Ridgacre Branch

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Map of Ridgacre Branch and the original Wednesbury Canal (outlined yellow) and its modern neighbours. Wednesbury Old Canal as it stands today is shown in pink/yellow.
Map of Ridgacre Branch and the original Wednesbury Canal (outlined yellow) and its modern neighbours. Wednesbury Old Canal as it stands today is shown in pink/yellow.

The Ridgacre Branch is a canal branch of the Wednesbury Old Canal, part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations, in the West Midlands, England.

It opened in 1826 and was ¾ mile in length, running from the Wednesbury at Swan Bridge Junction, a few metres north of the New Swan Lane / Black Country New Road roundabout. From it ran the Dartmouth Branch northwards and the Halford Branch southwards to collieries, both opened in 1828.[1]

Following abandonment of the Wednesbury Old Canal in 1954 and 1960, and the building of Black Country New Road the Ridgacre has been cut off from the canal network.

Some modern sources mark the Ridgacre as starting at Ryder's Green Junction but this is not historically correct.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ *Hadfield, Charles [1966] (1985). Canals of the West Midlands Volume 5. Newton Abbott: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-8644-1. 
  • Historical Map of the Birmingham Canals, Richard Dean, M. & M. Baldwin, 1989, ISBN 0-947712-08-9
  • Ordnance Survey Six Inch Series (1:10,560), Map SO99SE, 1955

Coordinates: 52°31′46″N 2°00′58″W / 52.5293, -2.0161

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