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Lost Canals Of Birmingham & The Black Country

Heartland

Heartland

master brummie
Despite there being a wealth of waterways in this region, there were others that have closed and have been filled in. Within the greater Birmingham area there were several canal basins and arms that have disappeared. These include Whitmore's Arm, built by the engineer William Whitmore of the Lionel Street Foundry, which ran from the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal towards George Street and the Sandpits. It had been conceived to serve a canal port by that under rated engineer William James with tramroad links that formed part of an industrial tramroad network serving Midland industry.

Another lost waterway is the Dudley No 2 Canal that linked the Dudley No 1 Canal at Parkhead with Selly Oak. The part from Hawne Basin to Selly Oak was filled in, but a part has been reinstated at Leasowes Park. The disused section includes the 3795 yard long Lapal Tunnel.

In the Black Country there are several lost waterways:
(1) Old Birmingham Canal from Tipton to Bradley
(2) Bradley Lock Branch from (1) to Walsall Canal
(3) Tipton Green and Toll End Canals
(4) Dank's Branch
(5) Monway Branch
(6) Gospel Oak Branch
(7) Bilston Branch
(8) Willenhall Branch
(9) Bentley Canal
(10) Two Locks Branch
(11) Stourbridge Extension Canal
(12) Northern part of the Cannock Extension Canal
(13) Churchbridge Locks
(14) Sneyd Branch
(15) Wyrley Bank Canal
(16) The terminus of the Daw End Canal at Hay Head Quarries

There were also diversions and improvements that left sections of original waterway isolated such as the canal near the Cape, Smethwick. the top part that became known as the Cape Arm is now within the troubled construction site for New Hospital. The branch off this arm once served ironworks and even a blast furnace!
 
My eye was caught immediately by the reference to Dank's Branch Canal as my first job on leaving school was at Edwin Danks & Company, a boiler maker in Oldbury. I know that there was also another company with which we were confused called Danks of Netherton also boilermakers. The two companies were as a result of bothers falling out. Our factory in Oldbury was on the side of the Birmingham Old Main Line Canal. So I had to look this up. I found a few references to Dank's Branch searching on Google and found that the canal was built in 1809 in the Tipton/Princes End area so no obvious connection to the boilermakers that I could see.

My introduction to the canals of the Black Country was at the age of about 5 or 6 being taken for a walk along a canal in the centre of Oldbury which I don't think is on the list. It ran under the main street in Oldbury and the hump of the bridge in the road is still there today although the canal was not visible from the road as shops (I think Woolworths) were built on the bridge one side and a cinema on the bridge the other side. This was either a loop off the Old Main Line or it might have been the original route which was bypassed later by a new more direct cut. The route swung round and went under Dudley Road East about where the Sandwell Council House is now and rejoined the Old Main Line under the retail park opposite Sainsbury's.
 
I recall Valencia wharf in Oldbury, home of Allen’s boats yard. The water was white from the chemical works.

I am sure there was a branch of the canal called the ‘chemical arm’
 
Valencia Arm yes I did a piece for the BCN Society magazine to explain that history (under a series called the BCN A-Z) that series was reproduced in a book published by the Canal Bookshop at Audlem. Valencia was once a long arm serving a colliery, but eventually was cut back just to Allen's Boat Yard and newly built craft were moored there from time to time. The Chemical, or Houghtons Arm, served both the Chance & Hunt works and Albright & Wilsons.

The Albright phosphorus works had phosphates delivered by canal barge to the arm known as the Jim Crow Arm. The naming "Jim Crow" or "Crow" refers to the Titford Canal. It is a name that has been speculated about its origin from time to time. The Arm diverged between the 3rd and 4th Lock and served the Phosphorus Works.

The canal mentioned that ran under the street in Oldbury, I believe was the original BCN main line that became a loop (Oldbury Loop) when the canal was shortened to the Brades from Whimsey Bridge 1820/1.
 
