West portal, Brandwood Tunnel, Birmingham
Introduction
The photograph on this page of West portal, Brandwood Tunnel, Birmingham by Roger D Kidd as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
West portal, Brandwood Tunnel, Birmingham
Image: © Roger D Kidd Taken: 8 Sep 2008
This is the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal at the west portal of the 352 yard (322 metres) Brandwood Tunnel near King's Norton. The tunnel is wide enough for narrowboats travelling in opposite directions to pass each other. There is no towpath in the tunnel. The horses used to be detached and led up a track to the right, and across the hill, and crews hauled the boats along by means of an iron handrail on the side. Some of these rails are still in place. This part of the canal was built in the mid 1790s, though financial problems caused delays before the canal could open as far as Kingswood Junction (with the Grand Union) in 1803. The second stage (to Stratford) did not start until 1812, and was finished by 1815. Initial plans for a wide canal (the reason for the wide bridges and tunnels) were abandoned at an early stage.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
52.413462
Longitude
-1.906599