Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal
Kidderminster Lock on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal
Interactive map of Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal
Specifications
Length	46 miles (74 km)
Maximumboat length	70 ft 0 in (21.34 m)
Maximumboat beam	7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
Locks	43
Navigation authority	Canal and River Trust
History
Principal engineer	James Brindley
Date of act	14 May 1766
Date of first use	1772
Date completed	1771
Geography
Start point	River Severn
End point	Trent and Mersey Canal

v t e Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal
Legend
Great Haywood Jn Trent and Mersey Canal River Trent aqueduct 43 Tixall Lock River Sow aqueduct Baswich Lock and weir River Sow Navigation Stafford wharf Railway bridge 98  A34  Radford Bridge Hazlestrine Branch 40-42 locks (3)  M6  39 Longford Lock 38 Penkridge Lock 37 Filance Lock,Penkridge 33-36 locks (4) 79  A5  Gailey Bridge 32 Gailey Top Lock Hatherton Branch (feeder) Railway bridge Coven Village 70  A449  Brinsford Bridge  M54  Autherley Jn Shropshire Union Canal Railway bridge Aldersley Jn BCN Main Line Dunstall Water Bridge 62  A41 Tettenhall New Bridge Summit pound (10 miles) 31 Compton Lock 59  A454  Compton Bridge 29-30 Wightwick locks (2) The Pool resr. and feeder 27-28 Dimmingdale + Ebstree locks (2) 26 Awbridge Lock 23-25 Bratch locks (3) 22 Bumblehole Lock,Wombourne 20-21 Botterham staircase locks (2) 17-19 Marsh/Swindon/Hinksford locks (3) 16 Greenforge Lock Ashwood marina + formerEarl of Dudley's Railway 15 Rocky Lock 14 Gothersley Lock Stourton Jn Stourbridge Canal 13 Stewponey Lock 31A  A458  Stewponey New Bridge Dunsley Tunnel (25 yd) 12 Hyde Lock 11 Kinver Lock, Dunsley 10 Whittington Lock Cookley Tunnel (65 yd) 9 Debdale Lock 8 Wolverley Lock 7 Wolverley Court Lock River Stour aqueduct 6 Kidderminster Lock 16  A456  St Marys Ringway 13  A442  Round Hill bridge 5 Caldwall Lock Severn Valley Railway 4 Falling Sands Lock lock to River Stour Wilden Ironworks Railway Basin railway bridge 6  A451  Gilgal bridge 5  A451  Lower Mitton bridge 3 York Street Lock,Stourport Stourport basins 2 Narrow staircase + broad lock Stourport basins 1 Narrow staircase + broad lock River Severn

TheStaffordshire and Worcestershire Canal is a navigable narrowcanal inStaffordshire andWorcestershire in theMidlands of England. It is 46 miles (74 km) long, linking theRiver Severn atStourport in Worcestershire with theTrent and Mersey Canal atHaywood Junction byGreat Haywood.

James Brindley^[1] was the chief engineer of the canal, which was part of his "Grand Cross" plan for waterways connecting the major ports atHull (via theTrent),Liverpool (via theMersey),Bristol (via theSevern) andLondon (via theThames).

Severn and Trent Canal Act 1766
Act of Parliament
Parliament of Great Britain
Long title	An Act for making and maintaining a Navigable Cut, or Canal, from the River Severn, between Bewdley and Titton Brook in the County of Worcester, to cross the River Trent, at or near Heywood Mill in the County of Stafford, and to communicate with a Canal intended to be made between the said River Trent and the River Mersey.
Citation	6 Geo. 3. c. 97
Territorial extent	Great Britain
Dates
Royal assent	14 May 1766
Commencement	17 December 1765[a]
Other legislation
Amended by	Severn and Trent Canal Act 1770 River Severn Navigation Act 1843 Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Act 1933
Status: Amended
Text of statute as originally enacted

Theact of Parliament authorising the canal, theSevern and Trent Canal Act 1766 (6 Geo. 3. c. 97), was passed on 14 May 1766. This created "The Company of Proprietors of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Navigation", which was empowered to raise an initial £70,000 (equivalent to £12,300,000 in 2023),^[2], with a further £30,000 (equivalent to £5,270,000 in 2023),^[2] if needed, to fund the canal's construction.^[3]

The canal was completed in 1771 for a cost that exceeded the authorised capital, and opened to trade in 1772. It was a commercial success, with trade from theStaffordshire Potteries southwards toGloucester and Bristol, and trade from theBlack Country northwards to the Potteries via the junction with theBirmingham Canal atAldersley.^[1]

