Historical Account of the Navigable Rivers, Canals, and Railways, of Great Britain/Birmingham Canal Navigations

by Joseph Priestley

BIRMINGHAM CANAL NAVIGATIONS.

8 Geo. III. C. 38, R. A. 24th Feb. 1768.

9 Geo. III. C. 53, R. A. 21st April 1769

23 Geo. III. C. 92, R. A. 24th June 1783.

24 Geo. III. C. 4, R. A. - - - - - 1784.

25 Geo. III. C. 99, R. A. 13th June 1785.

34 Geo. III. C. 87, R. A. 17th April, 1794.

46 Geo. III. C. 92, R. A. 3rd July, 1806.

51 Geo. III. C. 105, R. A. 21st May, 1811.

55 Geo. III. C. 40, R. A. 12th May, 1815.

58 Geo. III. C. 19, It. A. 17th Mar. 1818.

As some parts of these important navigations have been executed by companies, incorporated under other titles than what is now given to the whole of the canals and branches, constituting the Birmingham Canal Navigations, we shall, in the first place, recite the substance of the principal clauses in the respective acts of parliament, and in the order in which they were severally obtained.

The first act, entitled, 'An Act for making and maintaining a navigable Cut, or Canal, from Birmingham to Bilstone, and from thence to Autherley, there to communicate with the Canal now making between the Rivers Severn and Trent, and for making collateral Cuts up to several Coal Mines,' authorizes the original subscribers to make a canal from the town of Birmingham to Bilstone, and from thence by Wolverhampton, to join the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal (then in progress) at Autherley, with two collateral cuts to the coal pits, iron furnaces, and limestone quarries, in its vicinity.

The company, at the time the act was obtained, consisted of one hundred and two persons, amongst whom were the Earl of Hertford, Earl of Dartmouth, and Sir Lister Holt, Bart. who were incorporated by the name of "The Company of Proprietors of the Birmingham Canal Navigation."

This company, were empowered, under the before-mentioned act, to raise the sum of £55,000, in five hundred and fifty shares of £100 each, and a further sum of £15,000, if the proper execution of the works should require it. The duties granted under this act are as follows :-

TOLLS AND DUTIES.

	d.
Coal, Iron, Iron-stone, Stones, Timber, and other Goods, Wares and Merchandize	1½	per Ton, per Mile.
Lime and Limestone	½	ditto, ditto.

And so in proportion for any less Quantity than a Ton.

EXEMPTION FROM TOLL.

Paving-stones, Gravel, Sand, and all Materials for the making of Roads (Limestone excepted) and all Dung, Soil, Marl and all sorts of Manure, provided they do not pass a Lock but at such times as when the Water runs over the Gauge, Paddle or Niche of the Lock.

Boats of less Length than Seventy Feet, not to pass a Lock without leave.

In this act, power is given to the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Company to open a communication with the Birmingham Canal, at the cost of the proprietors of the last-mentioned canal, if they do not do it within six months after it is finished to Birmingham.

The second act, entitled, 'An Act to rectify a Mistake in an Act passed in the Eighth Year of his present Majesty, entitled, An Act for making and maintaining a navigable Cut or Canal, from Birmingham to Bilstone, and from thence to Autherley, there to communicate with the Canal now making between the Rivers Severn and Trent, and for making collateral Cuts up to several Coal Mines, and to explain and amend the said Act,' was obtained chiefly in consequence of having neglected to introduce, in the description of the course of the intended canal, a detached part of the county of Salop, near the village of Oldbury. The company, however, took this opportunity of obtaining power to make reservoirs anywhere within three miles from that part of the canal, lying between the two extreme locks, intended to be constructed between Smethwick and Oldbury. In consequence of being enabled to raise only £50,000, instead of £55,000, they, by this act, reduce the number of shares to five hundred, instead of five hundred and fifty, retaining, however, authority to raise the additional sums of £5,000, and £15,000, granted under the former act.

In 1783, parliamentary sanction was given to a very important act, entitled, 'An Act for making and maintaining a navigable Canal, from a place near Rider's Green, in the county of Stafford, to Broadwater Fire Engine, and six collateral Cuts, from the same, to several Coal Mines; and also a navigable Canal, from or near the town of Birmingham, to join the Coventry Canal, at or near Fazeley, in the parish of Tamworth, in the said county of Stafford, with a collateral Cut to the lower part of the 'said town of Birmingham,' in the preamble of which, it is stated, that the canal and branches, authorized to be done under the act of 8th George III. had been some time completed.

