109-489: The Stratford-upon-Avon Canal is a canal in the south Midlands of England. The canal, which was built between 1793 and 1816, runs for 25.5 miles (41.0 km) in total, and consists of two sections. The dividing line is at Kingswood Junction, which gives access to the Grand Union Canal . Following acquisition by a railway company in 1856, it gradually declined, the southern section being un-navigable by 1945, and
218-547: A caisson of water in which boats float while being moved between two levels; and inclined planes where a caisson is hauled up a steep railway. To cross a stream, road or valley (where the delay caused by a flight of locks at either side would be unacceptable) the valley can be spanned by a navigable aqueduct – a famous example in Wales is the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct (now a UNESCO World Heritage Site ) across
327-510: A drainage divide atop a ridge , generally requiring an external water source above the highest elevation . The best-known example of such a canal is the Panama Canal . Many canals have been built at elevations, above valleys and other waterways. Canals with sources of water at a higher level can deliver water to a destination such as a city where water is needed. The Roman Empire 's aqueducts were such water supply canals. The term
436-415: A "cistern", or depressed area just downstream from the fall, to "cushion" the water by providing a deep pool for its kinetic energy to be diffused in. Vertical falls work for drops of up to 1.5 m in height, and for discharge of up to 15 cubic meters per second. The transport capacity of pack animals and carts is limited. A mule can carry an eighth-ton [250 pounds (113 kg)] maximum load over
545-509: A 1960s building by Birmingham architect John Madin who also designed the former Birmingham Central Library . In 2015 it became the filming location for a zombie movie starring Glenn Close , ‘ The Girl with all the Gifts , before it was demolished in 2017. In the north of Shirley is a district known as Robin Hood. Contrary to popular local belief, this is not believed by historians to be due to
654-490: A 6-mile (9.7 km) section with just one lock in the middle. This nearly-level section includes two of the canal's three iron aqueducts. The easy cruising is interrupted by the Wilmcote flight of eleven locks in just over a mile (1.6 km), soon after which the canal reaches Stratford-upon-Avon. Along the 25.5-mile (41.0 km) route of the canal, there are a total of 54 narrow locks . Near King's Norton Junction there
763-494: A Sixth Form, joining St Peter's Sixth Form. Additionally, the Sixth Form College, Solihull and Solihull College are also major local centres for further education as well as Stratford-upon-Avon College via rail links. Mill Lodge, Shirley Heath, Hasluck's Green, Peterbrook, Sharman's Cross, Woodlands, Streetsbrook, Blossomfield, Burman, Tudor Grange Primary Academy (Previously named St James's C:E) and Our Lady of
872-548: A boat to pass. After Lord Methuen raised the issue in the House of Lords in 1947, and was assured that the bridge "would be lifted at any time on notice of intended passage being given" , Tom Rolt of the Inland Waterways Association (IWA) announced that he intended to pass under the bridge on 20 May 1947. Despite difficulties with the state of the canal, and the fact that the accompanying boat provided by
981-496: A canal has a series of dams and locks that create reservoirs of low speed current flow. These reservoirs are referred to as slack water levels , often just called levels . A canal can be called a navigation canal when it parallels a natural river and shares part of the latter's discharges and drainage basin , and leverages its resources by building dams and locks to increase and lengthen its stretches of slack water levels while staying in its valley . A canal can cut across
1090-416: A channel through the weed on this occasion, and the following year, Peter Scott asked for the bridge to be lifted. In 1950, the bridge, which had become known as Lifford Bridge, or Lifford Lane Bridge, was replaced with a working swing bridge. The northern section of the canal was saved from dereliction by such pioneering efforts. The bridge has now been removed altogether. By the 1950s, the southern section
1199-413: A combination of the three, depending on available water and available path: Smaller transportation canals can carry barges or narrowboats , while ship canals allow seagoing ships to travel to an inland port (e.g., Manchester Ship Canal ), or from one sea or ocean to another (e.g., Caledonian Canal , Panama Canal ). At their simplest, canals consist of a trench filled with water. Depending on
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#17327723735291308-615: A connection with the English folk hero Robin Hood , but is instead due to a misreading of the original name of the area 'Robin's Wood'. The misread name was adopted by a local public house, and eventually other landmarks in the area such as a farm, a traffic island, a golf course and the Robin Hood Cemetery , eventually becoming the official name for the area. The historic and current focus for shops and businesses in Shirley
1417-524: A connection with the River Avon was made. The total cost of the canal had been around £297,000. The southern section of the canal never realised James' ambitions, as the Upper Avon was too tortuous and prone to floods to be a reliable through route. He spent some £6,000 on improvements to the Upper Avon locks in 1822, but over-reached himself, and was declared bankrupt shortly afterwards. For a while
1526-591: A donkey-racing event, has been held in Shirley Park as a community fund-raising event annually since 1970, with the only exception being during the Covid-19 pandemic. The park itself was opened in 1927 by Dr James Coole Kneale as part of the grounds to his house, which stood next to the Saracens Head pub. For a hundred years from the mid-19th century, Shirley had a racecourse, and this was supplemented by
