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Junctions of the BCN.....Phil ClaytonPart Four In 1983 the BCN Society, under the then Chairman John Phillips, undertook to signpost the main junctions. The first post was erected on the island at Old Turn Junction (then known as Farmers Bridge Junction but we won't go into all that again!) on May 21 st, 1983 and was soon followed by many others. The most recent was at Horseley Fields in Wolverhampton, which appeared in the summer of 2004. The BCNS's Explorer Scheme was set up to encourage people to visit those junctions which have, over the years, been graced with the slender signposts erected by the Society. This series of articles intends to have a fresh look at the junctions, see what has changed in the intervening years and, hopefully, to encourage others to go out and become Explorers themselves. The scheme is still in operation and details are available from the coordinator, Phil Clayton, address:-211 Marsh Lane, Wolverhampton WV10 6SA. The junctions were all numbered in the BCNS Signpost Trail booklet published and this series will follow that order. See below at the foot of this article a copy of the information minus photographs and original contained in the booklet. This is just one idea of how to see all the junctions, half the fun is working out your own route. So if you wish to start you have something to go on with.... Web Ed Use the Photo Gallery in Views around the BCN to see the area described after reading
Pelsall Junction The Wyrley & Essington Extension was joined by the Cannock Extension Canal in 1858 making Pelsall the last junction still surviving to be opened on the BCN. Rumer Hill, joining the Cannock to Hatherton Branch of the Staff's & Worc's opened in 1863 but has disappeared without trace. In the same year as Pelsall, several junctions associated with Netherton Tunnel and its branch opened further south. The Cannock cut is a canal of the railway age which heads off severely northwards through a series of brick bridges to end nowadays just short of Watling Street. Formerly the canal continued to Hednesford Basin on the 473 foot level and was busy with strings of 'ampton boats' taking coal from the Cannock Chase pits to the Black Country furnaces and factories. Just up from the junction the Extension is crossed by Friar Bridge next to which stand two BCN cottages, nos 211 and 212 with old stables opposite. The bridge across the Wyrley canal at the junction is properly Pelsall Junction Bridge but is known locally as the Red Iron. It is diiicult to imagine that just over a century ago there was a large iron works by the junction. Pelsall Works Bridge, just down from the Free Trade Inn, led to the coal pits and iron furnaces on the common. The bridge itself is different from most Horseley bridges as typified by the lattice-work one at the junction itself, for here fine semi-circular castings support brick parapets. Between 1832 and 1888 the Pelsall Coal and Iron Company worked blast furnaces alongside the cut and there were coal mines on either side The company worked a fleet of day and cabin boats. The day boats carried slack from the Short Heath colliries and the cabin boats transported iron and coal all over the BCN. The opening of the Cannock Extension gave an added impetus to the works which, at its peak employed over a hundred workers. A contemporary advert shows that the company produced Iron Bars, Hoops, Plates, Sheets; Hinge, Tube, Gas and Nail Strip; Angles, Tees and Half-Rounds; Chain Cable, Plating, Rivet, Sash, Shoe and Fancy Iron. Steel was made in Bars, Hoops and Sheets; also in Strips Plain and Bevelled. The Firm's stated speciality was Rolled Tube Strips and it also advertised its Best Cannock Chase Deep and Shallow Coals. In 1891 the company went into voluntary liquidation and although it was offered for sale the next year there were no takers and the plant was later dismantled and disposed of. The slag heap was cleared by Messrs John Freakley using a machine known as a "cracker" which gave the common its nickname. The buildings had been dismantled and the site cleared by the end of the 1920's. Pelsall Common is now a nature reserve run by Walsall Countryside Services, one of several in the borough. The mixture of soils which have developed on the site, ranging from the acid coal spoil to the lime rich works site, has led to a wide variety of vegetation developing and the common now presents a familiar Black Country fringe landscape of natural regeneration with gorse, ponies and magpies. Close to the junction stand two good pubs. Up the lane from Pelsall Works Bridge is the Free Trade Inn, a friendly local where there was some consternation on one visit as bitter was coming out of the mild pump! The