Rushall Canal facts for kids
The Rushall Canal is a straight, 2.75-mile (4.4 km) long waterway in the West Midlands, England. It's a narrow canal, meaning it's only wide enough for boats up to 7 feet (2.1 meters) across. This canal is part of a bigger network called the Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN), located on the eastern side of Walsall.
Exploring the Rushall Canal
The Rushall Canal begins at a place called Rushall Junction. This junction is found near where the M5 and M6 motorways meet. From there, the canal travels north, climbing uphill through nine special water lifts called locks. Locks help boats move up or down different water levels.
The canal ends at Longwood Junction, which is near Hay Head. Here, it connects to the Daw End Branch. This branch is 5.25 miles (8.4 km) long and is part of the Wyrley and Essington Canal. The Daw End Branch is interesting because it doesn't have any locks! It eventually joins the main Wyrley and Essington Canal at Catshill Junction near Brownhills. A short, non-boatable part of the canal at Longwood Junction leads to the Hay Head Nature Reserve, which was once an area where limestone was mined.
A Look Back: How the Canal Was Built
The Rushall Canal was built a long time ago, in the 1840s. It was created in what was then the county of Staffordshire. A special law was passed in April 1844 to allow its construction. This was four years after the Birmingham Canal Navigations and the Wyrley and Essington Canal had joined together.
The main reason for building this canal was to connect the Daw End Branch to the Tame Valley Canal. This connection was important for moving coal from the mines in Cannock to big cities like Birmingham and the Black Country. The engineer in charge of building the canal was James Walker. The canal was planned to be 36 feet (11 meters) wide with paths on both sides for horses to pull boats. These paths, called towpaths, were supposed to be 9 feet (2.7 meters) wide. However, only one towpath was actually built, on the west side of the canal. The Rushall Canal was finished and opened in 1847.