1635-549: A journey measured in days and weeks, though much more for shorter distances and periods with appropriate rest. Besides, carts need roads. Transport over water is much more efficient and cost-effective for large cargoes. The oldest known canals were irrigation canals, built in Mesopotamia c. 4000 BC , in what is now Iraq . The Indus Valley civilization of ancient India ( c. 3000 BC ) had sophisticated irrigation and storage systems developed, including
1744-553: A junction which connects it to the Grand Union Canal . The northern section from Kings Norton in the suburbs of Birmingham to Lapworth is level for the first 10.8 miles (17.4 km), following the 453-foot (138 m) Birmingham Level , but then descends quite rapidly through the Lapworth flight of 18 locks, to reach the junction. There is a choice of route to reach the Grand Union, as there are two locks side by side, one on
1853-620: A lease, under which the National Trust would be responsible for the restoration and maintenance of the southern section. The transfer of responsibility took place on 29 September 1960, and work began in March 1961. Although the Transport Commission made a contribution towards the cost, the National Trust raised most of the £42,000 required to put it back into good order. The project was managed by David Hutchings, who pioneered
1962-714: A private toll fee for navigation. Ten years after the re-opening, the Queen Mother performed the same ceremony for the Upper Avon Navigation, which had been derelict for more than a century, and the canal became part of a through route to the River Severn once more. In 1986, the National Trust indicated that they would like to hand control of the canal back to the British Waterways Board , and held discussions on 7 October 1986. The canal
2071-655: A public lido in Sansome Road, the Odeon Cinema on Stratford Road and the public library in Church Road, all in the 1930s. The parish of Shirley was founded in 1934. There are several churches in the Shirley area, with features of local note. St James Church is the Church of England (CE) parish church for the town. Shirley's reputation in the early nineteenth-century for bull baiting, cockfighting and pugilism
2180-581: A rather low gradient for its time. The canal is still in use after renovation. In the Middle Ages , water transport was several times cheaper and faster than transport overland. Overland transport by animal drawn conveyances was used around settled areas, but unimproved roads required pack animal trains, usually of mules to carry any degree of mass, and while a mule could carry an eighth ton, it also needed teamsters to tend it and one man could only tend perhaps five mules, meaning overland bulk transport
2289-464: A third act of Parliament on 21 June 1799, which allowed it to raise more money, and included a diversion of the route further to the east near Lapworth, so that the length of the connecting link to the Warwick and Birmingham was only about 200 yards (180 m). Work restarted in 1799 under a new engineer called Samuel Porter, a former assistant of Clowes. He continued as far as Kingswood Junction, which
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#17327723735292398-459: A uniform altitude. Other, generally later, canals took more direct routes requiring the use of various methods to deal with the change in level. Canals have various features to tackle the problem of water supply. In cases, like the Suez Canal, the canal is open to the sea. Where the canal is not at sea level, a number of approaches have been adopted. Taking water from existing rivers or springs
2507-422: Is a channel that cuts across a drainage divide , making a navigable channel connecting two different drainage basins . Both navigations and canals use engineered structures to improve navigation: Since they cut across drainage divides, canals are more difficult to construct and often need additional improvements, like viaducts and aqueducts to bridge waters over streams and roads, and ways to keep water in
2616-462: Is a disused stop lock, which used to prevent the canal taking water from the Worcester and Birmingham Canal when they were separately owned, but is now left permanently open. It is unusual in that it has two guillotine gates which are made of wood. When operational, they moved vertically in iron frames, and were counterbalanced by weights. A barge lock connects the terminal basin (Bancroft Basin) with
2725-482: Is along the A34 Stratford Road. The designated high street comprises a high proportion of independent retailers and charity stores, occupying smaller retail units in predominantly inter-war period properties. There are several pubs in central Shirley, some of which have occupied several premises on the same sites. The Saracens Head pub, dating back to 1747 as a coaching inn, was where tolls were paid to use
2834-561: Is also served by several bus routes, including the 4A, 5, 6, 49, and 76, all operated by National Express West Midlands which all stop on the Stratford Road in the town centre. Other services that operate in Shirley include the A4, A5 (operated by Landflight) and X20 (operated by Stagecoach Midlands . Solihull town centre is a 15 minute drive away. There are various notable people who have had connections with Shirley, or who are buried in
2943-586: Is normally closed and can be opened using a British Waterways key. The northern section also has a swing bridge (no.2, normally left open), a lift bridge (no.28), and another drawbridge (no. 26), all operated manually. On the southern section interesting features of the canal include the unique barrel-roofed lock keeper's cottages to be found south of Kingswood Junction. All but two have been swamped by large modern extensions, but those at locks 28 and 31 are still in something like their original state, neither of them have either electricity supply or mains water. Many of
