of the Anson Branch were abandoned in 1961.^[1] When theM6 motorway was built, it crossed the route of the branch, but because of its water supply function, a culvert was provided. It was large enough for small maintenance craft to pass through, although would not be considered large enough for modern pleasure craft. The power station was decommissioned in 1980, and the pumps were switched off, since when the branch has gradually deteriorated.^[2]

The remains of the branch, covering an area of 13.6 acres (5.5 ha), have been designated as a site of local importance for nature conservation (SLINC) by Walsall Council.^[5]

• Canals of the United Kingdom
• History of the British canal system

52°34′39″N2°01′20″W / 52.5775°N 2.0221°W /52.5775; -2.0221

• 1830 establishments in England
• Birmingham Canal Navigations
• Transport in Walsall
• Canals in the West Midlands (county)
• Canals opened in 1830

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