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Stourport Ring
Kinver Edge and Birmingham bright lights.
Birmingham Canal Navigations
(1769-1863)
Aldersley Jcn - Wolverhampton - Coseley - Tipton Spon Lane - Soho -
Gas Street Basin
Worcester and Birmingham Canal
(1815)
Gas Street Basin - King’s Norton Junction Tardebigge - Hanbury Jcn -
Diglis Basins
Severn Navigation (1812, 1842)
Worcester - Stourport
Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal
(1772)
Stourport - Kidderminster - Cookley - Kinver - Stourton - Botterham
- The Bratch - Aldersley Jcn
Allow 50 hours travelling.
65 miles of narrow canal, 13 miles of river, 8 tunnels, 119 narrow
locks, 3 wide locks.
Drop down from the Birmingham plateau through
the longest lock flight, test the waters of the River Severn, climb
gently up the attractive Stour Valley. Plenty to see in Worcester
and Birmingham.
Visitor attractions
Black Country Living Museum
Period dress, old money. tram rides. Vast collection of real
buildings brought together into a village after being dismantled
from redevelopment sites all over the Black Country. Seek out lime
kilns to see huge scale of Lord Ward’s industrial operation (1778).
No wonder the woods above are pockmarked like a WWI battlefield.
Tie up actually in the museum itself
Brindley Place
Heart of Birmingham with restaurants, bars, cafés, museums,
theatres, galleries and huge pedestrian shopping areas.
Tie up near Broad Street Bridge.
Cadbury World (Tel:0l 21 45 1 4180)
Chocolate makers fantastic fantasy. Great trip for the kids. Tells
the story of how we came to eat so much and how Coronation Street
got involved. Sadly does not relate Cadbury’s long association with
canals (1915-1930, 1966-1968). Regular runs in distinctive livery to
Liverpool for sugar, to Cheshire for milk and to deliver cocoa and
chocolate to London.
Tie up near Bridge 77.
Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings
Three-seater earth closet from Leominster is the smallest of the
rescued and rebuilt structures. Others include local nail works,
working windmill, timber framed houses and the Guesten Hall roof |
from
Worcester Cathedral Priory sitting on a new hall. UK Telephone Kiosk
Collection. (Tel: 01527 831363)
Tie up at Stoke Wharf or Bridge 48. Walk north.
The Commandery, Worcester
War Rooms of Charles II prior to battle (1651).
Tie up above Sidburv Lock 3, alongside the entrance.
Severn Valley Steam Railway (Tel: 01299 4038
Upstream beyond the current limit of navigation Bewdley, Hampton
Loade ferry and Bridgenorth. 16 mile railway that may go to
Ironbridge one day.
Tie up in Kidderminster above Lock 6. Cross highway into town and
beyond to Railtrack’s station.
Kinver Edge
Wooded ridge with magnificent views, popular with Birmingham people
since Victorian times.
Tie up above Kinver Lock.
Waterway distractions
Wolverhampton Lock Flight
21 locks in a mile and half. The Birmingham Canal Company’s finale
(1772), linking the plateau to the wider canal network for the first
time. Passes Racecourse and ends amid a rural cutting.
Gas Street Basin
Worcester and Birmingham Canal’s 20 year stand-off with the
Birmingham Canal Company meant double handling across the 7 foot
Worcester Bar. Today’s attractions are pubs and clubs clustered
around the heart of the canal system. Flood-lit towpaths at night.
Tie up for an afternoon and walk the towpaths.
Tardebigge Locks
Thirty locks climbing 217 feet plus the six at Stoke provides a
baptism of fire - 36 locks in four miles. The top lock might have
been a small boat lift, but the failed experiment has left us with a
14 foot chamber.
Aickman - Rolt Plaque
The top lock of the flight was practically in the middle of nowhere
when Robert Aickman walked from Bromsgrove station to meet his
fellow author Tom Roll, living here with his wife Angela on their
narrowboat ‘Cressy’ (1946). This |
Wooded Kinver Edge |
historic meeting led to
the founding of the Inland Waterways Association which campaigned
for over 50 years for Governments to recognise all inland waterways
as an asset not a liability. Present Government now accepts
this view and encourages everyone to use the water, hedgerows and
towing paths for the recreational opportunities they offer.
IWA commemorative plaque tells the story by Lock 1.
Bittell Reservoirs (1815, 1832)
Lower Bittell Reservoir was provided solely for millers on the Rea
and Arrow Rivers downstream. Upper Bittell feeds the canal itself.
Tie up near Bridges 65 or 66. Short walk north.
Stourport Basins
Two sets of narrow staircase locks and two vast ‘barge’ locks sized
for Severn Trows lead from the variable levels of the River Severn
into the calm of two large basins. Two major commercial buildings
complete the picture - The Tontine Hotel built for passengers and
the Clock Warehouse built for goods.
Tie up just outside the basin, but give them a whirl.
The Bratch (30 feet) (3 locks)
Much photographed locks and octagonal toll office, generally
supported by groups of gongoozlers, Locks are apparently close
enough to be a staircase, but actually work by disposing of the
water through swirling culverts to hidden pounds to one side.
Take instructions from the lock keeper
Aldersley and Autherley Junctions
A pair of turnings off one of the oldest canals in the country
(1772), one climbs up to Birmingham (1772), the other is the start
of Telford’s straight-as-a-die link to Liverpool (1835).
See remains of toll keepers ‘ cottages and stables. |
Short cut
Climb up to the Birmingham plateau by the route Lord Dudley
intended. Turn right at Stourton Junction into the Stourbridge
Canal, past the Town Arm to Parkhead. Then through the wide
towpath-lined Netherton Tunnel (9080 feet) to Dudley Port Junction.
13 miles, 29 locks. Allow 11 hours. 9 miles and 11 locks less,
thus saving 5 hours.
Worth a detour
Lapworth Locks
Lock-free run to the top of a flight of 26 locks.
10 ½ miles, 0 locks each way.
Allow 6 hours.
Tewkesbury
Run down to the River Avon, past Upton upon Severn.
16 miles, 1 lock each way. Allow 9 hours.
 Tourist Information
Wolverhampton Tel: 01902 312051
Dudley Tel: 01384 812830
Birmingham Tel: 0121 693 6300
Worcester Tel: 01905 726311
Kidderminster Tel: 01562 829400
 Cruising Maps
GEOprojects: Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal with the River
Severn and the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal
GEOprojects: Worcester and Birmingham Canal with the Droitwich
Canals
GEOprojects: Birmingham Canal Navigations
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Start
Points |
|
5 |
Alvechurch Boat Centres |
|
18 |
Anglo Welsh |
|
21 |
Anglo Welsh |
|
31 |
Bidford Boats |
|
36 |
Black Prince Holidays |
|
44 |
Brook Line Narrowboats |
|
60 |
Copt Heath Wharf |
|
63 |
Countrywide Cruisers |
|
66 |
Evesham Marina |
|
93 |
Pegary Boat Hire |
|
105 |
Sherbome Wharf |
|
109 |
Starline Narrowboats |
|
110 |
Stroudwater Cruisers |
|
115 |
Telstar Cruisers Ltd |
|
119 |
Viking Afloat |
|
122 |
Viking Afloat |
|
124 |
Water Travel Ltd |
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