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Perry Top Lock
- Tame Valley Canal |
| Tame
Valley Canal: This canal is infamous
for it 13 locks and is known to some as the "new thirteen", as opposed to
the "old thirteen " at Farmers
Bridge situated on the Birmingham & Fazeley canal and is accessed from
Newall Street, Birmingham This is rather a late comer to the network and
follows the line of the River Tame (hence its name). The tow path at Perry
Locks is in good condition and is rather a pleasent walk in either direction
on a nice day.. |
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| Above
Left: Perry Barr Top Lock with the original lock Keepers cottages
in the background |
Above Right:
Perry Lock Bridge. This was taken in July on a nice summers day which the
trees all in leaf. To view this scene in the Winter months, click
here. |
Perry Top Lock
- Drained Pound
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The
canal, which was opened in 1844 runs for 81/2 miles from the Tame Valley
Junction on the Walsall canal to Salford Junction just beneath the Graverley
Hill interchange or Spaghetti Junction as it is known to the locals. Here
it meets with the Birmingham & Fazeley canal coming from Birmingham
and Farmers bridge locks and the Birmingham and Warwick Junction canal which
was the route down to London via the Grand Junction canal. This canal was
built by the BCN to help relieve the congestion at Farmers Bridge. The canal
became very popular as it was dead straight with a flight of thirteen locks
here at Perry Barr raising the water about 106 feet.
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The
photographs above show Perry Lock cottage on the left which is also an
original BCN building. It also contains old stabling buildings and a gauging
station. Leading away from the top lock (above right) the canal heads
towards Tower Hill bridge and then onto Hamstead which was once well known
for its colliery and its great mining disaster of 1908.
At Hamstead Colliery on the
4th March a fire broke out in the inset, close to the bottom of the downcast
shaft. This was attributed to the ignition of a quantity of candles stored
in a wooden box, and resulted in the loss of 25 lives. The Tame Valley
canal played an important part in the transportation of coal from Hamstead. |
| Near
to Walsall The Tame Valley canal is joined by the Rushall
canal at Rushall junction. This canal was opened in 1847 also by the
BCN and linked onto the Daw End canal at Longwood Junction and then on to
the Wryley and Essington canal at Catshill
in Brownhills. This became a popular route for coal carrying barges (consisting
of a tug and five butty's) from the Cannock coalfields into Birmingham and
beyond. |
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| Above
Left: Tower Hill bridge. This bridge is closed to traffic other
than small motor cycles and pedestrians as it is said it was weakened during
the war by military vehicles. |
Above Right.
This is College Road bridge. Quite surprisingly this stretch of water is
quiet and attractive considering it is on the outskirts of Perry Barr which
is a rather built up area near to Birmingham city center. |
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| Above:
locks ten and eleven and heading into the more built up areas of Aston
and Perry Barr |
Tame Valley
Canal - Salford Junction |
| The
Towers
public house can be found on the Walsall road (A34) if you leave the canal
at Walsall Road bridge heading up the hill towards the Clifton cinema. This
is about a ten minutes to walk. |
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