3052-701: Is presumed, introduced in Italy by Bertola da Novate in the 16th century. This allowed wider gates and also removed the height restriction of guillotine locks . To break out of the limitations caused by river valleys, the first summit level canals were developed with the Grand Canal of China in 581–617 AD whilst in Europe the first, also using single locks, was the Stecknitz Canal in Germany in 1398. In
3161-599: Is rarely less than 30 metres (98 ft) wide. In the 5th century BC, Achaemenid king Xerxes I of Persia ordered the construction of the Xerxes Canal through the base of Mount Athos peninsula, Chalkidiki , northern Greece. It was constructed as part of his preparations for the Second Persian invasion of Greece , a part of the Greco-Persian Wars . It is one of the few monuments left by
3270-418: Is steeper than the desired canal gradient. They are constructed so the falling water's kinetic energy is dissipated in order to prevent it from scouring the bed and sides of the canal. A canal fall is constructed by cut and fill . It may be combined with a regulator, bridge, or other structure to save costs. There are various types of canal falls, based on their shape. One type is the ogee fall, where
3379-452: Is the pound lock , which consists of a chamber within which the water level can be raised or lowered connecting either two pieces of canal at a different level or the canal with a river or the sea. When there is a hill to be climbed, flights of many locks in short succession may be used. Prior to the development of the pound lock in 984 AD in China by Chhaio Wei-Yo and later in Europe in
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3488-586: Is the longest in England. The aqueduct crosses a minor road, the Birmingham and North Warwickshire railway and also the trackbed of the former Alcester Railway . There was once a pipe from the side of the canal that enabled locomotives to draw water to fill the locomotives' tanks. The Stratford-upon-Avon Canal was conceived as part of a network of canals which would allow coal from the Dudley Canal and
3597-412: Is widely speculated to have encouraged the church authorities to start building St James Church in 1831. The church is notable for having the altar placed at the western end, which might have been a mistake but is also referenced locally as being to ensure it was kept away from the location of the disreputable activities nearby, which were centered around the nearby Plume of Feathers Pub, directly opposite
3706-658: The Elbe , Oder and Weser being linked by canals. In post-Roman Britain, the first early modern period canal built appears to have been the Exeter Canal , which was surveyed in 1563, and open in 1566. The oldest canal in the European settlements of North America, technically a mill race built for industrial purposes, is Mother Brook between the Boston, Massachusetts neighbourhoods of Dedham and Hyde Park connecting
3815-543: The Naviglio Grande built between 1127 and 1257 to connect Milan with the river Ticino . The Naviglio Grande is the most important of the lombard " navigli " and the oldest functioning canal in Europe. Later, canals were built in the Netherlands and Flanders to drain the polders and assist transportation of goods and people. Canal building was revived in this age because of commercial expansion from
3924-728: The North Worcestershire Path which runs across the site and commences in Aqueduct Road, Major's Green . During the Early Middle Ages, the Shirley area was part of the Manor of Ulverlei, now Olton , and this remained the case until the establishment of Solihull around 1170-1180, when it became part of the parish of Solihull. It was at the end of the High Middle Ages that the name Shirley
4033-545: The Phoenix metropolitan area was the most complex in ancient North America. A portion of the ancient canals has been renovated for the Salt River Project and now helps to supply the city's water. The Sinhalese constructed the 87 km (54 mi) Yodha Ela in 459 A.D. as a part of their extensive irrigation network which functioned in a way of a moving reservoir due to its single banking aspect to manage
4142-528: The River Brue at Northover with Glastonbury Abbey , a distance of about 1.75 kilometres (1,900 yd). Its initial purpose is believed to be the transport of building stone for the abbey, but later it was used for delivering produce, including grain, wine and fish, from the abbey's outlying properties. It remained in use until at least the 14th century, but possibly as late as the mid-16th century. More lasting and of more economic impact were canals like
4251-614: The Songhai Empire of West Africa, several canals were constructed under Sunni Ali and Askia Muhammad I between Kabara and Timbuktu in the 15th century. These were used primarily for irrigation and transport. Sunni Ali also attempted to construct a canal from the Niger River to Walata to facilitate conquest of the city but his progress was halted when he went to war with the Mossi Kingdoms . Around 1500–1800
4360-724: The Stourbridge Canal to reach Oxford and London, without having to use the Birmingham canals, the management of which was seen as high-handed. An act , the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal Act 1793 ( 33 Geo. 3 . c. 112), was passed on 28 March 1793 for the construction of a canal from a junction with the Worcester and Birmingham Canal in Kings Norton to Stratford-upon-Avon. The canal company
4469-563: The West Midlands , England. Historically a rural settlement within the county of Warwickshire , it is now contiguous with nearby Solihull and Birmingham . The earliest known settlement in the Shirley area was at Berry Mound Camp at what is now Solihull Lodge, in the west of Shirley. This was the site of an Iron Age Hill Fort, which may have been the scene of a battle between the forces of King Alfred and besieged Danes (and with archaeological evidence which would indicate defense of
