Smethwick Junction (canal)

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Two Horseley Ironworks roving bridges - the further bridge spanning the Old Main Line

For the nearby railway junction, see Smethwick Junction.

Smethwick Junction (grid reference SP028890) is the name of the junction where the BCN Main Line Canal from Birmingham splits into the BCN Old Main Line and the BCN New Main Line near to Smethwick, West Midlands, England.

Smethwick Junction has two Horseley Ironworks roving bridges dated 1828. They were built as part of Thomas Telford's improvements to the Birmingham Canal. Each bridge has a span of 52 feet 6 inches and the arch rises nine feet. The semi-elliptical form gives greater headroom above the towpaths. The ribs were manufactured in two parts and are bolted at the crown. They have an X-lattice structure with a decorative quatrefoil pattern below the handrail. The deck is of cast-iron plates with raised ribs 2½ inches high cast on their upper surfaces to help retain the earth filling which forms the footway. The bridge abutments and wing walls are of brick with stone facings at the corners. There are deep cuts in the ironwork of the bridges caused by the abrasion of tow-ropes.

[edit] Sources

Canal Companion - Birmingham Canal Navigations, J. M. Pearson & Associates, 1989, ISBN 0-907864-49-X
Roger Cragg (1997). Wales and West Central England: Wales and West Central England, 2nd Edition. Thomas Telford. ISBN 0727725769.

Coordinates: 52°29′56″N 1°57′31″W / 52.4988, -1.9587