Wolverton & Birmingham Metropolitan Area
STOURBRIDGE 16 LOCK FLIGHT SPLIT BRIDGES 1779 Audnam, West Midlands
Sixteen locks lift the Birmingham Canal out of the Stour Valley onto the Black Country plateau at Audnam. The canal was completed in 1779. The funding came from "John, 2nd Viscount Dudley and Ward, the Earl of Stamford, Thomas Foley, John Pidcock and John Foster" according to the information kiosk. These gentlemen all had financial interests in the local glass, coal, brick and iron works of the area. Canals, as James Brindley was proving in the Birmingham area, were the ideal mode of transport for the very heavy raw materials needed for these industries and for the transportation later of the finished products. The locks are of the 'narrow boat' dimension that Brindley pioneered. The engineer for the lock flight was Thomas Dudley Jr.
Three split bridges were built too, each of them very slightly different: at Lock 4 (N52o 28' 48.8" W2o 8' 53.1"); between Lock 9 and 10 (N52o28' 39.2" W2o 9' 11.5"); and at Lock 11 (N52o 28' 37.8" W2o 9' 17.0). These little foot bridges are cantilevered so that the two ends do not quite meet in the middle, leaving a space for the tow rope to be passed through. Note that the railings also fail to meet in the middle and there is a projecting guide to keep the passed rope from binding.
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SPON LANE LOCKS SPLIT BRIDGE 1829 Birmingham Canal Navigation N52o 30' 24' W1o 59' 43.9"
The Horsely Iron Works supplied this split foot bridge. It is cantilevered from the lock walls with a space in the center of the bridge where the two halves do not meet, as do not their parapets so that the tow rope can be easily passed through the resulting slot. This idyllic spot lies under the M5 motorway today.
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SMETHWICK ENGINE ARM AQUEDUCT 1829 Thomas Telford Staffordshire HEW492 SP024 888
This 8’ wide cast iron trough aqueduct carries the Rotton Park feeder at the 473 foot level of the Birmingham Canal over the lower line which was constructed at the same time. The feeder trough is supported by a single arch of 52 feet with five ribs. Three ribs support the trough and the 4’ wide tow paths on either side are supported by a decorative cast iron arcade of gothic motifs. The spandrel bracings re of the radial kind intersected by a continuous arched member.
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RABONE JUNCTION CANAL BRIDGES (aka Smethwick Junction) 1828 Thomas Telford/Horseley Iron Works HEW 1197 SP 029 890 N52o 29' 55.5" W1o 57' 29.8"
Thomas Telford was commissioned in the 1820's to shorten and improve the Birmingham Canal originally laid out along the contour lines by James Brinkley in the 1770's. Telford cut off some loops of the old canal to shorten the route and for these junctions he needed a number of footbridges and roving bridges. He designed a basic iron bridge which spanned fifty two feet with an arch rising nine feet in an elliptical curve which gave more headroom close to the abutments than a Roman arch. The Horseley Iron Works cast the iron as they proudly say on each bridge. The earliest ones are the most elaborate and have whimsical cut out decorations in the parapets. Gradually, the design is simplified such that the later ones have only a simple XXX pattern.
These two graceful roving bridges are at the junction itself and the single roving bridge is nearby at the Soho Loop where Matthew Boulton's foundry was located. The ribs and the parapets are integrated in one casting of opposing halves which are bolted together. The cast iron decking once had raised ridges to contain the earth composing the walkway for the tow horses, but today brick has been substituted for the bicylists and joggers. Brick and masonry abutments complement the Regency feel of the diamond lattice balustrades and decorative detail under the handrails.
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OLD TURN/DEEP CUTTING JUNCTION, Birmingham 1825 N52o 28' 44.4" W1o 54' 52.8"
There are two bridges at this junction on the Birmingham Canal Navigation in the heart of downtown beside the Sea Life Center (whose coordinates are above) James Brindley's original canal of 1769 was improved by Thomas Telford in the late 1820's by straightening the canal and eliminating some of the locks. To do this, he cut through the loops of the old canal which followed the contour lines and lowered the new canal to join the lowest level of the old canal by making (deep) cuttings. The result was a number of junctions between the old and the new lines which all required roving bridges.
This junction is at the heart of the Industrial Revolution. Not only were the ore and coal and finished iron products transported on this canal, but nearby were the Soho Works of James Watt and Matthew Boulton where their precision, high pressure steam engines were made and shipped all over the world.
Thomas Telford designed a handsome elliptical curved footbridge which the Horseley Iron Works cast. Versions of this bridge are represented here and all over the Birmingham Canal Navigation and other canal systems. One of those here looks very modern, but is marked "Horseley Iron Works Staffordshire 1827" Another is delightfully detailed with 'gothic' cutouts and an XXX design in the parapet.
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