Royal Oak stands next to the canal by Yorks Bridge. Refreshed, the traveller can continue around the Wyrley & Essington Extension, passing a couple of erstwhile junctions which served colliery branches, Gilpins Arm and the Slough Arm both of which will be barely noticed from the canal. The Slough Arm can be explored on foot, being reached from Engine Lane bridge which is still substantially intact. A walk south towards the junction reveals a lock chamber hidden in vegetation of Amazonian proportions. The canal soon approaches the next real junction.Catshill Junction Beneath its tower blocks (One of which was being demolished just over a year ago when we passed) the junction still retains a workaday feel about it even though most of the former canal buildings have gone. There's just a feeling that if a horse came hauling a coal boat though the bridge'ole it would be a perfectly natural event. There are narrows on both canals by the junction while two erstwhile BCN cottages stand away from the cut in London Road. BCNS signpost no.9. erected in 1985, marks the junction. Catshill became a junction with the opening of the Wyrley & Essington's Daw End Branch in about 1802. Built to exploit the limestone of Hay Head, the branch follows a meandering course like its main line through a landscape of extractive industry past and present. Passing through in August 1993 they were rebuilding Clayhanger Bridge just south of the junction and had to remove a temporary footbridge to let "Marsh Harrier" through. "I bet you haven't had many boats" we said. "First one" was the reply but whether it was that day or week we never found out. Following the Wyrley Extension north eastwards from Catshill another former and hopefully future junction is met after amile at Ogley. Here the W & E Extension started its descent to join the Coventry Canal at Huddlesford, just seven miles, thirty locks and who knows how many years away. It was joined here by the Anglesey Branch which started life as merely a feeder from Cannock Reservoir (now Chasewater) and was widened and deepened around 1850 when the Marquess of Anglesey began to exploit the coal reserves in the vicinity. Two lock houses, BCN 270 and 271 stand near the junction. Having studied the forward looking BCN signpost the traveller has, for now at least, to return to Catshill and follow the Daw End Branch for its winding five miles to the next junction. Thank you Phil for this very interesting series. If you have not completed The BCN Explorer do give it a go. You don't need a boat! You can walk, cycle, get around the BCN in whatever way you like just get to all the signposts! You'll know the BCN after that!" Give Phil a ring he'll sort it out with you. telephone: 01902 780920.....B.P EdFor those interested below is a copy (minus Photographs and a map) of the text of the Signpost Trail.It has been altered slightly as the original document is a few years old now.... Web Ed Signpost Trail Introduction In 1983 the B.C.N.S under the guidance of John Phillips, Chairman at the time, undertook to Signpost the junctions of the BCN. Being a very complicated system, many boaters and walkers tended to stick to the Main Line to avoid getting lost. It was felt that given an indication of their destination they would be encouraged to explore the little used branches and loops which are a feature of the BCN. This booklet issued by the Society is designed to show you some of the signposts, via Kevin Maslins first class photographs, at the same time give you some ideas for cruising, with a route round the BCN designed to take in the whole system. Perforce some parts are repeated, but you can pick up the route where ever you join the system. All the signposts, a list appears on the reverse of the fold out map, were manufactured orginally by the Royal Label Factory (Ceased trading in 2001, patterns now held by another company) and in 1983 cost around £400 each, paid for mainly by the BCNS with the occasional Sponsor. (We wish they cost that much today, ie double that and add a bit more). Typically they stand 14 feet above ground level, with a steel post and aluminuim cast arms. A few practical words about the use of the guide, junctions are given Way Point numbers. Distance/Locks/Time are shown, for example as 1/8/3. (parts of a mile are treated as decimals ie half a mile= 0.5) Followed by some relevant remarks. OPTIONS, if taken, will push you down some arms or take you to the joining extremities of the system. The only real answer is GO AND SEE FOR YOURSELF Finally it is recommended that you use this booklet in conjunction with a BCN guide , like Pearsons BCN Canal Companion or the many others to give you in depth information.
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