Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
6
Tame Valley Canal
Distance
14km from Tame Valley Junction to Salford Junction
Highlights
Midland Links triangle
Spaghetti Junction
Navigation Authority
Canal & River Trust
Canal Society
Birmingham Canal Navigations Society
OS 1:50,000 Sheet
139 Birmingham & Wolverhampton
The Tame Valley Canal was one of the last canals to be built, running eastwards across the
West Midlands from Tame Valley Junction, on the Walsall Canal, to Salford Junction, on the
Birmingham & Fazeley Canal, which is at the head of the Grand Union Canal. Although
planned earlier, it was not built until 1844, by which time the Old Turn to Salford Junction
section of the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal was hopelessly congested with 24-hours-a-day,
7-days-a-week working. The Tame Valley Canal was constructed to bypass this section and
was very sophisticated, with long, bold, straight sections that made use of high embankments
and deep, wide cuttings, twin towpaths and brick-lined banks.
Other than tennis courts and other sports facilities beyond the Lower Ocker Hill Branch, the
Tame Valley Junction area is inauspicious. Lattice-arched footbridges are an attractive feature
of the Black Country canals.
The first reach of the canal is crossed by the Black Country Spine Road. Just before Golds
Hill Wharf the canal is crossed by a former railway bridge with a pier on a central island in the
canal.
