2016
SP0579 : Site of bridge no 2, Stratford Canal
taken 8 years ago, near to King's Norton, Birmingham, England
Site of bridge no 2, Stratford Canal
A boater on the northern section of the Stratford Canal will notice that the channel briefly narrows and might observe the tell-tale signs that there was once a bridge here. What is not so obvious is that this former bridge had a significant role in the restoration of this canal and the revival of the canal network nationally. Although the southern section of the Stratford Canal had ceased to be used in the 1920s, the northern section was slower to die - even so traffic had dried up by the outbreak of war in 1939. This prompted the Great Western Railway, as owners of the canal, to replace the swing bridge with a fixed structure effectively blocking navigation. After the war the Inland Waterways Association became active in trying to preserve the canal network and objected to this illegal impediment to navigation; the matter eventually had to be raised in the House of Lords in 1947. In response the GWR had to undertake to jack the bridge up whenever notice of passage was received. Although advantage of this concession was indeed taken, it was clearly not a satisfactory solution and a swing bridge was reinstated in 1950. An important point of principle had been won. With the closure of the adjacent chemical works, perversely the bridge eventually became little used for road traffic and was initially left permanently open and completely removed some time around 2006. See
SP0579 : Lifford Swing Bridge, 1965 for a view of the bridge in operation.
The Stratford-upon-Avon Canal The Stratford-upon-Avon Canal links the Worcester and Birmingham Canal at King's Norton Junction with the River Avon at Stratford. The canal is 25·5 miles long, and has 56 locks*, the last onto the river being a broad lock. The canal was built in several stages (including changes of route) from 1793 on, finally opening fully to the River Avon in 1815. Multiple changes of ownership followed leading to the Great Western Railway taking control by 1863.
By the 1950s the section north of Lapworth was rarely being used, and the southern section from Lapworth was badly silted with some unusable locks. It is believed that the last boat reached Stratford in the early 1930s, though a pleasure cruiser reached Wilmcote at Easter in 1947.
Threat of total closure of the southern section in the mid 1950s caused protests, leading to an enquiry in 1958, and a big public campaign to save the canal, so the abandonment plans were reversed in 1959.
The National Trust took on the task of restoring the southern section of the canal in 1960, leading to its re-opening by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother on 11 July 1964. Control was passed to the British Waterways Board in 1988, then to the Canal and River Trust in 2012.
*One stop-lock at King's Norton is unused and open, another at Kingswood Junction is duplicated.
(Details reduced from Nicholson's Waterways Guide No 2)
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