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My dad worked at Allen's Boat Yard at weekends. He was a carpenter with boatbuilidng experence. Facinating place, I loved going there with him. The wooden shed and steam chest, very simular to the boat yard in the black country museum.
 
They would never be allowed to do it now in case it killed the wildlife. Then all the wildlife was already dead because of the chemicals that industry had poured into the canal. Even as late as 1970, the firm of W.H.Keys in West Bromwich allowed bitumen from their works to go into the canal, where it was later ignited by a fire started by kids playing on the canal bank. Must have looked pretty spectacular, and a bit frightening to the kids, especially as there was a 200 gallon tank of oil on the bank right next to the canal. But the fire brigade managed to control the fire.
 
There were several branches at West Bromwich now gone and the Ridgeacre that is no longer navigable. The Black Country Spine Road saw to that, as well as local BW Management who accepted the bridge at canal level. Then the pub was built and the Ridgeacre would have provided excellent moorings there.
 
I once mentioned the Chemical Arm to a writer who had not heard about it. i gave him information about its location and ownership. He wrote a magazine article about without giving me any credit. This has happened in other cases so I am a little wary about giving free advice now.
Chance & Hunt was set up by Chance's glass to provide chemicals used in glass making. Chance & Hunt was later owned by ICI.
 
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The Chance and Hunt chemical manufactories were placed elsewhere as well. It is a facet of manufacturing that firms combined and this was the case with Chance Brothers and William Hunt. Hunt had a chemical factory at Wednesbury. Their combined business was absorbed by ICI.

Also, the Houghton or Chemical arm came to serve other operations in addition to the Chemical business.
 
mikejee said:
They would never be allowed to do it now in case it killed the wildlife. Then all the wildlife was already dead because of the chemicals that industry had poured into the canal. Even as late as 1970, the firm of W.H.Keys in West Bromwich allowed bitumen from their works to go into the canal, where it was later ignited by a fire started by kids playing on the canal bank. Must have looked pretty spectacular, and a bit frightening to the kids, especially as there was a 200 gallon tank of oil on the bank right next to the canal. But the fire brigade managed to control the fire.
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I walked and cycled many of the BCN canals in the early 1970s.I became interested in how chemicals were taken by narrow boats from The Chemical Arm in Oldbury to The Rattlechain Lagoon via the Gower Branch Canal.I understand this old marl pit is still causing pollution problems.
 
Oh yes Heartland.I never did see those in my travels.Around this time what looked like a deep pit was being filled in next to the Gower Branch.The River Tame was flowing nearby. The area had many old mine shafts too.I hope they were properly dealt with.
 
I understand that Matty boats did work through the Staircase locks on the Gower branch, but Rattlechain is not on that part of the canal. The Rattlechain Brickworks that created the deep marl hole was on the New Main Line. It was the site of a breach in 1899 when the canal cascaded into the marl pit bringing boats with it.

Rattlechain is a local tern for a type of flat link pit rope once common in South Staffordshire. Near this brickworks was the Groveland Colliery, once a John Bagnall & Sons mine which had an early tramway link to the Old Main Line. Later canal developments led to the New Main Line being built across the Sheepwash Valley, the Gower Branch ( in two stages) and the Netherton Tunnel Branch.

The Gower Branch has the only staircase pair on the BCN. The term staircase being when two locks are joined together and boats pass through the chambers using an intermediate gate. There was another staircase on a private branch canal at
Bradley. This Ordnance Survey Map (1901) shows the Rattlechain Brickworks location.

.rattlechain.png
 
Heartland said:
I understand that Matty boats did work through the Staircase locks on the Gower branch, but Rattlechain is not on that part of the canal. The Rattlechain Brickworks that created the deep marl hole was on the New Main Line. It was the site of a breach in 1899 when the canal cascaded into the marl pit bringing boats with it.

