IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Springfield Drive, STAFFORD, ST19 9PY

An OS cutmark on a building formerly called Erviller, but which is now known as Cobbler's Cottage. It was originally levelled at 106.82m above Ordnance Datum Newlyn.

Looking south-east towards Wheaton Aston, Brewood and Wolverhampton. Dirty Lane Bridge is No 20 across the Shropshire Union Canal and was an accommodation bridge (Grade II listed). At least one map calls it Mills's Bridge. When housing was built off to the left. developers decided Dirty Lane needed to be renamed! (Long Street on some maps - surely not). Off to the right, the unsurfaced Downford Lane is only used as a farm track, and goes nowhere. I don't know if it still is a public right of way.

Dirty Lane Bridge is No 20 across the Shropshire Union Canal. It used to carry an unsurfaced lane, Downford Lane to the right, and presumably Dirty Lane to the left. It now still gives access from the canal, but since land to the left was covered in housing, Long Street is preferred to Dirty Lane.

Engineered by Thomas Telford. There are long straight sections of this canal which required either embankments or cuttings to avoid the need for locks. Although this was a more difficult procedure, the end route was shorter and the speed for horse drawn working boats could be maintained with (hopefully) no stoppages. The canal (formerly the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal) was opened in 1835 at a time when railways were making serious inroads into the canal companies' businesses.

Dirty Lane Bridge (marked on some maps as Mills's Bridge) is No 20 across the Shropshire Union Canal near Wheaton Aston. Extensive private long-term moorings are on the left, past the bridge, and accessed via Magazine Lane.

Bridge No 20 on the Shropshire Union (originally Birmingham and Liverpool Junction) Canal, engineered by Thomas Telford and opened in 1835.

This is Bridge No 20 across the Shropshire Union Canal. It is an accommodation bridge, but housing now covers land to the left, and there are green fields to the right. No public right of way crosses the bridge.

This is Bridge No 20 across the Shropshire Union Canal. It is an accommodation bridge, but housing now covers land to the left, and there are green fields to the right. No public right of way crosses the bridge.

This is Bridge No 20 across the Shropshire Union Canal. It is an accommodation bridge, but housing now covers land to the left, and there are green fields to the right. No public right of way crosses the bridge. The narrowboat "Songbird" is approaching; Rog steers carefully into the bridge hole, which only allows about a 40cm each side as the boat comes through.