On Monday morning, Buddy
and I walked down the canal to Alvechurch.
On the way there is a junction with what is called the Crown Meadow
Arm. This arm was in fact the original route
of the canal, but a new channel was dug when the M42 was built. The arm now ends at the motorway embankment
and boats are not allowed into as it has been designated as a nature reserve.
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The end of the Crown
Meadow arm at Alvechurch
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A cheeky kingfisher was
patrolling up and down but kept moving off whenever I got close to it. I couldn’t even get close enough to tell its
gender – the lower beak colour gives it away.
As it was I spent a happy 16 minutes following it around but I’m not
sure what Buddy thought about walking backwards and forwards all that time.
Just before the arm are
some residential moorings on the offside overlooking a reservoir. We have always thought this is a lovely place
to moor until we remember that all that can be heard is the constant traffic on
the motorway.
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Permanent moorings at
Lower Bittell reservoir
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Together with the Upper Bittell
reservoir, the Lower Bittell reservoir was built to feed the Worcester &
Birmingham canal.
At one end of the
reservoir sits an isolated cottage without any vehicular access, just like many
lock cottages. We love the idea of
living somewhere like that but this particular cottage has no land whatsoever.
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Canal to the front and
sluice to the left
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The River Arrow runs into
the canal by the back of the cottage
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I said last week that I
would try and find out some more about the history of the 1 ½ mile long Wast
Hills canal tunnel which is just up from where we are moored this week. I had included a picture of the middle ventilation
shaft and noted that a small brick building had been erected next to the
shaft.
Even though the building
is now used by the farmer I have found out that it used to house a steam
engine. The steam engine was used to drive an extractor fan in the shaft.
A sad but interesting fact
was reported in Waterways World magazine in January 1980. It referred to an incident that occurred on
23rd November 1979 when two workmen were killed in the tunnel. They were repairing brickwork where seeping water
had washed away mortar thus making the brickwork loose and unsafe. The tunnel wasn’t drained as they used a boat
for access and to bring in material and take out waste material. Apparently scaffolding was erected on the
canal bed for the men to work from and one day they uncovered a construction shaft
whose existence they were unaware of.
Construction shafts were only loosely filled and covered up after the
tunnel was opened so they had inadvertently opened it up only to bring the
filling tumbling onto the scaffolding and knocking it over. They were trapped in the water by the
scaffolding and consequently drowned.
British Waterways received
a heavy fine for breaches of health and safety and procedures for working in
tunnels were reviewed and consequently tightened up. Sadly too, they thought the men would have
survived if the tunnel had been drained first.
Primrose Hill
Comprehensive school sits above the tunnel and apparently the pupils and staff
were evacuated for fear of the breach causing further collapses.
I also found the following
post on a canal discussion forum that I have lifted verbatim because of the
sensitivity of the issue:
In February 1964 I was a pupil at nearby Kings Norton grammar school.
Two boys I knew, Rob Seymore and Clive Chance, attempted to canoe through the
tunnel, and were drowned. I often think with sadness of this event.
This was posted as a
response:
It was the February half term. In those days we didn't get a week, just
the Friday and Monday. Rob and Clive left their homes early on the Friday to
make the canoe trip through the tunnel. Unfortunately, they didn't tell anyone
their plans. When they didn't come home that night the police were called and a
search started, but they had no idea where they had gone. There was no news all
Saturday, Sunday and Monday. On the Monday night a family returned home from a
few days away and learned of their disappearance for the first time. Their son
was also a pupil at our school and said that he had happened to see them on the
Friday carrying a canoe down to the canal. A search was carried out and they
were found. I drive over that bridge at the bottom of Parsons Hill, Kings
Norton and always think about them and what they might have achieved had they
lived.
Hopefully future blog
entries will be made with happier stories ☹
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