Underwater Roadways, Birmingham Canals

Underwater Roadways, Birmingham Canals

By: Kendal Sendek

The Boat We Rode One

  We went on a lovely narrow boat tour along the Birmingham Canal system, termed BCN (Birmingham Canal Network).  We boarded the boat and began our trip at the ICC (International Convention Center), where we got Starbucks right before hand; we had to chug it before getting on the boat, but we all finished just in time!  We floated through a marina where other boats were moored, and the guide gave us some information about certain aspects of the boats and their designs, one is the yellow disk painted on the front which I will discuss a little later.  Some of the areas we traveled through on the tour were the Oozels Street and Icknield Port loops, we saw the Ladywood and Rotton Park Junctions, and rode down the BCN Main Line.  We also passed through the Gas Street Basin, and the Worcester and Birmingham canals.                                                                                    

Map of Our Journey

The side of the canal and view of the tow-path

You can see what looks like a footpath along the edge of the canal, but in fact this was a tow-path.  Before the boats were powered by steam or other forces they were attached to horses who would walk alongside and pull the boats.  They would walk along these tow-paths, even though horses are no longer used cyclists bike along these little trails and we saw people walking along them as well.  There actually seemed to be quite a subculture around the water.  These canals were really the "life blood of Black Country and Birmingham" according the the Canal and River Trust website.  The canal system really flourished because of the Industrial Revolution and the need for quick efficient transportation of raw materials and goods. As the tour continued we saw railways that ran close to the canals, and learned that the railways that were supported by this waterway lasted longer than those that weren't.  Another fact I found interesting was that while the water looks dirty it is actually clean; a lady tested it and pulled up a cup of the water which turned up clear.  The reason the water looks so dirty is because the depth of the canal is only 4.5 ft deep and the sediment/silt collected on the bottom gives it the dirty appearance.  The civil engineers that are given credit for this amazing network of canals are people such as James Brindley, Thomas Telford, Thomas Dadford, John Smeaton, and James Walker (BBC news).

      

Boat with the eye of Osiris painted on the front

Some Fun Canal Facts

You can see on the picture a yellow disk on the front of the boat, this is a common feature among the narrow boats we saw on the journey   This disk represents the protective eye of Osiris and was placed on the front of the boats to insure safe travel and a safe return home.

Many notable and popular pubs were built along the tow-paths because the business owners knew they would always have a customer base from the workers going up and down the canal.

The people who actually built the canals were called "navvies" and in the UK it stood for navigator, this was also the term applied to railways workers (BBC news).

"Legging" was how the boaters got the boat through tunnels when the horses could not.  The men would lay on their backs and place their feet on the top or sides of the tunnel and use their legs to walk the boat through.  The longest tunnel to be walked through was 3.5 miles long!

The fun fact I found the most interesting was that the national speed limit on the canals is 4 miles per hour! (BBC news)