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4578-418: The accommodation bridges south of Kingswood Junction are split bridges of cast iron, with a central slot to accommodate the tow rope of horse-drawn boats. The southern section of the canal passes over three cast iron aqueducts , unusual in that the towpaths are at the level of the canal bottom. Travelling south from Kingswood Junction , the first aqueduct is the modest Yarningale Aqueduct which carries
4687-556: The reservoirs built at Girnar in 3000 BC. This is the first time that such planned civil project had taken place in the ancient world. In Egypt , canals date back at least to the time of Pepi I Meryre (reigned 2332–2283 BC), who ordered a canal built to bypass the cataract on the Nile near Aswan . In ancient China , large canals for river transport were established as far back as the Spring and Autumn period (8th–5th centuries BC),
4796-404: The stratum the canal passes through, it may be necessary to line the cut with some form of watertight material such as clay or concrete. When this is done with clay, it is known as puddling . Canals need to be level, and while small irregularities in the lie of the land can be dealt with through cuttings and embankments, for larger deviations other approaches have been adopted. The most common
4905-471: The 12th century. River navigations were improved progressively by the use of single, or flash locks . Taking boats through these used large amounts of water leading to conflicts with watermill owners and to correct this, the pound or chamber lock first appeared, in the 10th century in China and in Europe in 1373 in Vreeswijk , Netherlands. Another important development was the mitre gate , which was, it
5014-472: The 15th century, either flash locks consisting of a single gate were used or ramps, sometimes equipped with rollers, were used to change the level. Flash locks were only practical where there was plenty of water available. Locks use a lot of water, so builders have adopted other approaches for situations where little water is available. These include boat lifts , such as the Falkirk Wheel , which use
5123-948: The Canal Company, and personally bought the Upper Avon Navigation in 1813. He wanted to create a through route between the River Severn and the Midlands, and so the canal company obtained a further act of Parliament, the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal Navigation Act 1815 ( 55 Geo. 3 . c. xxxix), on 12 May 1815, which authorised a connection between the canal and the Avon at Stratford, as well as enabling them to build reservoirs at Earlswood . The canal reached Stratford in June 1816 and
5232-507: The GWR got stuck, the bridge was reached. It had been jacked up and was resting on heavy timbers. Robert Aickman , another of the founders of the IWA, had organised press coverage, and the story was reported in the national newspapers. IWA members were then encouraged to use the route. Eric de Mare repeated the exercise in 1948, using a converted army pontoon. A horse-drawn ice breaker was used to create
5341-590: The Persian Empire in Europe . Greek engineers were also among the first to use canal locks , by which they regulated the water flow in the Ancient Suez Canal as early as the 3rd century BC. There was little experience moving bulk loads by carts, while a pack-horse would [i.e. 'could'] carry only an eighth of a ton. On a soft road a horse might be able to draw 5/8ths of a ton. But if
5450-497: The River Avon. Earlswood Lakes in Earlswood are feeder reservoirs to the canal. The three lakes were built between 1821 and 1822 and have a total capacity of 210 million gallons (950 megalitres (Ml)). The lakes consist of three separate pools; Terry's, Engine and Windmill Pool. They are retained by earth embankment. Until 1936 the water was pumped into the feeder by a beam engine, whose engine house can still be seen. The feeder
5559-785: The Southwest by 1300 CE. Archaeologists working at a major archaeological dig in the 1990s in the Tucson Basin, along the Santa Cruz River, identified a culture and people that may have been the ancestors of the Hohokam. This prehistoric group occupied southern Arizona as early as 2000 BCE, and in the Early Agricultural period grew corn, lived year-round in sedentary villages, and developed sophisticated irrigation canals. The large-scale Hohokam irrigation network in
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#17327723735295668-632: The Stratford Canal Society between 1961 and 1964, after an attempt to close it was thwarted. The revived canal was re-opened by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother , and responsibility for it was transferred to British Waterways in 1988. The Stratford-upon-Avon canal connects the Worcester and Birmingham Canal at Kings Norton to the River Avon at Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire . It consists of two sections, divided by
5777-568: The Stratford Road ( A34 ) are Shirley Baptist and Shirley Methodist churches. There are train services to Birmingham Moor Street , Birmingham Snow Hill and on to Stourbridge Junction in one direction and to Henley-in-Arden and Stratford-upon-Avon in the other direction from Shirley railway station , which is located in Haslucks Green Road. The North Warwickshire Line from Shirley railway station currently only runs as far as Stratford upon Avon railway station ; however,
5886-400: The Stratford Road was a turnpike road , running to Stratford from Birmingham . The frequency of travel along this route meant that inns sprang up to cater for the needs of travelers. This footfall, combined with the relatively secluded nature of the area, led to ‘sportsmen’ coming in large numbers to indulge in banned pursuits; such as bull-baiting, prize fighting and cock-fighting as well as
