Canals

Project documenting over 100 miles of canals…

The junction of the Soho Loop and the Birmingham New Main Line Canal at Winson Green (January 2009)

(This article was edited in January 2013 to update some facts)

  British Waterways has recently been replaced by the Canal & River Trust, essentially the National Trust for the waterways of England and Wales (Scotland has decided it will run its own its own way…and that will probably be the most independence its canals ever see). As a registered charity, the Canal & River Trust (CART) now has control of over 2000 miles of navigable inland waterways without reliance on central government for funding. It can fundraise and collect money from the populace and plough it back into the system anyway it sees fit, potentially improving the network and reviving an important part of world history that, up until the 1950s and '60s, was so dilapidated and neglected it was almost destroyed for good. 

   Considering it's only 70 years since the canals were first thought of as worthy of tourism, it's impressive to think there are now over 35,000 pleasure boats cruising about on the network, creating a significant tourism industry and quite a few congestion issues at some flights of locks. Although, this still pales in comparison to the number of working boats that once populated the lines, basins and locks in their industrial heyday of the 19th century. 

 Now that the weather is (hopefully) heading into spring, I'm undertaking a photographic project to document the current state of the Birmingham Canal Navigations: over 100 miles of navigable canals in the Birmingham metropolitan area. This is the largest urban area in the world to be serviced by such an extensive canal network, even if the network today is nearly half its original size. Hence the name "the Venice of the Midlands". It's an interesting time for the canals, and it should make for an interesting few weeks to document these living parts of our heritage.

   Having grown up in Birmingham in the Midlands, the canals have been an integral part of my, and many other Brummies', lives. From a childhood spent cycling along muddy towpaths, crawling over dangerous derelict bridges (the fact I'm still alive is a small miracle) and watching the few remaining wharves and quaysides being demolished, rebuilt and renovated as luxury apartments, entertainment facilities and public spaces, it's always seemed normal to have a canal nearby. 

   Stretching out from their centre at Gas Street Basin like arteries, these waterways wind through the former industrial heartland of Britain. It was these links that fuelled the growth and wealth of the city and the nation. Today, they provide a tranquil haven from the grime and noise of city life, or offer a unique way to view the urban landscape. They also provide a far quicker way of getting from one place to another (if you cycle) at rush-hour. 

   There's also something quite eerie about an urban canal. It's a place that is strangely isolated from the modern world. Walkers, cyclists, joggers and anglers all use them but there never seems to be a real tangible link to the modern world. Very often there are minimal signs of life, as if the area were frozen in time, years ago. Anyone who knows their history will be able to spot the Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian engineering which still dominates the networks, and the general lack of modern construction draws you back into a different era. The slower, peaceful atmosphere creates an impression of being in a forgotten, past world, something any city dweller should relish. 

   Of course, this sense of calm is completely false. The canals would have been dirty and teeming with horses pulling boats and filled with factory noises, miles and miles of smoking and steaming boats, thousands of boatmen and the constant, looming presence of heavy industry, smokestacks and industrial detritus. But, as few alive have any real experience of this, we can only imagine and try to picture a world that no longer exists. In doing so, we make the canals a poignant, sad and isolated world which detaches us from modernity and acts as a vital link to the past, haunted as they are by their own history.

    This is why CART is in an excellent position. Just like the National Trust saves ancient, ancestral buildings and preserves ways of life that barely exist anymore, much to the delight of pensioners and to the general dismay of school children, CART now has the same responsibility to the canals, which are arguably just as important as our many historic buildings, and are the largest heritage building we have. The difference, however, is that canals are far more accessible and do not need "Do Not Touch" signs on everything, just the odd "Do Not Swim" sign here and there. Nor do they require austere, matriarch-like women with horn-rimmed glasses to stand disapprovingly in a corner, smelling faintly of mothballs, watching you shuffle about texting or listening to music, or generally trying to stave off severe boredom. To put it simply, CART has the potential to become 'cool' and appeal to a much wider audience than the (generally) white, middle class that offers its patronage to the NT- itself a Victorian institution. 

   To document the Birmingham Canal Navigations I have divided these canals up into their designated names and routes, although there are loops and basins and branches here and there. Given that canals have to be explored by foot, bicycle or boat, everything must be done in relatively small sections. So to order things and make it manageable, I have fourteen individual routes to cycle or walk along (boats are a bit too slow, ironically). They are as follows (branches and disconnected sections will be added once the main routes are documented):

Birmingham & Fazeley Canal
Birmingham Mainline Canal 1 (New)
Birmingham Mainline Canal 2 (Old)
Digbeth Branch Canal*
Dudley Canal No 1
Dudley Canal No 2
Grand Union Canal (Kingswood Junction to Salford Junction)*
Rushall Canal & Daw End Branch
Stourbridge Canal
Tame Valley Canal
Walsall Canal
Birmingham & Worcester Canal (Gas Street Basin to Alvechurch)*
Wyrley & Essington Canal
Stratford Upon Avon Canal (King's Norton Junction to Kingswood Junction)*

   *These routes actually fall outside the BCN area but are part of the Birmingham network and so have been included.

   The canals of the UK are an integral part of history, not only nationally but globally. They changed the face of the planet and yet we barely even notice them as an historical relic. The Canal & River Trust is a fledgling charity which could change this and bring about a renaissance for the canals, or it could create another NT style industry. Either way, the canals are there to be enjoyed and offer a great link to the past, or simply an escape from modern life. And anyone who has been to the excellent Black Country Living Museum will know how interesting this history really can be, and how much fun can be had on a canal. In fact, if you want a unique, interesting, entertaining, informative and enjoyable day out, then go there anyway and pretend to live in the past for a few hours.

 Canal & River Trust

The Black Country Living Museum