Old Turn Junction, or Deep Cutting Junction () is a canal junction in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, where the

Birmingham and Fazeley Canal The Birmingham and Fazeley Canal is a canal of the Birmingham Canal Navigations in the West Midlands of England. Its purpose was to provide a link between the Coventry Canal and Birmingham and thereby connect Birmingham to London via the Oxford ...

meets the Birmingham Canal Navigations Main Line Canal. The junction features a circular island.

History

When the first Birmingham Canal (now known as the

BCN Main Line The BCN Main Line, or Birmingham Canal Navigations Main Line is the evolving route of the Birmingham Canal between Birmingham and Wolverhampton in England. The name ''Main Line'' was used to distinguish the main Birmingham to Wolverhampton rout ...

) was built in the late 1760s there was a dispute among the shareholders about where the canal should terminate. In the end two termini were created: one in 1772 at Newhall Hill, called the Newhall Branch, and the other in 1773 at the western end of Paradise Street, called the Paradise Street Branch. The junction of these two branches became known as Deep Cutting Junction, these days called Old Turn Junction. Deep Cutting was the name of the short stretch of canal between the junction and Broad Street Tunnel. The Birmingham Canal Company head office was built at the end of the Paradise Street Branch, where there were wharves along the side of a pair of tuning fork shaped basins. This was Old Wharf, later partly filled in and built upon, leaving the present day

Gas Street Basin Gas Street Basin () is a canal basin in the centre of Birmingham, England, where the Worcester and Birmingham Canal meets the BCN Main Line. It is located on Gas Street, off Broad Street, and between the Mailbox and Brindleyplace canal-side d ...

. Later, in 1798, the

was built and joined the Main Line at Farmer's Bridge, a few hundred yards (metres) along the Newhall Branch, creating Farmer's Bridge Junction. When the Newhall Branch was closed in the early 20th century the name of the junction at Farmer's Bridge top lock was transferred to the current Old Turn Junction, so Farmer's Bridge Junction was synonymous with Old Turn Junction and Deep Cutting Junction. In 1993, the name Farmer's Bridge Junction was dropped, leaving it again as Old Turn Junction. The

Telford Telford () is a town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, about east of Shrewsbury, south west of Stafford, north west of Wolverhampton and from Birmingham in the same direction. With an est ...

New Main Line modifications following his 1824 survey cut through many of the bends of the Old Main Line, including bypassing the Oozells Street loop, so that Old Turn Junction became the meeting of four branches.

Roundabout island

The island was installed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, to allow the use of temporary dams to protect the railway tunnel beneath it, should the canal be breached by

bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...

ing. The north tunnel of the Stour Valley railway line (main western approach to New Street Station) runs a few yards north east of the junction, under the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal. The fingerpost at the junction was added on 21 May 1983, the first of many canal junctions to be signposted under John Phillips' leadership of th
BCN Society.
ref>

Nearby

Once at the heart of an industrial area, the junction is now overlooked wholly by recent developments, including the

National Indoor Arena Arena Birmingham (known for sponsorship reasons as Utilita Arena Birmingham, and previously as The Barclaycard Arena and originally as the National Indoor Arena) is an indoor arena and sporting venue in central Birmingham, United Kingdom. It ...

and the National Sea Life Centre, the latter being part of

Brindleyplace Brindleyplace is a large mixed-use canalside development, in the Westside district of Birmingham, England. It was named after Brindley Place, the name of the street (in turn named after the 18th century canal engineer James Brindley) around whi ...

. To the South-East is the International Convention Centre and

, where the BCN ends and the

Worcester and Birmingham Canal The Worcester and Birmingham Canal is a canal linking Birmingham and Worcester in England. It starts in Worcester, as an 'offshoot' of the River Severn (just after the river lock) and ends in Gas Street Basin in Birmingham. It is long. There ar ...

begins.

References

* * {{Coord, 52.4792, -1.9139, display=title, region:GB_type:landmark Canal junctions in England Buildings and structures in Birmingham, West Midlands Transport in Birmingham, West Midlands Birmingham Canal Navigations Canals in the West Midlands (county)

History

Roundabout island

Nearby

See also

References