The BCN New Main Line (Birmingham Level) running to the left of the New Smethwick Pumping Station. The BCN Old Main Line (Wolverhampton Level) runs 20 ft higher, to the right of the building.Another view of the New Smethwick Pumping Station, with the Wolverhampton Level to the right and the Birmingham Level on the left
TheBirmingham Canal Navigations (BCN), a network of narrowcanals in the industrial midlands ofEngland, is built on variouswater levels. The three longest are the Wolverhampton, Birmingham, and Walsall levels.Locks allow boats to move from one level to another.
A former branch of theWyrley and Essington Canal, the Essington Branch was abandoned before 1904 and is now filled in. It was the highest level on the BCN.
The highest canal currently in BCN, 1 mile of which remains navigable. It was fed from the 18th centuryTitford Reservoir (now under Junction 2 of theM5 motorway) originally by feeder, and since 1837 by theTitford Canal. A feeder from the Tat Bank Branch (also known as Spon Lane Branch) supplies water toEdgbaston Reservoir.
To keep the canals topped up with water,reservoirs were built to collect water from streams. These had to be above the relevant canal levels, often some distance away. The smallTitford Reservoir (Titford Pool), as well as feeding theTitford Canal supplies its surplus water toEdgbaston Reservoir along a feeder throughSmethwick. Water from Edgbaston Reservoir feeds the Birmingham Level at the adjacentIcknield Port Loop, and once fed the Wolverhampton Level via a long feeder (now overgrown and dry) along the top of a raised embankment along Telford's BCN New Main Line to theEngine Arm. Water is also supplied byChasewater andNetherton Reservoirs.
Edgbaston (Rotton Park) Reservoir was an early source of water for the Birmingham Canal
Water was a precious resource, spent each time a lock was emptied as a boat changed level. Steam pumps were employed at many flights of locks to pump water back to a higher level, for example, theSmethwick Engine.
Spon Lane engine (1778–1790) pumping Wolverhampton level to 491 ft Summit level, closed by Smeaton's removal of the Summit level
Smethwick Engine (1779–1898) pumping Birmingham level to 491 ft Summit level, pumping to Wolverhampton level after Summit lowered. It was replaced in 1892 by two centrifugal engines in a new pumphouse north of Brasshouse Lane Bridge, Smethwick.