This act, obtained by a new company, consisting of one hundred and twenty-nine persons, who were incorporated by the name of "The Company of Proprietors of the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal Navigation," gave them power to extend the Wednesbury Branch of the Birmingham Canal, from Rider's Green, to Broad-water Engine, and to make six collateral cuts. One from Butcher's Forge Pool, to Brooke's Meadow; another from near the south end of Butcher's Forge Pool, to Wood's Engine Forge; a third from the head of Willingsworth Pool, to near the nine mile stone, on the turnpike-road leading from Ocher Hill to Wolverhampton; the fourth collateral cut extends from the Willingsworth Pool Tail, to Wednesbury Open Field; one other from the last-mentioned cut, into another part of the same field; and the sixth from out of the last-mentioned cut, to a place opposite Taylor's Engine. This act further empowers the company of proprietors to make a canal from the end of the Birmingham Canal at Farmer's Bridge, near the town of Birmingham, to join the line of the Coventry Canal, at Fazeley, in the parish of Tamworth, and county of Stafford, with a branch, called the Digbeth Branch, from the north side of the town of Birmingham, to the lower part of the said town, and where the Warwick and Birmingham Canal has since effected a junction.

The subscribers are empowered to raise among themselves the sum of £85,000, in five hundred shares of £170 each, for the purpose of executing the whole of the works above described, with further power to raise an additional £30,000, if necessary. The whole of the works to be completed in four years.

TONNAGE RATES ALLOWED UNDER THIS ACT.

Coal, Coke and Iron-stone, from Mines in the parishes of Wolverhampton, Sedgley, Tipton, Wednesbury and West Bromwich, which shall pass through the Locks, from the lower Level into the present Birmingham Canal	4d. per Ton, per Mile.
Coal, Coke and Iron-stone, from the Birmingham Canal, at Farmer's Bridge, to Fazeley	½d. ditto, per Mile.
Ditto, ditto, from Farmer's Bridge to Parsley and thence into the Coventry Canal	10d. ditto.
Ditto, ditto, from Farmer's Bridge, to go into the Digbeth Branch	¾d. ditto.

TONNAGE RATES CONTINUED.

Timber, Stone and other Goods, Wares and Merchandize, carried on any of the Canals or collateral Cuts (except Coal and Iron-stone)	½d. per Ton, per Mile.
Coal, Coke and Iron-stone, carried on any of the collateral Cuts, not entering or passing any of the Locks above mentioned	½d. ditto, ditto.

Fifty Feet of round or Forty Feet of square Oak, Ash or Elm Timber, and Fifty Feet of Fir or Deal, Balk, Poplar, and other Wood, shall be deemed a Ton; and One Hundred and Twenty Pounds shall be deemed a Hundred Weight, for the purposes of this Act.

Lime and Limestone, one-third of the above Rates.

EXEMPTION FROM TOLL.

Paving-stones, Gravel, Sand and Road Materials, (Limestone excepted) Dung, Soil, Marl, and all sorts of Manure, for the Improvement of Lands belonging to Persons whose Land has been taken for the use of the Canal, provided the same does not pass through any Lock, but at the time when the Water is running over the Lock Weirs.

In addition to these Rates, the Company are empowered to collect the Sum of One Penny per Ton for all Coal and Coke, which shall pass through the First Lock, from Farmer's Bridge, to be erected on this Canal, in consideration of repaying a Sum of Money, not exceeding £3,600, to the Subscribers to a Canal, which had been proposed to be made between the Wednesbury Coal Fields and the town of Birmingham, and from thence to Fazeley, as a reimbursement of Expenses they had been put to in an Application to Parliament, and this Toll is to exist until the Sum and Interest is paid off.

No Boats under Twenty Tons to pass a Lock without leave, unless there is not sufficient Water for greater Tonnage.

The proprietors have power to take water, for the supply of the canal, from mines situate within one thousand yards of the canal, provided that the produce of such mines be carried along any part of the canal.

In this act is recited the substance of an agreement entered into at a meeting of delegates from the Coventry, Oxford, Grand Trunk, and Birmingham and Fazeley Canal Companies, held the year preceding the passing of this act, by which the Grand Trunk Canal Company, and the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal Company, agree to execute that part of the line of the Coventry Canal lying between Fazeley and Fradley Heath, at the joint expense of the two parties; the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal Company allowing to the Grand Trunk Canal Company £500, for superintending and directing the execution of the same; and it was further agreed, that the tolls arising upon that half part of the said canal, commencing at Fazeley, should belong to the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal Company, and the other half, terminating at Fradley, to the Grand Trunk or Trent and Mersey Canal Company.

