Proof House Junction near the Warwick Bar

Warwick Bar stop lock and Banana Warehouse

The Digbeth Branch Canal in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

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 ...

is a short canal which links the mainline of 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 Oxfor ...

at Aston Junction and the Grand Union Canal at Digbeth Junction (or historically, at the adjacent Warwick Bar) in Digbeth, a district in Birmingham, England. Completed in 1799 the Digbeth Branch of the

Birmingham Canal Navigations Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN) is a network of canals connecting Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and the eastern part of the Black Country. The BCN is connected to the rest of the English canal system at several junctions. It was owned and opera ...

provided a route for traffic between the mainline of the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, and thus the Birmingham Canal mainline, to and from the Warwick and Birmingham Canal (now part of the

Grand Union Canal The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another ends in Birmingham, with the latter ...

), initially via transshipment over a short physical gap between the canals called the Warwick Bar, with a stop lock later allowing through passage of boats. The 1¼ mile long canal has six locks descending 40 feet from Aston Junction; the final lock will be located under the final approach to

High Speed 2 High Speed 2 (HS2) is a planned high-speed railway line in England, the first phase of which is under construction in stages and due for completion between 2029 and 2033, depending on approval for later stages. The new line will run from its m ...

Birmingham Curzon Street railway station Birmingham Curzon Street railway station is the planned northern terminus of Phase 1 of High Speed 2 in the city centre of Birmingham, England. The new railway will connect Birmingham to via and . Curzon Street will have seven terminal platf ...

. After that final lock, the canal passes through a grade II listed tunnel carrying the lines eastwards from Birmingham New Street railway station, and originally the lines to the original Curzon Street station. Beyond the tunnel is Digbeth Junction. From the junction there is a short branch to the

Typhoo Typhoo (sometimes stylized as Ty•Phoo) is a brand of tea in the United Kingdom. It was launched in 1903 by John Sumner Jr. of Birmingham, England. History In 1863, William Sumner published ''A Popular Treatise on Tea'' as a by-product ...

Basin. In modern times, Digbeth Junction is sometimes regarded as the junction with the Grand Union Canal, but historically the through route goes a little further, under a former railway bridge, and meets the Grand Union Canal (originally the Warwick and Birmingham Canal) at the Warwick Bar stop lock just to the rear of

Birmingham Proof House The Birmingham Gun Barrel Proof House is a weapons proving establishment in Banbury Street, Birmingham, UK. The building was designed by John Horton and consists of a centre bay, emphasised by a segmental parapet, which contains trophies by W ...

. From here, the Grand Union Canal continues the route onwards to Bordesley Junction. All of the canal between Ashted Lock at Jennens Road (formerly the A47) and Great Barr Street (Bordesley) is within the Warwick Bar Conservation Area.

Features

References

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External links

Birmingham City Council - Map of Warwick Bar Conservation Area (PDF)Birmingham City Council - Planning Committee designation of Warwick Bar Conservation Area 1987 (PDF)
* {{Birmingham Canal Navigations Lists of coordinates Transport in Birmingham, West Midlands Tourist attractions in Birmingham, West Midlands Birmingham Canal Navigations Canals in the West Midlands (county) Canals opened in 1799

Features

See also

References

External links