5995-420: The Wayside R.C. are all local primary and infant schools that serve pupils in the Shirley area. Shirley has a public library and park, and some small patches of woodland at Bills Wood and Palmers Rough . There is also the nearby Stratford-upon-Avon Canal which provides a walking route into the Warwickshire countryside. Shirley Community Centre was opened by Princess Anne in 1985. An annual 'Donkey Derby',
6104-424: The West Midlands county which came into existence in April 1974, incorporating the metropolitan borough of Solihull and thereby also Shirley. Shirley was struck by an F0/T1 tornado on 23 November 1981, as part of the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day. The tornado later moved out over Solihull town centre. The gateway to Shirley high street was once marked by the 'Powergen’ office building;
6213-451: The building of a larger church on the site of 'Heathfield'. That church is now a Grade II listed building, with a then-innovative fiberglass tower, and was built between 1965-67 to designs by Brian Rush of Rush, Granelli and Partners. It includes glass by Tom Fairs and sculpture by Dame Elisabeth Frink and Walter Ritchie . It contains one of Frink's Risen Christ sculptures as well as brick relief art by Ritchie. Also located along
6322-422: The canal over a small stream near Preston Bagot , Warwickshire. This cast iron aqueduct was built in 1834 to replace the original wooden structure which was washed away when the stream flooded that year. The second is the Wootton Wawen Aqueduct , just outside Wootton Wawen , where the canal crosses the A3400 main road. The third is the Edstone Aqueduct (also known as Bearley) which at 475 feet (145 m),
6431-436: The canal pressure with the influx of water. It was also designed as an elongated reservoir passing through traps creating 66 mini catchments as it flows from Kala Wewa to Thissa Wawa . The canal was not designed for the quick conveying of water from Kala Wewa to Thissa Wawa but to create a mass of water between the two reservoirs, which would in turn provided for agriculture and the use of humans and animals. They also achieved
6540-418: The canal to form a dam. They are generally placed in pre-existing grooves in the canal bank. On more modern canals, "guard locks" or gates were sometimes placed to allow a section of the canal to be quickly closed off, either for maintenance, or to prevent a major loss of water due to a canal breach. A canal fall , or canal drop, is a vertical drop in the canal bed. These are built when the natural ground slope
6649-462: The canal. Where large amounts of goods are loaded or unloaded such as at the end of a canal, a canal basin may be built. This would normally be a section of water wider than the general canal. In some cases, the canal basins contain wharfs and cranes to assist with movement of goods. When a section of the canal needs to be sealed off so it can be drained for maintenance stop planks are frequently used. These consist of planks of wood placed across
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#17327723735296758-409: The channel. There are two broad types of canal: Historically, canals were of immense importance to commerce and the development, growth and vitality of a civilization. In 1855 the Lehigh Canal carried over 1.2 million tons of anthracite coal; by the 1930s the company which built and operated it for over a century ceased operation. The few canals still in operation in our modern age are a fraction of
6867-426: The church on the other side of the Stratford Road. The church was enlarged in 1882 and in 1893 Shirley became its own ecclesiastical parish. The church grounds contain several notable graves and a war memorial which was erected in 1921. There are 23 war graves in the grounds and the war memorial is unusual in that it records the loss of an Army Matron, Katy Beaufoy, who died when the hospital ship HMHS Glenart Castle
6976-439: The council house has since been demolished. In March 1954, when Solihull became a municipal borough, H.R.H. Princess Margaret presented the borough's charter and the ceremony was held at Shirley's Odeon Cinema. The Local Government Act 1972 reformed local government in England and Wales, in response to the Redcliffe-Maud Report, creating a two-tier local government system of ‘ counties ’ and ‘ districts ’. This established
7085-480: The drinking and gambling which went alongside it. With the advent of the Modern period in the early twentieth century, the population of Shirley was approximately 3,000 people. This marked another phase of expansion. Shirley Station was opened by the Great Western Railway on 1st June 1908. This then helped support the relocation of people to the suburbs along the route from Snow Hill railway station to Stratford upon Avon and on to Cheltenham . Along with adoption of
7194-399: The drop follows an s-shaped curve to create a smooth transition and reduce turbulence . However, this smooth transition does not dissipate the water's kinetic energy, which leads to heavy scouring. As a result, the canal needs to be reinforced with concrete or masonry to protect it from eroding. Another type of canal fall is the vertical fall, which is "simple and economical". These feature
7303-440: The first summit level canal to use pound locks in Europe was the Briare Canal connecting the Loire and Seine (1642), followed by the more ambitious Canal du Midi (1683) connecting the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. This included a staircase of 8 locks at Béziers , a 157 metres (515 ft) tunnel, and three major aqueducts. Canal building progressed steadily in Germany in the 17th and 18th centuries with three great rivers,
7412-418: The following year, but work continued until the main line reached Hockley Heath in May 1796, one mile (1.6 km) short of the first lock at Lapworth. At this point, cutting ceased through lack of money, as the capital raised had all been spent. The Dudley Canal extension through the Lappal tunnel was opened in early 1798, and with progress being made on the Warwick and Birmingham Canal, the company obtained