By an act of the 24th George ILL entitled, 'An Act for incorporating the Proprietors of a Canal Navigation, authorized by an Act, passed in the Eighth Year of his Majesty King George the Third, to be made from Birmingham to Bilstone, and Autherley, with the Company of Proprietors of a Canal Navigation, authorized by an Act passed in the Twenty-third Year of his present Majesty, to be made from Birmingham to Fazeley, and for consolidating their Shares, and amending the last-mentioned Act,' "The Company of Proprietors of the Birmingham Canal Navigation," and "The Company of Proprietors of the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal Navigation," were incorporated by the name of "The Company of Proprietors of the Birmingham and Birmingham and Fazeley Canal Navigations." By this act, these two undertakings became consolidated; the subscribers to one concern became equal proprietors of the other in the ratio of their respective ventures, though the powers of the several previous acts in other respects remain unaltered.

It further directs, that there shall be no more than five hundred shares, the number fixed on in the original act; and that no person shall have less than one consolidated share, nor more than ten.

Power is also given in this act to borrow the £115,000 authorized to be raised by the act of 23rd George III. by mortgage, under the common seal of the company, instead of the mode therein prescribed: and that this sum shall be appropriated to the making of the canals and cuts enumerated in the 23rd George III. and to the paying off the proportion of the expense of making the required junction from Fazeley with the Trent and Mersey, or Grand Trunk Canal, at Fradley, the act for doing which received the royal assent on the 13th June, 1785, and is entitled, 'An Act to enable the Company of Proprietors of the Navigation from the Trent to the Mersey, and the Company of Proprietors of the Navigation from Birmingham to Fazeley, to make a navigable Canal from the said Trent and Mersey Navigation, on Fradley Heath, in the county of Stafford, to Fazeley, in the said county; and for confirming certain Articles of Agreement entered into between the said Trent and Mersey, the Oxford, and the Coventry Canal Navigation Companies.'

In the preamble of an act bearing date the 17th April, 1794, and entitled, 'An Act for extending and improving the Birmingham Canal Navigations,' it is stated that all the works authorized to be done under the preceding acts, had been made and completed. By this act, power is given to make a collateral cut from Broadwater, in the parish of Wednesbury, to the town of Walsall, with three branches from the same, extending to the coal and iron-stone mines in the vicinity; also another branch canal from Bloomfield, in the parish of Tipton, to communicate again with the original line of navigation at Deepfield, in the parish of Sedgley.

By this act the company once more change their style, being incorporated under the name of "The Company of Proprietors of the Birmingham Canal Navigations," and three years were allowed for the due execution of the works therein described. Upon the canal and collateral cuts authorized to be made under this act, the proprietors are empowered to collect the following

TONNAGE RATES.

Coal, Coke, Lime-stone, Iron-stone, and other Minerals, carried along the Branch Canal, from Broadwater to Walsall or any of the collateral Cuts therefrom	3d. per Ton.
Goods, Wares, Merchandize, Lime and other Commodities	1½d. ditto, per Mile.

Coal, Coke, Lime-stone, Iron-stone, Lime, Goods, Wares, Merchandise, and all other things whatsoever, carried on the proposed Canal, from Bloomfield to Deepfield. the same Rates of Tonnage as are paid for other parts of the Birmingham Canal Navigation, made under the 8th George III.

By a Clause inserted in an Act of the 25th George III. entitled, 'An Act for extending the Dudley Canal to the Birmingham Canal, at or near Tipton Green, in the county of Stafford,' it appears that the Birmingham Canal Company received ls. 5½d. per Ton, for all Stone, Timber, Goods, wares, Merchandise, and Commodities whatsoever, (except Coal, Coke, Iron-stone, Lime, and Limestone), which should pass between the Junction of the Dudley Canal. at Tipton Green, and the town of Birmingham; and also, the further Sum of 1½d. per Ton, per Mile; and for the same Articles, (with the same exception), between the Junction of the Dudley Canal and jhe western Termination of the Birmingham Canal, at Autherley, the same Rates of Tonnage as if they had been navigated along the said Canal from Autherley. By this act, however, these Tolls are reduced, in consequence of shortening the Navigation between the Junction of the Dudley Canal and Autherley, nearly Four Miles, by the proposed Canal from Bloomfield to Deepfield. Instead, therefore, of the Sum of is. 5œd. above-mentioned, it is reduced to 11½d. per Ton, retaining, however, the 1½d. per Ton, per Mile, granted under the Act of 25th George III. above recited.

The act of the 34th George III. empowers the proprietors of the Birmingham Canal Navigations, to borrow, on the credit of their works, the sum of £45,000, and a committee of nine are appointed to give security under the common seal of the company, upon the tolls, rates and duties arising from the same.

