Heartland

Yes it is from the Waterways Archive At the Breach site or near that site Very good

Yes Mike Congratulations and the other was Grand Canal And now back to Britain any ideas where this 1966 image was taken

So on the Irish Question, no guesses, but the crossing is for a Bord no Mona peat railway. Here is another crossing the same canal this time with a swing bridge.

It is actually at the bottom of the locks at Tipton Factory Just goes to show how this area has changed. This was how it was Of course in that image on the left was the Coal Wharf and Yard now gone And now across the Irish Sea for this lift bridge question

This location was in the past lest greener, but the canal side has changed and it is only a stones throw from where Caggy Stevens used to drink. It gather this craft was on route to Tamworth.

Thanks for the identification of the rail viaduct. Yet one of the above shows a disused loop of the Oxford any ideas on thar?

Whilst the debate goes on about the Cotswold Link where might this be It was taken last night

These three attached images were taken by Derek Hadley and seem to relate to the Oxford Canal Any body with ideas. Try again

Last Saturday after pressure washing the culvert a camera was sent down it and today Tuesday they have been digging out the exit again and revealed an old drain pipe which looks to be of the terra cotta type. Meanwhile the water in that culvert id going somewhere and may be that will be found out soon.

As to Sunrisen Yes Chris Jones and others got it right It was Worcester where river craft locked up into Diglis Basin Well Done From the collection of the late Colin Scrivenor

The repair has moved on since April 10th with the breach being levelled and a track from the compound to the edge of the canal gravelled. On the 20th April the diggers started to excavate the site of the culvert from the former Corn Mill and which rapidly filled with water in the hole. On the 21st the large digger dug out more exposing the portal which was filled with clay, but water started to flow from within. It is matter of speculation as to where the water was coming from. As there is a low level of water at the opposite end of that culvert a blockage some where could be suggested. The hole was again left to fill with water which was seeping in from the waterlogged area nearby. Om the 22nd April the large excavator was employed taking off the the top layer of earth in what was the corn mill mill pool and the spoil was conveyed onto the land near the breach.

And now a barge query where might this have been. The building still remains but the predatory developers have changed it a little.

David Mack has said Posted March 2 Use it or lose it. And CRT say 'Don't use it'! Same as happened to the end of the Wednesbury Old Canal (often erroneously referred to as the Ridgeacre Branch) a decade or more earlier. It was not quite like that and to put that interpretation into a historical context The Wednesbury Canal was built to a Brindley design but under the direction of Samuel Simcox and it first did not reach Wednesbury, even though called by that title, when opened it went to coal mines within the parish of West Bromwich and was later extended to Hill Top. It was later called the Balls Hill Branch Canal and the Ridgeacre joined it. That second canal was built under the direction of Thomas Telford Much of the Balls Hill Branch had been abandoned but it was in water at the junction with the Ridgeacre, which in turn, met other branches serving mines and ironworks. The Black Country Spine Road cut across the canal south of the junction of the Ridgeacre and the Balls Hill Branch, British Waterways chose to let those responsible for making the spine road make improvements to the Walsall Canal instead of insisting on making a bridge. I feel that was short sighted as the location would have been a suitable spot for moorings. The local fishermen were appeased by having platforms provided, but the canal soon was filled up with weed and the fishing there seems to have been lost. There are still bits of the Balls Hill branch in water there and the second canal and railway interchange basin was still visible. As to Samuel Simcox, there will a Waterways History Workshop at Titford April 18th, 2026, contact Martin O Keeffe.

The Blue Lias was an interesting pub, but when my group tried to book it for lunch at an RCHS AGM Weekend, at the Bank Holiday, they refused because they wanted to look after the local trade. Did that trade desert them? or was there another reason for the transfer? For that day we took people down the locks and then had to take the party to another transport location, which was beside the railway.

Some valuable comments. Today I see there was an excavator digging a wider and deeper trench to drain the water from the breach into the pool that is being pumped below. As it dug there was a lot of sand there in the breach material but there also seemed to be some clay. When the breach is finally drained it will be interest no doubt to see what is there with no water to hide the bottom