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Anson Branch


lydfordcastle

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I remember the Anson when in usable condition, there used to be a rowing boat hirer at the top near the outfall from Birchills power station. Today the site is deplorable and really does want filling in, the bridge is a drug dealers paradise.

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A canal enthusiast suggesting the filling in of a canal? If I recall correctly there is a stream to flows into the Anson Branch and this in turn flows into the Walsall. Historically the Ansons Branch served mines, quarries and blast furnaces. There was a short branch off it at the top (Bradford) and there was also a terminus wharf for the Hatherton Railway. This single track line of narrow gauge (3ft something) was owned by the BCN and ran northwards into the heart of a group of mines west of Hatherton Furnaces. Would a clean up and the making of a linear park be an option or will the troglodytes be out again to wreak their usual havoc? Another option might be to declare it part of the HS2 route, something might be done then to get it restored!

 

Ray Shill

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The upper section of the Anson is in my opinion a dangerous enviroment. Certainly if you visit it do not go alone. The section from the M6 to anson bridge is totally overgrown, Anson bridge despite being newly constructed when the M6 was built is less than 7ft wide so passage of normal craft is impossible, the tunnel under the M6 was built wide enough for a weedcutter to pass through and is also undersize.

The canal north of Anson Bridge is filled with rubbish and is virtually impassable, no remains are now visible of the tramway wharf and tunnel which were on the offside this being obliterated many years ago when the quarry it served was infilled and the industrial estate created. Reedswood bridge is usually occupied by druggies and their associated kit so be extremely aware if trying to view underneath it. The basins now are lost to nature, some bits remain of the rotary screen and outfall from the former Birchills power station. The tramway feeding the basin is now a footpath.

This section needs proper infilling and the stream piped, restoration is not feasible in my opinion.

 

The Anson branch from the Walsall to the junction of the Bentley is filled in due to underground fires, a problem that has been here for years, it may be possible to create moorings there one day as road access is available now from the developments recently constructed. The junction of the Bentley remains in water.

 

If anyone wonders what happened to the turnover bridge at the junction of the Walsall, it was stolen by metal thieves some years ago!!

 

The junction in 1971:

 

gallery_5000_522_43729.jpg

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Situations change and former trouble spots can disappear if new housing were considered to be erected there. Is it beyond modern engineering skills to enlarge the head room under the M6 Bridge to make general navigation for boats possible? If so there remains the possibility for boaters moorings, should this antisocial situation change. I also assume that the CRT are responsible for this stretch of water. It would be useful to know their views.

 

Ray Shill

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Is it beyond modern engineering skills to enlarge the head room under the M6 Bridge to make general navigation for boats possible?

 

 

Yes, I'm pretty sure that the headroom under the M6 cannot be increased. In the Tony Clayton photo (below) which is shown in Capt Ahab's blog link, the embankment in the background supports the roundabout at the M6 Junction, and the motorway passes beneath the roundabout, so the M6 carriageway must sit directly above the culvert roof. Presumably that is why the culvert was built so low in the first place.

 

scan0004.jpg

 

 

The Anson Branch from its terminus to the Bentley Canal junction was abandoned in 1956, wiht the remaining section to the Walsall Canal following in 1961 (along with the Bentley itself), so there would have been no requirement on the M6 builders to provide full navigable clearances. But at that time the branch was still used to provide cooling water to Birchills Power Station, which stood east of the terminus. A weedcutter was used to maintain a clear water supply route, and this was presumably the reason why a passable clearance was provided at the M6.

 

Following closure of the power station, weedcutting ceased, the branch was stanked off at the Walsall Canal juntion due to the alleged flooding risk from an underground fire, and the branch suffered the ultimate ignomy of having its junction bridge stolen. More recently, the section from the Bentley junction to the M6 has been infilled and landscaped.

 

I navigated this section in March or April 1974, in the very small plywood cruiser I owned at the time, The boat was only about 6 ft beam, and we reckoned it would just fit through the culvert. Unfortunately we arrived as darkness was falling, and we had limited time to get the boat back to base, so we never pushed on through, something I have regretted ever since! And I can no longer find the photos of that trip either.

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Thanks, David

 

For that explanation. That of course is Junction 10 that the M6 engineers created at this spot without regard to the navigation, which BTW/BTC decided to close like other waterways, the Lichfield Canal closure was from this time. I suppose the really determined restorer would drop the canal north of the motorway (such is the use of a modern JCB), install a lock, but pipe the stream through at its normal level. But such things cost a lot of money and may be Laurence's solution is the preferred option.

 

Ray Shill

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 6 years later...
On 10/09/2013 at 21:53, David Mack said:

 

Yes, I'm pretty sure that the headroom under the M6 cannot be increased. In the Tony Clayton photo (below) which is shown in Capt Ahab's blog link, the embankment in the background supports the roundabout at the M6 Junction, and the motorway passes beneath the roundabout, so the M6 carriageway must sit directly above the culvert roof. Presumably that is why the culvert was built so low in the first place.

 

scan0004.jpg

 

 

 

This not my photo, but the state is similar to when we took our first Linton to this point on 12th August 1974, so I still feel that it is probable that Linton was the last boat to reach the M6 culvert.

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