Rushall Canal


The Rushall Canal is a straight,, narrow canal suitable for boats which are wide, forming part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations on the eastern side of Walsall, West Midlands, England.

Route

The Rushall Canal runs from Rushall Junction on the Tame Valley Canal and climbs due north through nine locks to Longwood Junction at Hay Head, where it joins the long Daw End Branch, a meandering, lock-free branch of the Wyrley and Essington Canal which joins the main W&E at Catshill Junction near Brownhills. A short, non-navigable, arm at Longwood Junction leads to Hay Head Nature Reserve, which was once an area of limestone mines.

History

The canal was built in the, then, county of Staffordshire under an Act of Parliament of April 1844 to connect the Daw End Branch to The Tame Valley Canal to take coal from Cannock mines to Birmingham and the Black Country. The engineer was James Walker. It was specified to be wide with towpaths on both sides. The towpaths were to be wide, but only one of them was constructed. It was completed 1847.

Points of interest