Lifting bridge on Walsall Canal, 1979

Image: © Trevor Littlewood Taken: 16 Apr 1979

Lifting bridges are common features on canals but very scarce (otherwise unknown?), on the Birmingham Canal Navigations of which the Walsall Canal is a part. They vary both in style and carrying capacity; an advantage of this type is that they give a level crossing for traffic. The bridge seen here appears to be of a style where the operation is simplified by the use of counter-balancing weight - a form seen commonly elsewhere. It's unusual in that it's clearly an 'industrial-grade', private one which presumably gave access to premises of the same business on either side of the canal by going directly across it. The business in question was Garringtons which closed down in the 1980s; subsequently the bridge has been removed.

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