7521-402: The freedom to make deliveries well away from rail lined road beds or ditches in the dirt which could not operate in the winter. The longest extant canal today, the Grand Canal in northern China, still remains in heavy use, especially the portion south of the Yellow River . It stretches from Beijing to Hangzhou at 1,794 kilometres (1,115 miles). Canals are built in one of three ways, or
7630-421: The higher waters of the Charles River and the mouth of the Neponset River and the sea. It was constructed in 1639 to provide water power for mills. In Russia, the Volga–Baltic Waterway , a nationwide canal system connecting the Baltic Sea and Caspian Sea via the Neva and Volga rivers, was opened in 1718. Shirley, West Midlands Shirley is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull , in
7739-402: The hill and barges were pulled through the tunnel using a handrail on the wall of the tunnel, parts of which can still be seen. On the outskirts of Shirley the brick-built Major's Green Aqueduct carries the canal 10m above Aqueduct Road and the River Cole . 270 yards (250 m) further south is the electrically operated Shirley Draw Bridge which carries Drawbridge Road over the canal. It
7848-536: The late 1930s the southern section had become derelict, although a water supply was maintained, which the GWR used to supply its engine shed in Stratford. The northern section was never officially closed, but traffic had virtually ceased by 1939. It was blocked when bridge no. 2, the Tunnel Lane lift bridge at Lifford, became faulty, and was replaced by the GWR with a fixed bridge which left insufficient height for
7957-538: The line was a mainline continuing via Honeybourne railway station (which is on the Cotswold Line ) as the Honeybourne Line to Cheltenham Spa . Adjacent to Shirley station is a notable set of historic worker cottages. Immediately beside the station are eight Railway Workers Cottages which the GWR originally provided for railway workers. One of these was occupied for several years by Ted Pierrepoint,
8066-549: The load were carried by a barge on a waterway, then up to 30 tons could be drawn by the same horse. — technology historian Ronald W. Clark referring to transport realities before the industrial revolution and the Canal age . Hohokam was a society in the North American Southwest in what is now part of Arizona , United States, and Sonora , Mexico. Their irrigation systems supported the largest population in
8175-480: The longest canal in the world today and the oldest extant one. It is 1,794 kilometres (1,115 mi) long and was built to carry the Emperor Yang Guang between Zhuodu ( Beijing ) and Yuhang ( Hangzhou ). The project began in 605 and was completed in 609, although much of the work combined older canals, the oldest section of the canal existing since at least 486 BC. Even in its narrowest urban sections it
8284-534: The longest one of that period being the Hong Gou (Canal of the Wild Geese), which according to the ancient historian Sima Qian connected the old states of Song, Zhang, Chen, Cai, Cao, and Wei. The Caoyun System of canals was essential for imperial taxation, which was largely assessed in kind and involved enormous shipments of rice and other grains. By far the longest canal was the Grand Canal of China , still
8393-448: The main line of the canal, and one on the branch, but a channel joins the bottom ends of both locks. The junction is almost exactly halfway along the canal. The southern section continues the descent with the final seven of the Lapworth locks, passing under the M40 motorway just before the final one. The locks are closely spaced until those at Preston Bagot are reached, after which there is
8502-532: The majority of the Medieval and Early-Modern period, Shirley was used as farmland and many field patterns remain from this period, particularly to the south of Shirley. It is probable that the majority of the Berry Mound Camp site has been in agricultural use since at least the medieval period. This has eroded many historic features. However, the remains of two banks of earth works can still be seen from
8611-476: The nephew of Albert Pierrepoint , the notable twentieth century executioner. The detached house overlooking the station car park was provided as the GWR Station Master's residence. The Stratford-upon-Avon Canal skirts the western edge of Shirley, and it is possible to walk along this to Kings Norton four miles (six kilometres) away, or Stratford upon Avon, further in the other direction. Shirley
8720-594: The northern section little better. The northern section was the setting for a high-profile campaign by the fledgling Inland Waterways Association in 1947, involving the right of navigation under Tunnel Lane bridge, which required the Great Western Railway to jack it up in order to allow boats to pass. These actions saved the section from closure. The southern section was managed by the National Trust from 1959, and restored by David Hutchings and
8829-506: The numbers that once fueled and enabled economic growth, indeed were practically a prerequisite to further urbanization and industrialization. For the movement of bulk raw materials such as coal and ores are difficult and marginally affordable without water transport. Such raw materials fueled the industrial developments and new metallurgy resulting of the spiral of increasing mechanization during 17th–20th century, leading to new research disciplines, new industries and economies of scale, raising
8938-842: The original TRW headquarters building, which was approved despite objections from the Twentieth Century Society and recognition by Council Officers that it would become an increasingly rare example of buildings of its type. Shirley School, which was in School Road until the 1970s, was built in 1833. The only secondary school physically in Shirley is Light Hall School . However Tudor Grange Academy , Alderbrook School , St Peter's School in Solihull and Langley School in Olton have catchment areas that cover parts of Shirley. Tudor Grange became an academy in 2011 and now has
