Wyrley and Essington Canal, near Lichfield

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Date:1915

Description:This postcard view shows a widebeam barge near to Lock number 14 on the former Wryley and Essington Canal. Lock 14 was one of a series of locks on the canal between Wall Lane and Fosseway Lane near Lichfield. The photograph has been edited to add the barge which is noticably out of scale with the rest of the image.

The Wyrley and Essington Canal was part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations. It fringed the south of Lichfield and joined with the Coventry Canal at Huddlesford Junction. Around 1955 many of the branches on the canal had closed and were being filled in. A small section survived at Huddlesford Junction and this became known as the Lichfield Canal. In later years the Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust began working on a project to reinstate the canal and are currently (August 2020) restoring major sections of the canal to bring it back to life.

In the background is Lichfield with the spires of the Cathedral on the left, St. Mary’s Church is centre left and centre right is St. Michael’s Church. In the centre above the canal and canal pond or reservoir is the Fosseway Lane Signal Box at the level crossing on the former South Staffordshire (L&NWR) railway line which closed in 2003. On the right is Sandfields Pumping Station with its chimney. Most of the original pumping station buildings, including an engine house, boiler house and chimney, were demolished in 1966, pumping ceased around 1997 and the site sold for housing in 2005. The remaining Grade II listed Cornish beam engine house is being restored by the Lichfield Waterworks Trust.

This postcard was published by Valentine’s. It was franked in Lichfield on 8 February 1915 and sent to an address in Bilston.

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Image courtesy of: The Arthur Lloyd Collection

Donor ref:A_Lloyd-360aa (232/42713)

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