Wyrley and Essington Canal - Construction

Construction

The canal was built to allow transport of coal from coal mines near Wyrley, Essington and New Invention to Wolverhampton and Walsall, but also carried limestone and other goods. An Act of Parliament received the Royal Assent on 30 April 1792, entitled "An Act for making and maintaining a navigable Canal from, or from near, Wyrley Bank, in the county of Stafford, to communicate with the Birmingham and Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, at or near the town of Wolverhampton, in the said county; and also certain collateral Cuts therein described from the said intended Canal".

As the act's name suggests, this authorised the construction of the canal from the BCN Main Line of the Birmingham Canal Navigations (which would not be known as such until 1794) near Wolverhampton to Wyrley Bank, and the raising of up to £45,000 to pay for construction. William Pitt was appointed engineer.

A second act received Royal Assent on 28 March 1794, entitled "An Act for extending the Wyrley and Essington Canal" – this authorised a long extension, from Sneyd (thus making the line from Sneyd to Wyrley Bank effectively a branch) past Lichfield to Huddlesford Junction on the Coventry Canal, together with the raising of up to £115,000 (£10,522,579 as of 2012), to complete construction. The 1794 Act also authorised a branch to the Hay Head Limeworks, which became known as the Daw End branch, and a short branch to Lords Hayes.

The canal, including the extension, was open throughout by 1797. In February 1840, the Daw End branch was linked to the Tame Valley Canal by the Rushall Canal which included 9 locks. The section from Ogley Junction to Huddlesford is now known as the Lichfield Canal and is derelict, having been abandoned in 1955, under the terms of an Act of Abandonment obtained in 1954. It is now the subject of restoration.

The Cannock Extension was a late addition, being authorised by an Act of Parliament in 1854, for the construction of a branch between Pelsall and the coal mining area of Hednesford, near Cannock. The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal built a flight of 13 locks to connect the new branch to their Hatherton Branch at Churchbridge, which were opened in 1860, and the Cannock branch reached Hednesford basin by 1863. Heavy coal traffic used the branch for its entire life, although the mines affected the canal. In July 1960, subsidence caused by mining resulted in the canal bed dropping by 21 ft (6.4m), and although the banks were rebuilt, the canal to the north of the A5 road was abandoned three years later. The Churchbridge connection had been abandoned in 1955, as traffic had ceased on the Hatherton Branch in 1949, again following subsidence. Most of the route north of the A5 has since been destroyed, some of it as a result of opencast mining.

In common with other canals in the Midlands, it was built as a "narrow" canal, that is, able to take narrowboats approximately 70 feet by 7 feet (21.3 metres by 2.1 metres).

The canal was lock-free from the Birmingham Canal mainline at Horseley Fields Junction for 16.5 miles (26.5 kilometres), after which there were 30 locks descending to Huddlesford over a further 7 miles (11.3 kilometres).

There was a connection to the Bentley Canal, which in turn connected to the Anson Branch and thence the Walsall Canal, but the former closed in 1961.