Severn Navigation Act 1790
Act of Parliament
Parliament of Great Britain
Long title	An Act to enable the Company of Proprietors of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Navigation to improve the Navigation of the River Severn from Stourport, in the County of Worcester, to a Place called Diglis, near the City of Worcester.
Citation	30 Geo. 3. c. 75
Territorial extent	Great Britain
Dates
Royal assent	9 June 1790
Commencement	21 January 1790[b]
Other legislation
Amended by	Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Act 1933
Status: Amended
Text of statute as originally enacted

The company obtained a second act of Parliament, theSevern Navigation Act 1790 (30 Geo. 3. c. 75), on 9 June 1790, authorising it to raise another £12,000 (equivalent to £1,810,000 in 2023),^[2] to improve theRiver Severn immediately below Stourport as far asDiglis, to improve navigation to and from the canal.^[3] At Stourport there were four basins, linked by broad locks, that allowed broad-beamed Severntrows to enter them from the river. Goods could then be trans-shipped from the canal narrow boats to the trows for onward shipment to Bristol.^[1]

Trade declined when the newerWorcester and Birmingham Canal was opened in 1815, providing a more direct route between Birmingham and Bristol. To remain competitive, the company increased the hours when locks could be used, and by 1830 they were available 24 hours a day. Another setback occurred when theBirmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal opened its new route to Chester and Merseyside, meeting the canal at Autherley Junction. This took much of the traffic from the section to Great Haywood. Faced with a high volume of trade using the1⁄2-mile (800 m) stretch between Aldersley and Autherley Junctions, the company levied very high tolls.^[1]

In order to resolve the situation the Birmingham Canal Company and the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Company jointly promoted anact of Parliament^[which?] to authorise a short canal that would have left the Birmingham Canal at a higher level than the junction, crossed the Staffordshire and Worcestershire by an aqueduct, and then dropped down by a series of locks to join the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal north of Autherley junction. The canal company decided to reduce its tolls rather than lose the trade altogether. Further concessions were obtained by the other two canal companies by threats to resurrect the plans on two subsequent occasions.^[1]

Despite the competition, and later competition from the railways, the canal company paid dividends to its shareholders until nationalisation,^[4] although profits fell steadily from the 1860s. It remained independent until theTransport Act 1947 nationalised Britain's canals on 1 January 1948.^[1] In its latter years the major trade was in coal fromCannock to a power station at Stourport. The power station closed in 1949, and after that, the only commercial traffic was on the stretch between Autherley and Aldersley Junctions.^[5]

In 1959 theBritish Transport Commission planned to close the canal but it was saved by a volunteer group, the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Society. In 1968 the canal was reclassified as a cruiseway, and the following year all of it was declared a Conservation Area. This has resulted in historical buildings and structures being retained and improved sympathetically.^[5]

The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal links two of southern Britain's largest river catchments:

• TheTrent catchment, which drains most of the north and east of theEnglish Midlands, as well as parts of theWest Midlands, and flows ultimately into theNorth Sea via theHumber Estuary,
• TheSevern catchment, which drains a large area of north and centralWales, as well as much of theWest Midlands, and drains ultimately into theCeltic Sea via theBristol Channel.

The canal was a major north–south route for the west of England, linking other canals to create a network running:

• via theTrent and Mersey Canal, toStoke-on-Trent, to the northwest of England (Lancashire andCheshire) and to theEast Midlands,
• via theBCN Main Line and theStourbridge Canal to theBlack Country andBirmingham,
• via theShropshire Union Canal toChester and north Wales.

The canal essentially follows river valleys, shadowing the course of tributaries, to break through the watershed between the Trent and Severn north-west ofWolverhampton, at the Aldersley Gap, a minor glacial feature turned to advantage by Brindley.

The northern starting point of the canal at Great Haywood, its junction with the Trent and Mersey Canal, is only about 330 yards (300 m) from the confluence of theRiver Sow with the Trent. The canal runs west throughTixall Wide and along the Sow valley, closely following the river, to Weeping Cross, on the south east edge ofStafford, the confluence of theRiver Penk with the Sow. The canal then swings at right angles to the south, taking up the course of the Penk.

It then runs viaActon Trussell andPenkridge to Calf Heath, where it is joined by the now-derelictHatherton Canal. Continuing south viaCoven, it begins to bear away from the Penk, which has its source at Perton, well to the west of the canal. The canal enters north-west Wolverhampton. Here it is joined, in rapid succession, by theShropshire Union Canal at Autherley Junction and theBCN Main Line at Aldersley Junction.