9047-604: The pre-railroad days of the industrial revolution, water transport was the gold standard of fast transportation. The first artificial canal in Western Europe was the Fossa Carolina built at the end of the 8th century under personal supervision of Charlemagne . In Britain, the Glastonbury Canal is believed to be the first post-Roman canal and was built in the middle of the 10th century to link
9156-481: The private motor vehicle, it was the railway that has fueled the expansion of Shirley during the twentieth century, particularly during the inter-war and immediate post-war periods. Shirley had, by the mid-twentieth century, its own council and council house. However, with the parallel rise of Solihull, it became managed underneath the Solihull Council, becoming two district wards: Shirley and Shirley South;
9265-414: The road from Birmingham to Stratford-upon-Avon until 1872. The Red Lion pub, at Red Lion Square, dating back to 1751, is rumoured to be haunted by a poltergeist and there are reports of local people who have witnessed objects falling off shelves. A zeppelin bomb fell in the fields behind the pub in 1917. The Plume of Feathers, which was the site of many local 'sports' and instrumental in the growth of Shirley,
9374-418: The site during this period). The site at Berry Mound Camp is a rare example of a univallate hillfort with evidence of a timber revetments and a re-cut V-shaped ditch which demonstrates the importance of this hillfort as a defensive site. The remains of the fortified village, protected by up to three series of earth banks, dating back to the 1st century BC, covered approximately 11 acres (4.5 hectares). For
9483-505: The south of the high street (Stratford Road, A34), there are two retail parks; one of which is listed as 'Solihull Gate Retail Park'. Cranmore Retail/Business Park is mainly DIY and tool hire. Along the A34 there are many car dealerships. There are also plans to develop a large industrial park on Blackford Road side of Dog Kennel Lane, occupying the TRW site. An application was made in 2019 to demolish
9592-480: The standard of living for any industrialized society. Most ship canals today primarily service bulk cargo and large ship transportation industries, whereas the once critical smaller inland waterways conceived and engineered as boat and barge canals have largely been supplanted and filled in, abandoned and left to deteriorate, or kept in service and staffed by state employees, where dams and locks are maintained for flood control or pleasure boating. Their replacement
9701-639: The term Shirley Street was common by 1332. This is now the part of the Stratford Road. During the Early Modern Period, Shirley became a stopping-off point for travelers and many of the pubs which remain today, such as the Red Lion and Saracens Head, are situated along this section of highway. Many of these pubs trace their routes back to a wave of expansion of Shirley during the Long Nineteenth Century. Between 1725 and 1872,
9810-424: The upper river was managed by a syndicate of seven people, all connected with the canal, and the Canal Company took out a lease of it from 1842 for five years. Trade was mainly coal, which was conveyed from Stratford to Evesham . Traffic steadily built up, although tolls were low, to offset the costs imposed on goods passing through Kingswood Junction to the Warwick and Birmingham Canal. On the southern section, coal
9919-619: The use of voluntary labour, which would be used on many subsequent restorations, and assistance was also given by prisoners from Winson Green prison, the Army and the RAF Airfield Construction Branch. The canal was fully navigable by mid-1964, and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother officially re-opened it on 11 July. Its restoration was a turning point for the waterways movement in Britain. The National Trust charged
10028-573: The valley of the River Dee . Another option for dealing with hills is to tunnel through them. An example of this approach is the Harecastle Tunnel on the Trent and Mersey Canal . Tunnels are only practical for smaller canals. Some canals attempted to keep changes in level down to a minimum. These canals known as contour canals would take longer, winding routes, along which the land was
10137-466: Was also expensive, as men expect compensation in the form of wages, room and board. This was because long-haul roads were unpaved, more often than not too narrow for carts, much less wagons, and in poor condition, wending their way through forests, marshy or muddy quagmires as often as unimproved but dry footing. In that era, as today, greater cargoes, especially bulk goods and raw materials , could be transported by ship far more economically than by land; in
10246-458: Was an option in some cases, sometimes supplemented by other methods to deal with seasonal variations in flow. Where such sources were unavailable, reservoirs – either separate from the canal or built into its course – and back pumping were used to provide the required water. In other cases, water pumped from mines was used to feed the canal. In certain cases, extensive "feeder canals" were built to bring water from sources located far from
10355-460: Was built in the early 1800s at the junction of Bills Lane and Stratford Road. A significant investment into a new retail-led mixed-use centre is under construction. The 'New Heart for Shirley' was opened in May 2015. Building work on further residential properties are still continuing. Parkgate, as it is known, offers various shops, restaurants and other services such as a gym and the local library. To