In the preamble of an act of the 46th George Ill, entitled, 'An Act for improving the Birmingham Canal Navigations,' it is stated, that the company have already opened a communication with the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, the Coventry Canal, and the Trent and Mersey, or Grand Trunk Canal, and have completed all the collateral cuts and canals authorized under the act of 34th George III.; that they have, moreover, improved the navigation, by cutting down the summit at Smethwick, and thereby materially reducing the lockage; also by cutting off bends in the canals, and erecting steam engines for the purpose of obtaining a more regular supply of water, for the purposes of lockage; in consideration of which improvements, they obtain power to charge the same amount of tonnage and mileage as they have heretofore received upon the original circuitous line of navigation. It is also recited in this act, that the company have mortgages on these navigations to the amount of £100,000 and upwards, and for the discharging of which, they obtain power to raise that sum by granting annuities to the same amount, which annuities are to be paid half-yearly, and in preference to dividends or any other claim.

By another act, entitled, 'An Act for enlarging the Powers of several Acts of his present Majesty,for making and maintaining the Birmingham Canal Navigations, and for further extending and improving the same,' the five hundred consolidated shares, of which the whole of the navigation consists, are divided into one thousand shares, of which no person shall possess more than twenty, on pain of forfeiting all above the restricted number.

By the act of the 55th George III. entitled, 'An Act for establishing a navigable Communication between the Birmingham Canal Navigations and the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, and amending certain Acts relating thereto,' power is given to open a communication between the two above-mentioned canals, near Broadstreet in the town of Birmingham; the space between them was only 7 feet 3 inches, and the estimate for effecting this communication, with the necessary works for preventing the water from flowing either way, amounted to the sum of £2,300, and was made by Mr. John Hodgkinson, civil engineer, in 1814. By this act it is provided, that whenever the surface water, either of the Birmingham or the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, is more than 6 inches above the level of the other canal, the proprietors of such lowest canal shall pay to the other the sum of three shillings per every 4,000 cubic feet of water, expended in passing a vessel through the communication.

The Birmingham Canal Navigation Company are authorized by this act, in consideration of the amount of tolls they may be deprived of by consenting to the above communication, and the expense they will be put to in maintaining the locks at this junction, to receive the following tolls in addition to what they were before entitled to.

TONNAGE RATES.

Coals and other Minerals, Coke, Goods, Wares, Merchandize, Commodities, &c. passing out of the Birmingham Canal, and into the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, and vice versa	4d. per Ton.
Coal or Coke, passing out of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal into the Birmingham Canal, and from thence to the termination of the Digbeth Branch of the said Birmingham Canal, or any part thereof, the further and additional Sum of	4d. ditto.

And which Sum shall be in full Satisfaction for all Tolls payable between Farmer's Bridge and the said termination.

WHARFAGE RATES.

Coal or Coke, passing from the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, into the Birmingham Canal, and landed at any of the Wharfs belonging to the said Birmingham Canal Company	2d. per Ton.
Coal or Coke, conveyed Five Miles along this line of Canal, towards Fazeley, and passing any of the Locks between Farmer's Bridge and the termination of the Digbeth Branch	4d. ditto.

And this Sum shall be considered as part Payment of the Rates which the said Company are entitled to collect on this part of the Navigation.

The preamble of the act of 58th George III. entitled, 'An Act for altering, explaining and amending the several 'Acts of Parliament passed relating to the Birmingham Canal Navigations; and for improving the said Canal Navigations,' states that the whole of the works authorized by the preceding acts have been executed and found of great utility.

In this act the company are empowered to contract with the owners and occupiers of coal mines and iron furnaces, to receive a gross annual sum for the conveyance of coal, coke, iron-stone, lime-stone and other raw material along the navigation, in lieu of the tonnage rates which the act authorizes them to demand, provided that such material is for the use of the furnaces and forges of the persons claiming this mode of payment, and that they do not pass a lock.

The Old Birmingham Canal, so called from its being executed under the earliest act relating to these navigations, is twenty-two miles five-eighths in length. It commences at Farmer's Bridge, near Birmingham, and passes by Smethwick, at which place there is a side cut, with three locks, rising 19¾ feet, which materially facilitates the passage of vessels along this navigation. From the last-mentioned place the canal continues on one level by Oldbury, Tipton Green, Bilstone, and Wolverhampton, to within one mile and a half of Autherley, where it locks down 132 feet by twenty-one locks, into the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. The summit level of this canal at Smethwick, was originally only one mile in length, and 18 feet higher than at present, and it was supplied with water by means of two steam engines placed at the extremities. Prior, however, to 1787, it was cut down to its present level at a cost to the company of about £30,000. It is here worthy of remark, that though two years and a half were occupied in this work, not more than fourteen days interruption took place to the passage of vessels.

