IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Shannon Road, BIRMINGHAM, B38 9BX

On the Worcester & Birmingham Canal and heading away from Birmingham. Seen from Bridge No. 70 which carries Masshouse Lane over the canal and is a modern construction

This shows the approach to the north portal of this long tunnel on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. The canal has four tunnels and fifty-eight locks on its journey from Birmingham to the River Severn. Wast Hills Tunnel is 2626 yards (2493 metres) in length, and has been known as King's Norton Tunnel. It is one of the longest tunnels on the British canal system. There is no towpath. A steam powered (later diesel powered) tunnel tug service operated before most boats became motorised. The tunnel is wide enough for boats to pass each other, with care. The notice on the left suggests that passage through the tunnel will take one hour. Practically, thirty to forty-five minutes is more usual. Unpowered craft are prohibited.

Bridge no. 70, the first bridge north of Wast Hills Tunnel. The towpath all the way from central Birmingham is popular with cyclists.

This is in Kings Norton and carries Masshouse Lane.

The bridge carries Masshouse Lane across the Worcester and Birmingham Canal.

This is Bridge No 70 over the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. The Worcester and Birmingham Canal was built in stages between 1791 and 1815 to connect the River Severn in Worcester to the Birmingham Canal System using a quicker route than the earlier Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. Opposition from other canal companies meant that for twenty years there was no direct connection in Birmingham, the last two and a bit metres of canal there being left uncompleted in 1795. http://wikimapia.org/78582/Worcester-Bar This lunacy was eventually resolved by an Act of Parliament in 1815 and a stop-lock constructed. Grain, timber and agricultural produce were carried to the Midlands. Industrial goods and coal were carried down towards Worcester, often for onward transport to Bristol. Later, salt carrying was added as a regular cargo. Pairs of donkeys were often used in preference to horses, maybe because they could easily be put onto the boats which had to be legged (or pulled by tug) through the tunnels. The canal has five tunnels. The longest at Kings Norton is just under two miles long. Steam tugs were used from the 1870s to haul strings of narrowboats through Wasts Hill, Shortwood and Tardebigge tunnels. The Worcester and Birmingham Canal has locks, 58 of them, climbing 428 feet (130 metres) from the level of the River Severn in Worcester up to Birmingham. In the twenty-first century the ring now formed by the two canals and the river makes a popular two weeks holiday route, albeit partly a strenuous one, lockwise, but there are plenty of pubs, though some are now merely restaurants with a bar. The Worcester and Birmingham Canal travels through some very pleasant countryside, climbing from the Severn through rolling fields and wooded cuttings and slicing through a hilly ridge south of Birmingham. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worcester_and_Birmingham_Canal

This shows the north portal of this long tunnel on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. The canal has four tunnels and fifty-eight locks on its journey from Birmingham to the River Severn. Wast Hills Tunnel is 2626 yards (2493 metres) in length, and has been known as King's Norton Tunnel. It is one of the longest tunnels on the British canal system. There is no towpath. A steam powered (later diesel powered) tunnel tug service operated before most boats became motorised. The tunnel is wide enough for boats to pass each other, with care. The notice on the left suggests that passage through the tunnel will take one hour. Practically, thirty to forty-five minutes is more usual. Unpowered craft are prohibited.

The Wast Hills Tunnel was built in 1796 and is 2726 yards long. Its southern portal is near Hopwood.

There is no towpath through Wast Hill Tunnel, so the towpath goes over the top. Barriers on the slope help prevent unintended dips in the canal.