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The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal

The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal is a 46 mile Narrow and navigable canal to be found in the East Midlands passing through Worcestershire and Staffordshire. It runs from the Trent and Mersey at Haywood Junction (nr Great Haywood) to the River Severn which it enters at Stourport.

This is one of James Brindley’s canals and shows his usual preference for following the contours of the land to avoid unnecessary cuttings or tunnels, resulting in a canal that meanders slowly through the countryside, rather than Telford’s more business-like approach that tended to cut straight from A to B.

The  surveyfor the Presentation to Parliament was done in 1766 by Hugh Henshall and Samuel Simcock with the act authorising construction was passed in the same year and work starting with Samual Simcocks and Thomas Dadford senior as Engineers under James Bridley’s direction.

The work was completed in 1771 and opened the following year, with the usual exceeding of estimated costs, though this was not crippling. Commercial success showed  swiftly with a good trade developing from the Potteries, who were anxious to find a gentle mode of transport to get their delicate wares to market undamaged.

1781 saw the construction of the staircase locks from Stourport Narrow to the Severn, this complemented the four basins linked by broad locks which allowed the passage of broad –beamed Severn Trows and also saved water where Narrowboats only were making the passage to the Severn. Goods were transhipped from the Narrowboats to the Trows for passage down the Severn to Bristol, which made sense as the Trows were faster sailing craft more suitable to the waters.

 Further improvements were allowed to the River Severn just below Stourport by the Act of 1790

The Worcester and Birmingham opened in 1815, offering a more direct route from Birmingham to Bristol and taking a certain amount of trade with it, which inspired the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal to provide a 24 hour service for its locks by 1830.

Further trade was lost to the opening of the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal which provided a link to Chester and Merseyside

The canal remained profitable into the 20^th Century though with canal rivalry adding further to the completion profits fell consistently from the1860’s , though  the canal was able to remain independent until nationalisation in 1947, with coal from Cannock to the power station at Stourport being the mainstay of trade until the power station closed in 1949.

A threat to close the canal in 1959 was forestalled by public interest and a general renewed sympathy for the canals which saw volunteer groups and societies being formed to preserve and restore them as historical monuments and leisure facilities, a movement that continues today with dramatic results in terms of the number of miles of navigable waterway now available.