10464-469: Was empowered to raise £120,000 by issuing shares and an additional £60,000 if required. The route would take it close to Warwick and Birmingham Canal at Lapworth, but the act did not include any provision for a direct connection with it, or with the River Avon at Stratford. Negotiations started with the Warwick and Birmingham, and to second act, the Lapworth to Kingswood Canal Act 1795 ( 35 Geo. 3 . c. 72)
10573-480: Was first recorded in the early Thirteenth Century. A reference to the area from 1240, some fifty years after the founding of nearby Solihull, refers to it as 'Syrley', which means 'bright clearing' in old English. By the Late Middle Ages, Shirley was developing into a small settlement along its main thoroughfare, called Shirley Street. The road name was first recorded in 1322 as 'Schirleystret'. The use of
10682-527: Was formally opened on 24 May 1802, after which cutting again ceased. Construction only recommenced in 1812, under the leadership of William James of Stratford. James, who had owned shares in the Company since 1793, had a wide interest in turnpike roads and railways, and following a tour of the north of England between 1802 and 1804, on which he investigated railways and canals, he expanded his business interests to include coal mining. He rose to become chairman of
10791-470: Was gradual, beginning first in the United States in the mid-1850s where canal shipping was first augmented by, then began being replaced by using much faster , less geographically constrained & limited, and generally cheaper to maintain railways . By the early 1880s, canals which had little ability to economically compete with rail transport, were off the map. In the next couple of decades, coal
10900-424: Was increasingly diminished as the heating fuel of choice by oil, and growth of coal shipments leveled off. Later, after World War I when motor-trucks came into their own, the last small U.S. barge canals saw a steady decline in cargo ton-miles alongside many railways, the flexibility and steep slope climbing capability of lorries taking over cargo hauling increasingly as road networks were improved, and which also had
11009-566: Was mounted by the Inland Waterways Association and local activists. Two canoeists, who had used the canal recently, produced a dated toll ticket for their journey, which was offered as proof that the canal was not disused. Retention of the canal was announced on 22 May 1959, and by 16 October, the British Transport Commission and the National Trust reported that they had agreed on the terms of
11118-435: Was navigable for coal boats to reach the engine house and is now used for moorings. From Kings Norton Junction at the northern end the canal immediately passes through the unusual King's Norton Stop Lock , the only guillotine-gated stop-lock on a canal. After 3/4 mile is the only tunnel on the canal, at Brandwood . It is 352 yards (322 m) long, and like many canal tunnels it has no towpath; horses were walked over
11227-401: Was not until January 1856 that the transaction was finally completed, and another year before the railway company took over day-to-day running. Another change of ownership occurred in 1863, when the railway company was absorbed by the Great Western Railway . Traffic gradually decreased, but the fall in receipts was faster than the fall in tonnage, as the railway took the long-distance loads. By
11336-674: Was obtained on 19 May 1795, to allow a connecting link to be built, despite rather unfavourable terms imposed on through traffic by the other company. Josiah Clowes was employed as the engineer, and construction began in November 1793, starting at the Kings Norton end. He was also working on the Dudley Canal's extension, and another four canal schemes at the same time, and was the first great tunnel engineer. He died in December of
11445-426: Was once used to describe linear features seen on the surface of Mars , Martian canals , an optical illusion. A navigation is a series of channels that run roughly parallel to the valley and stream bed of an unimproved river. A navigation always shares the drainage basin of the river. A vessel uses the calm parts of the river itself as well as improvements, traversing the same changes in height. A true canal
11554-543: Was taken to Stratford, from where it was sold, or passed along the Upper Avon or the Stratford and Moreton Tramway . Modest dividends were paid to shareholders from 1824, and the total traffic carried in 1838 was 181,708 tons, on which profits of £6,835 were made. In 1845, the company agreed to sell the canal to the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway , who were also keen to purchase the Stratford and Moreton Tramway. It
11663-594: Was torpedoed in 1918. Our Lady of the Wayside is the Roman Catholic (RC) church. It opened as a mass centre in a former house known as 'Heathfield' on Stratford Road, served by the Church of St Augustine in Solihull, in June 1934. The original church, built in 1937, is now the Parish Hall. In 1962, Father Patrick O'Mahony, a notable human rights activist, was appointed parish priest and immediately instigated
11772-642: Was transferred on 1 April 1988, authorised by an order of the Secretary of State, which provided £1.5 million, phased over five years, to enable the canal to be brought up to standard. Download coordinates as: Canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation ) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi ). They carry free, calm surface flow under atmospheric pressure , and can be thought of as artificial rivers . In most cases,
11881-445: Was un-navigable by canal boats, as several of the locks could not be operated, and some of the small pounds between the locks of the Wilmcote flight were dry. Problems with a bridge also began the process of restoring this section. Warwickshire County Council sought to obtain legal abandonment of the canal in 1958, as they wished to replace bridge 59 at Wilmcote without the expense of providing navigable headroom. A campaign against closure
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