Six years on from his last talk to the Society, our speaker in November was Bob Williams who has been the Finance Officer for the Lichfield and Hatherton Canal Trust for 25 years.

Bob told us that originally all north-south canal traffic in England had to go through the Midlands and Staffordshire. The engineer James Brindley hoped to establish a canal though Lichfield in 1758 but, at £ 13,000, the civic leaders in our City deemed it to be too expensive a project. However, a combination of canals and rivers did soon create a "grand cross" on the growing network and the new Trent and Mersey canal at Fradley was not far from Lichfield. Finally, in 1797, a new canal through Lichfield opened and this was linked to the Hatherton branch of the Wyrley and Essington canal in 1841.

There were now 60 miles of canals in the West Midlands and for 40 miles there were no locks on the canal system. From the mid 18th century this extensive network facilitated the transport of cheap coal to the Black Country. However, in the 19th century parts of the canal system fell into a steady decline. Canals were a slow means of transport compared to the new railway network. In winter, ice held up traffic and finally lack of maintenance during the second World War finished many canals as a viable business. In the 1950s it was widely thought that there was no purpose for our canal network; government's attitude was "get rid of them". At this time a sum as little as £ 50 could buy many miles of canal from the nationalised British Waterways.

Most canals were authorised by a special Act of Parliament; but, in 1954, the right to navigation on our local canal between Ogley Junction on the Wyrley and Essington canal and Huddlesford Junction on the Coventry canal was extinguished by another Act. In 1955 our canal was formally abandoned. Many railways would soon suffer the same fate. However, the large Chasewater reservoir was retained to provide a water supply to the remaining Birmingham canal network.

Between Lichfield and Brownhills there are three geological faults with a combined downthrow of over 200 ft. Both the canal and later the railway had to negotiate this sharp drop from 473ft above sea level at Ogley Juntion to just 273ft in Lichfield. This required 30 locks, 23 from Ogley Junction to London Road in Lichfield and a further 7 to the junction with the Coventry Canal at Huddlesford.

Since the canal was abandoned the land along its route has been sold into several ownerships and has become overgrown, filled in or, in some places re-developed. Notably the former Bison's concrete works site and "The Shires" industrial estate on Birmingham Road now obstruct the original line. Restoration would be a challenging project; who would want to re-open such a difficult canal? Bob told us that, in 1997 many local volunteers were indeed willing to take it on and, with public support, the Trust was born.

The Lichfield Canal was historically part of the Wyrley and Essington Canal that had been built in 1792. This canal was purchased by the larger Birmingham Canal Navigation Co. in 1840. After the abandonment in 1954 just a small section at Huddlesford remained in water for boat moorings. In 1975 restoration plans were being discussed, encouraged by the Inland Waterways Association, but nothing was achieved until the formation of The Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust in 1998. Fortunately, seven miles of the former canal were now within the jurisdiction of Lichfield District Council, who had already allowed some work to begin. The Trust soon drew up plans for restoring the former Ogley Hay branch, now re-designated "The Lichfield Canal". The former Lock Keeper's cottage beside lock 1 (just north of Brownhills) was purchased and rented out, providing regular income for the project. However, with the passage of time, many of the original locks were literally falling apart.

A new threat came with the plans for the M6 Toll Road (authorised by the Secretary of State in 1997). The canal would have to be carried on an aqueduct over this new motorway road while the track of the former South Staffordshire Railway would need a new underbridge. After energetic fundraising, the new aqueduct was ready to be craned into place in August 2003, just before the new road opened. Midlands Expressway Ltd., the owners of the new road, were only required to pay for the foundations. However, in 2015, after the Trust had been able to purchase the adjacent land with a Social Investment Business Grant of £ 336,000, Midlands Expressway did donate £ 50,000 towards building a new culvert over the adjacent Crane Brook to enable the canal to reach the aqueduct.

The Trust's regular volunteers are supplemented by many groups who come to work on the canal on day release from their employers. These have recently included groups from Staffordshire County Council's Highways Dept and from British Telecom, who were involved in work between the A461 and the A5 at Muckley Corner. Students from Wolverhampton School helped to lay a new footpath. Initially they were reluctant but soon became totally enthusiastic about working on the canal project. Bob said that it was great to have these young people and to be able to provide them with a unique experience.

The Pipe Hill section of our canal dropped through six locks to Sandfields Pumping Station. Locks 14 & 15, north of Wall Lane, have been infilled but are thought to be preserved - digging should easily confirm this. In 1996, lock 18 was restored; material from the excavation was used to build embankments and this also avoided the cost of disposing of the material. This work was assisted by "Navvies Anonymous" and partly funded by grants from the Conduit Lands Trust and Lichfield District Council's Heritage Fund. It took over a year to excavate this lock from the former landfill. Many donations for this work come from the Trust's worldwide membership and some land which had previously been derelict was donated to the Trust by Lichfield District Council.

About five years ago, the Trust received £ 18,500 from the Postcode Lottery to develop Fosseway Heath as a nature reserve and wetland. Work began late in 2017. Help soon came from Queen's Croft School with members of the Waterways Recovery Group (otherwise known as "The Wergies") working on 'the bit in the middle'. Other volunteers included a team of 30 from Network Rail's Projects team. As this work continued a team from Laing Murphy JV were making progress with the towpath construction. A team from Jaguar Land Rover also built part of the towpath and some trainee bricklayers came from Walsall College with two instructors. Progress continued with the help of an excavator from Chasetown Engineering Ltd.

Full details of all this very intensive work can be seen on the Trust's website "www.lhcrt.org.uk", which clearly demonstrates the volunteer's outstanding achievement.

In July 2019 "The Fosseway Queen" was the Trust's contribution to Lichfield in Bloom. The volunteers created a half-scale narrowboat in brick, towed by a steel-plate horse, all to a design by Peter Buck. Lichfield was awarded a Gold Prize for the third consecutive year.

West of London Road, some of the original line of the canal was lost when the southern by-pass, was built but our canal will now follow a new route parallel to this by-pass all the way from London Road to the railway bridge at Fossway Heath. About half-way along the by-pass is the railway bridge under the Cross City line. A tunnel for the canal was inserted underneath the adjacent Birmingham Road roundabout in 2007 but a bridge under the railway will also be needed before this section of the canal can be completed. Bob told us that a similar problem was faced by the project to re-open the Stroudwater Navigation in Gloucstershire; and last Christmas the Cotswold Canals Trust were allowed to close the main Birmingham-Bristol line, excavate the railway embankment, and insert a new underbridge for the canal. So it can be done!

Lorna Bushell
November, 2022