Your floating hotel on the Canals and Rivers of the UK

Our guide to the waterways of the UK in detail.

Pictures of the Birmingham Canal Navigations,

or BCN, along the main line.

The BCN, as the name suggests, are a collection of canals which while having large rural sections, are mainly urban in nature. Generally we only cruise what is called "the main line", this is based on the original canal of 1772 though it was extensively modernised in 1789 and between 1825 and 1838. It runs between the centre of Birmingham and the Staff and Worcs canal just to the west of Wolverhampton. It varies from dereliction in places right up to the intensely alive waterways of the centre of Birmingham. While probably not a canal for those who have never travelled on the waterways of the UK before, it is an essential route for those who seek to explore and understand the impact of the canals.

As the canal moves out of the centre of Birmingham it is straight, wide and deep with its course before the modernisation of the 1830's still navigable as loops off to the side. When you come to the former summit, the old route climbs 3 locks while the new route goes through a 60 ft deep cutting. We have a choice of routes for the next few miles, new and straight or old and windy, with both the Netherton and Dudley tunnels off to the left. At Tipton Green, near the Black Country Museum, the two routes combine for a short tunnel and the last few miles to Wolverhampton.

The canal between Birmingham and Wolverhampton follows a fascinating route past old factories and through deep woodlined cuttings. Junctions with other canals and former factory wharfs abound. Locks are few but include some of the earliest ever to be built in Britain. Roads cross over on bridges and on cut and fill tunnels as well as a motorway on stilts.

This is not a canal for those who want the relaxation of the country, but for those interested in industrial archaeology it is a must.

The pictures on this page illustrate this section.

Disused factory by Bromford junction.	Large sections of the BCN are treelined	Bromford junction.
Coseley tunnel.	Factory locks.	Galton bridge.
Smethwick junction.	Summit tunnel.	Under the M5.

More pictures of this canal?

In the centre of Birmingham / At Wolverhampton / Black Country Museum

General information / A history of this canal.

Find our information about other canals on the canal index page.

If you have any questions then do ring us on 07977 229103
or email us at martinreed@reedboats.co.uk