Lichfield & Hatherton Canals

The Lichfield Canal consists of the Ogley to Huddlesford length of the Wyrley and Essington Canal. It descends from the Wolverhampton level of the Birmingham Canal to the Coventry Canal.

The Hatherton Canal is the Hatherton Branch of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal plus a new section of canal to replace the former Churchbridge Locks connection to the Cannock Extension Canal that was lost to coal mining.  

Restoration Progress

Both canal restorations have many obstacles to overcome, particularly road crossings. The threat posed by the building of the M6 Toll Motorway was an early challenge. Over £2 million has had to be invested in these major road crossings to preserve continuity of the routes, which for some time inhibited the pace of actual restoration work.  

The Lichfield Canal has seen work over many years on several sites. This includes the restoration of a lock at Fosseway Lane, and a partly built diversion channel, a lift bridge and an inverted siphon stream culvert at Darnford Lane.

Tamworth Road Locks

The main voluntary work effort has been at Tamworth Road in Lichfield. Two partly demolished locks have been rebuilt, wash walls reconstructed, a section of a land drain pipeline removed, a slipway built, and a pound relined and rewatered. In the adjacent Darnford Park, between two future road crossings, the site for two new locks has been excavated and extensive landscaping carried out.

A grant in 2015 enabled the Trust to purchase a 1 km section of canal at Summerhill, clear 60 years of undergrowth, construct a new culvert and canal channel over the Crane Brook to replace the one demolished when the motorway was built, and to relay hedges and resurface the towpath between the Boat Inn and the aqueduct.

Fosseway Heath Towpath

In 2017 work started at Fosseway Heath to reinstate a missing section of towpath, modify the canal channel and create a nature area.  By 2019 a large new turning basin had been mostly completed, and at Fosseway Lock 18 the channel was re-excavated back to the road and the towpath wall rebuilt.

Work has also resumed at Darnford Lane, and in 2018 some 11 pre-cast concrete culvert sections, purchased with a European grant 12 years earlier, were relocated there to be used to replace the road bridge.

There are now 5 currently active restoration sites along the Lichfield Canal and the Trust hosts WRG Canal Camps and weekends, and frequent visits from Corporate volunteer groups, to supplement its own regular volunteers.