Wyrley branch canal

The Wyrley Branch canal was originally northern end of the main line of the Wyrley and Essington Canal when it opened in 1795 to a wharf close to Cannock Lodge Colliery. It became a branch shortly after when the extension from Sneyd to Huddlesford on the Coventry Canal was completed in 1797. Several further branches were constructed off this line, but all had fallen derelict by 1954 when this section was abandoned. This view was taken at a time when extensive opencast coal mining was affecting the old canal and several sections including this piece heading northwards towards the former Broadlane Bridge at Bloxwich. Today at this spot it is filled-in and converted to a footpath.