this distance to the reservoir at Cannock Heath is a rise of 270 feet, by thirty locks; and the remaining sixteen miles to the Birmingham Canal is level. In the first half mile of the Wyrley Branch, from its leaving the main line, is a rise of about 36 feet by six locks; and the remaining three miles is level. The branch to the Essington Colliery, which is about a mile in length, has a rise of about 24 feet by four locks. The branches—to Hay Head Lime Works, five miles and a half in length; to Lords Hay Coal Pits, two miles and a half; and to near Walsall, half a mile long, are all on the same level with the Long Pound.
This canal is of great service in conveying the produce of the mines which abound in its vicinity to the manufactories of Wolverhampton and its populous neighbourhood; and by its connection, through the Coventry Canal, with the Trent and Mersey Canal to the north and the Oxford Canal to the south, a communication is opened with the Rivers Treat and Mersey, and also with the River Thames.