Rattlechain is a local tern for a type of flat link pit rope once common in South Staffordshire. Near this brickworks was the Groveland Colliery, once a John Bagnall & Sons mine which had an early tramway link to the Old Main Line. Later canal developments led to the New Main Line being built across the Sheepwash Valley, the Gower Branch ( in two stages) and the Netherton Tunnel Branch.

The Gower Branch has the only staircase pair on the BCN. The term staircase being when two locks are joined together and boats pass through the chambers using an intermediate gate. There was another staircase on a private branch canal at
Bradley. This Ordnance Survey Map (1901) shows the Rattlechain Brickworks location.

.View attachment 136941
Click to expand...
Many thanks for that interesting information Heartland.I found some articles on the internet about the Rattlechain Lagoon.I have walked up the towpaths to Wolverhampton through Closely Tunnel back in the days when a large steelworks was in operation.At Springvale I think.I don't recall seeing the Lagoon which is fenced off now.Knowing now what has been dumped in it I wouldn't go near the place!My walk beside the Gower Branch was to reach the nearby hills.
 
Regarding David Grain's post about Danks, there may have been a family connection. The main link Danks had with the canals was with Samuel Danks who became a canal carrier from Birmingham to Stourport. His sons continued the carrying trade both as Bickley, Danks and John Danks. Bickley, Danks Severn trade formed the core of the Severn & Canal Carrying Co business and eventually British Waterways South West fleet. There were several Danks living in South Staffordshire and that extended family were, as I recall, started the boiler business. In 1784 one Isiah Danks was the agent in Wednesbury providing licenses for horse dealers as per a new act of Parliament.
 
TowerWill said:
Many thanks for that interesting information Heartland.I found some articles on the internet about the Rattlechain Lagoon.I have walked up the towpaths to Wolverhampton through Closely Tunnel back in the days when a large steelworks was in operation.At Springvale I think.I don't recall seeing the Lagoon which is fenced off now.Knowing now what has been dumped in it I wouldn't go near the place!My walk beside the Gower Branch was to reach the nearby hills.
Click to expand...
A view from the nearby hills which I took in the early 1970s.I wonder if that lagoon is Rattlechain?Screenshot_20190911-130518.pngScreenshot_20190911-130518.png
 
TowerWill said:
I walked and cycled many of the BCN canals in the early 1970s.I became interested in how chemicals were taken by narrow boats from The Chemical Arm in Oldbury to The Rattlechain Lagoon via the Gower Branch Canal.I understand this old marl pit is still causing pollution problems.
Click to expand...
Hello,
The marl pit you mention. I wonder if that’s the same place that I’m thinking of. I was an apprentice at Apollo sports technologies when they closed down (previously Ackles and Pollocks) but we used to pump chemicals over the road to what was called the marl hole. It was a hidden lake opposite the tip on shidas Lane. One day it’d be blue, another red, another green.

On google maps it looks to have been filled in now. If it’s the same one, what issues are there now?

Thanks
 
Dangle said:
Hello,
The marl pit you mention. I wonder if that’s the same place that I’m thinking of. I was an apprentice at Apollo sports technologies when they closed down (previously Ackles and Pollocks) but we used to pump chemicals over the road to what was called the marl hole. It was a hidden lake opposite the tip on shidas Lane. One day it’d be blue, another red, another green.

On google maps it looks to have been filled in now. If it’s the same one, what issues are there now?

Thanks
Click to expand...
The marl hole that you are talking about would not be the Rattlechain as that was some distance away. There was a large marl hole between Shidas Lane in Oldbury and the Wolverhampton Road. Is has been filled in and now used by Sandwell Council Refuse Dept. On the other side of Shidas Lane is a fence and bushes which obscure a view but I have always assumed that there was a marl hole there. I have looked at Google Maps Satellite View ans it definitely shows a large hole which has been mainly filled in. I remember when Accles and Pollock was active that the canal changed colour every day.
 