South of Aldersley, the canal begins to shadow theRiver Smestow, part of the Severn catchment. The Smestow actually crosses the canal via the Dunstall Water Bridge, a small aqueduct planned by Brindley to preserve the flow of the river, before dropping into the valley and running alongside it. Skirting Wolverhampton between the steep hillsides ofCompton andTettenhall, through the Smestow Valley Local Nature Reserve, the canal reachesWightwick. Here it bears south, cutting across a wide bend in the course of the Smestow. Descending sharply through the impressiveBratch locks, the canal rejoins the River Smestow just south ofWombourne. From here it follows the river very closely to its confluence with theStour nearPrestwood.

The confluence of Smestow and Stour is paralleled closely by the junction of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire with theStourbridge Canal, which descends through the Stour valley toStourton. Southward from this point, the canal is cut through very steep sandstone banks and passes through a tunnel atDunsley all the way closely following the river while slicing across its many meanders. Running throughKinver,Caunsall,Cookley andWolverley, it serves a series of wharves in the old industrial town ofKidderminster. Finally it reaches its end in a complex of wharves and basins in the canal town ofStourport-on-Severn, where it descends steeply to the river through two sets of locks.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toStaffordshire and Worcestershire Canal.

• 
  Bridge 105: achangeline bridge nearMilford.
• 
  Hatherton Junction, the meeting of theHatherton Canal (behind camera) and the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal (left and right) at Calf Heath, Staffordshire.
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  Pendeford Rockin' or 'The Narrows', here the canal is a narrow cutting through an outcrop ofKeuper Sandstone either side of the Forster Bridge atPendeford.
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  Toll houses atAutherley Junction, where theShropshire Union Canal terminates and meets the canal.
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  Aldersley Junction: the bottom lock of the Wolverhampton flight of theBCN Main Line is visible through the roving bridge
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  The Dunstall Water Bridge carries theSmestow Brook over the canal.
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  The Dunstall water Bridge viewed from the canal side.
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  The "Meccano Bridge", a steel truss structure carrying the Wolverhampton Railway Walk (the formerWombourne Branch Line) over the canal in Smestow Valley Local Nature Reserve, Wolverhampton.
• 
  Part of theBratch Locks atWombourne.
• 
  Toll House and upper bridge at the Bratch Locks.
• 
  Hinksford Wharf, one of several important mooring places on this section of the canal.
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  Bridge and pumping station atHinksford.
• 
  Marina in thecanal basin atAshwood, Staffordshire.
• 
  Sandstoneaqueduct, carrying the canal over theRiver Stour, near Prestwood.
• 
  Lake off the canal, near Prestwood, north ofStourton.
• 
  Steep cutting and workings in sandstone, north of Stourton.
• 
  Stourton Junction: theStourbridge Canal descends through locks to meet the Staffordshire and Worcestershire.
• 
  The old toll house at Stewponey Lock.
• 
  West portal of the 23-yard (21 m) Dunsley Tunnel, between Stourton andKinver.
• 
  Upper basin atStourport-on-Severn. The area around the basin underwent major restoration 2007-2009.
• 
  Broad lock connecting the canal with the River Severn at Stourport.
• 
  Narrow staircase locks connecting the canal with the River Severn at Stourport.

The canal is linked (in order, from the Severn) to:

• Stourbridge Canal at Stourton Junction
• BCN Main Line atAldersley Junction
• Shropshire Union Canal atAutherley Junction
• Hatherton Canal, (currently derelict but with proposals for restoration) atHatherton Junction

The canal today forms part of theStourport Ring, which is one of the popular cruising rings for leisure boating. It is also part of theFour Counties Ring.

• Thomas Dadford

• Langford, J Ian (1974).Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. Towpath Guide. Vol. 1. Cambridge: Goose & Son.ISBN 0-900404-22-1.

Media related toStaffordshire and Worcestershire Canal at Wikimedia Commons

• The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Society
• Photograph of the River Trent aqueduct near to Great Haywood

• Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal
• Canals in England
• Canals in Staffordshire
• Canals in Worcestershire
• Canals linked to the River Severn
• Transport in Wolverhampton
• Tourist attractions in Worcestershire
• Canals opened in 1772
• Conservation areas in England
• 1772 establishments in England

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• Short description matches Wikidata
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