The Battle at Stourbridge
Saturday 12th March
Today’s Journey:- Distance Travelled = 7.17 Miles Number of Locks = 9 Time Taken = 4 hours
Today is the day we leave the loveliness of Bumble Hole - but although we are sad to leave, we are excited for pastures new and it’s a good day for cruising - the sun is shining and we are headed for Farmers Bridge.
Steph, Tilly and Winston walked the first part of the journey, taking a lovely stroll by the side of a lovely reservoir, muddy towpaths again but worth it!
This bridge spans a cutting that used to be a tunnel (Brewin’s Tunnel) where a mass of basalt rock was hit when the canal was being built and so a tunnel had to be cut through. It was opened out in 1858 - which saved the leggers a job!
And here’s another interesting fact - in 1943 the huge casings for the bouncing bomb (of Dambusters fame) were made at Grazebrooks Iron Works. This marvel of engineering was one of the great successes of World War II.
At Park Head Junction - we leave the Dudley No 2 Canal and join the Dudley No 1 Canal, which leads up the Park Head flight to the portal of Dudley Tunnel, however we take a left to go down the 12 ft deep Blower’s Green Lock - the deepest on the BCN, and was built to replace two earlier locks which suffered from subsidence. While Paul was doing this lock Steph had a stroll up the locks to see the southern portal of Dudley Tunnel and the remains of the Pensnett Canal and the Grazebrook Arm, which was abandoned in 1953.
Our cruise takes us by The Waterfront, which was once the site of a vast steel works. We didn’t stop but it does look like a nice place to moor for a night to have a look round. A little further along we get to Merry Hill shopping centre - must admit I (Steph) was a little tempted to jump off but was enjoying the cruise too much to join the hustle and bustle down below us!
Now a little matter of the Delph flight of locks, just 8 of them
There are 8 locks and will take us down from the Dudley No 1 Canal and on to the Stourbridge Canal. This is a beautiful flight of locks, now designated a conservation area, with a series of high waterfall overflows alongside them. Originally there were 9 locks when the canal opened in 1779, but in 1858 the the middle 7 locks were replaced by 6 new locks.
We moored up for the night at Farmers Bridge. Good chippy right by us so we had fish, chips and mushy peas for tea after a pint at Bar Sefton.
Sunday 13th March
Today’s Journey:- Distance Travelled = 3.31 Miles Number of Locks = 16 Time Taken = 3.5 hours
The Stourbridge Flight
It’s a while since we tackled 16 Locks in a day but the weather was good and after the appetiser of the Delph flight, a few beers and some fish & chips from the night before, we were fit and ready to go. The sixteen locks lower the canal by 145 feet between Leys Junction and Wordsley Junction and covers a distance of a little over mile. We untied, and cruised a little distance before turning left to see the task ahead shimmering in sunlight. We cruised past The Samson & Lion public house, shame on us for not frequenting this establishment but we are on a mission 😊.
We really enjoyed these locks and the little over 2 hours to complete the flight seem to vanish very quickly. Lock 9 is an odd lock as the distance between locks is less than a boat length, similar to Bratch which we are planning to do later.
There were once more than 20 glassworks in this area and it wasn’t long before we were reminded of its unique association with the glassmaking industry. Standing between locks 12 & 13 breaking the immediate skyline like a beacon to the past is a glass-making cone, one of only a handful now left in the world.
On successfully completing the flight we turned left and down the Stourbridge Arm and into history.
We had no idea of the significance and impact Stourbridge had on our lifestyle, until by chance, we watched a program about the restoration of the canals. It is the place where a small group of people took on the government and WON. More than half of the then 4500 miles of canals had built on, leaving circa 1800 miles with any water most of which were almost impossible to navigate. By 1961, a small group of enthusiasts managed to delay the deterioration of isolated sections of the system but needed to ensure the momentum they had started didn’t stall.
They decided to hold a Boat Rally at Stourbridge to highlight both the potential canals had to offer as well as there current condition.
The ‘Authorities’ did not like this, but in the 1968 Transport Act, the canal was designated as a ‘Cruiseway’ which meant its future was assured. Their victory and success paved the way for the many others resulting in no canal closures since. Once labelled “fanatics”, the debt we own the few, can’t easily be put into words. A place of leisure and recreation, individual development, a haven for wildlife and a legacy for the next generation.