DavidGrain said:
The marl hole that you are talking about would not be the Rattlechain as that was some distance away. There was a large marl hole between Shidas Lane in Oldbury and the Wolverhampton Road. Is has been filled in and now used by Sandwell Council Refuse Dept. On the other side of Shidas Lane is a fence and bushes which obscure a view but I have always assumed that there was a marl hole there. I have looked at Google Maps Satellite View ans it definitely shows a large hole which has been mainly filled in. I remember when Accles and Pollock was active that the canal changed colour every day.
Click to expand...
Hi David,
Yes, it was a marl hole on Shidas Lane. The engineer and I used to finish our repair quick then he’d say, “cmon, let’s go to the marl hole.” We’d get the key from the security guard and check it out. This was only back in 98/99. He said that they had to go out on it in a steel bottomed boat and once a horse fell in and never came out.

Thanks for clarifying that rattlechain was elsewhere.
 
Not all brickworks relied on waterways transport. Some had rail sidings, Some used road transport. The nearest canal was the Old Main Line at Whimsey Bridge, where there was a road that passed the Shidas Lane Brickworks and also crossed the canal at Whimsey Bridge. To transport bricks to the canal would need a convenient wharf.

Looking at the BCN Distance Tables (the pre publication version of 1910). Portway Road and Shidas Lane Brickworks shared a basin north of the Hay Wharf, which itself was just north of Whimsey Bridge.

Transport presumably was by wagon to the canal. Both brickworks had marl holes that used tramways to move marl out of the workings up an incline to be worked up into bricks. Shidas Lane was owned by John Sadler & Son, who business was converted into a limited company in 1900. John Sadler died in 1910. aged 90. He had been a member of the West Bromwich Board of Guardians.
 
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Heartland said:
I understand that Matty boats did work through the Staircase locks on the Gower branch, but Rattlechain is not on that part of the canal. The Rattlechain Brickworks that created the deep marl hole was on the New Main Line. It was the site of a breach in 1899 when the canal cascaded into the marl pit bringing boats with it.

Rattlechain is a local tern for a type of flat link pit rope once common in South Staffordshire. Near this brickworks was the Groveland Colliery, once a John Bagnall & Sons mine which had an early tramway link to the Old Main Line. Later canal developments led to the New Main Line being built across the Sheepwash Valley, the Gower Branch ( in two stages) and the Netherton Tunnel Branch.

The Gower Branch has the only staircase pair on the BCN. The term staircase being when two locks are joined together and boats pass through the chambers using an intermediate gate. There was another staircase on a private branch canal at
Bradley. This Ordnance Survey Map (1901) shows the Rattlechain Brickworks location.

.View attachment 136941
Click to expand...

Rattlechain Lagoon charm offensive...
 
Heartland said:
W Matty, of Coseley, had boats moving phosphorus waste from Albright & Wilson to the tip.
Click to expand...

This is a comment from the Blog, “What lies beneath Rattlechain Lagoon”

Paul Bartlett says: February 23, 2019 at 11:15 am

I used to work for Alfred Matty and Sons in the early 1970’s. My self and Tom Heritage used to work on the canal boats taking the phosphorous waste to the Rattle Chain tip. It was a very heavy sludge which had to be stirred so that it could be pumped out of the boats. If the water / phosphorous mix was wrong and you bumped the boats in the locks or brushed against a bridge the sludge would catch fire giving of blue flames. to give you an idea how much sludge is in the pool we used to deliver 8 boats a day for 5 days and 4 on Saturday. Each boat had 20 tons in them.
 
The marl hole between Apollo and shidas Lane used to be used as a reservoir for cooling water used for heat treatment at the large engineering firm over the road from it.
It was quite difficult to get access too but we still explored it back in the day('90-'91) there was a pipe crossing the middle of it about 25ft above the water running approx north to south and braver fools than me used to climb across on it.
 
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