There are several collateral cuts to the coal mines and iron furnaces, which are found described under the act which empowers the company to make them; the principal of which is, the branch to Wednesbury, of four miles and a half in length, which was finished in November, 1769, but as a part of it fell in, in consequence of working the coal and iron-stone underneath it, it is now of little use; there are three locks upon it, with a fall from the main line of 18 feet.

The supply of water for the lockage on this canal is chiefly derived from the Old Coal Works, from the bottom of which it is raised by steam power, at a very considerable expense. When Mr. Smeaton reported on some matters connected with this canal in October, 1782, there were eleven engines so employed. There are, also, reservoirs at Smethwick and near Oldbury. This canal communicates with the Worcester and Birmingham Canal at Birmingham; with the Dudley Canal near Tipton Green; and with the Wyrley and Essington Canal near Wolverhampton.

Under the powers of the act of 34th George III. a cut was made from Bloomfield into the original navigation again at Deepfield, of the length of one mile and three quarters, of which one thousand yards was tunnelling, by which, the circuitous course of tour miles, round Tipton Hill, is avoided. Mr. Brindley was the engineer originally employed in this work, Mr. Whitworth followed him, and several others have been subsequently consulted, amongst whom was Mr. John Smeaton; but the last and greatest improvements made, were under the direction of Mr. Telford.

That part of this navigation called the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, commences at the eastern end of the Old Birmingham Canal, near Farmer's Bridge in Birmingham, and passes through a part of the town; thence by Newhall Forge, Moxhall Hall, Middleton Hall, and Drayton Manor House, to the Coventry Canal, at Fazeley, near the town of Tamworth. The distance to this place is fifteen miles, with a fall of 248 feet. The remaining five miles and a half, to Whittington Brook, being that portion of the original line of the Coventry Canal, now forming part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations, is level Its course from Fazeley is north-west of Hopwas, from whence, running parallel with the Tame River, it passes the villages of Tamborn and Whittington, to Whittingion Brook, otherwise the Huddlesford Junction, where it communicates with the Wyrley and Essington Canal; and also, with that portion of the original part of the Coventry Canal, now forming part of the Grand Trunk, or Trent and Mersey Canal

The Digbeth Branch is a mile and a quarter in length, with a fall of 40 feet, by six locks, to the Warwick and Birmingham Canal, on the east side of the town of Birmingham. At Salford Bridge there is an aqueduct of seven arches, each 18 feet span. There is also a short tunnel at Curdworth.

This canal, which effected an inland communication between London and Hull, was opened on the 12th of July, 1790.

The Walsall Branch was executed under authority of an act of 34th George III. It is level, and four miles and a half in length, and was opened in June, 1799.

By an act of the 32nd George III. (cap. 81, royal assent 30th 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 Canal,' the following tonnage rates are secured to the proprietors of the Birmingham Canal

TONNAGE RATES.

For all Goods landed within One Mile of the First Lock at Wolverhampton	2d. per Ton.
And if passing through any one or more of the Wolverhampton Locks	6d. ditto.

The Warwick and Birmingham Canal Act, of 33rd George III. enables the proprietors to connect their navigation with the Digbeth Branch of the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, upon payment to the latter company of the following tonnage rates, in lieu of dues, between Farmer's Bridge and the said communication.

TONNAGE RATES.

On all Goods passing from the Warwick and Birmingham Canal, into the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, for a limited time	6d. per Ton.
At the end of the period	5d. ditto.
Also, on all Goods out of the Warwick and Birmingham Canal, into the Birmingham Canal	3d. ditto.

The Birmingham Canal Navigations, connected as they are with the Coventry, the Grand Trunk, the Worcester and Birmingham, the Dudley, the Warwick and Birmingham, the Wyrley and Essington, the Staffordshire and Worcestershire, and the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canals, present a very important feature in the map of inland navigation, as by these, a communication is opened with the most important towns in England and Wales.

The populous towns of Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Bilstone, Wednesbury and Walsall, are on its banks, and it affords the greatest facilities to the transit of the produce of the most valuable mineral district in the world. Some estimate of the trade upon this navigation may be formed by the following amount of tonnage received by the company from the years 1818 to 1823, inclusive.

Amount of Tonnage, in	1818,	£84,295	| Amount of Tonnage, in	1821,	£85,675
.....................	1819,	83,442	.....................	1822,	79,733
.....................	1820,	83,303	.....................	1823,	88,805