Bridge 84 - Worcester & Birmingham Canal - Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK.
N 52° 27.446 W 001° 55.693
30U E 572825 N 5812457
This arch bridge 84 is known as Somerset Road Bridge and is located on the Worcester & Birmingham Canal at Edgbaston.
Waymark Code: WM11185
Location: West Midlands, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 07/28/2019
Views: 6
Somerset Road, Bridge No 84 is located on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal at Edgbaston.
It is a brick built, arch bridge which takes Somerset Road over the canal. There is access to the canal towpath at this bridge.
The canal was built in the mid 1790s, but the top of the bridge would have been added much later when the adjacent railway was opened in 1876. The railway bridge required a higher headroom, so this canal bridge's top would have been raised to make it more in line with the railway bridge.
"Edgbaston Bridge No 84 is a minor waterways place on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal (Birmingham to King's Norton) between Worcester Bar (Junction of Worcester and Birmingham Canal with BCN) (1 mile and 6¾ furlongs to the northeast) and Selly Oak Junction (Former junction with Dudley Canal Line No 2) (1 mile and 1¼ furlongs to the southwest). The nearest place in the direction of Worcester Bar is The Vale Winding Hole; 3½ furlongs away. The nearest place in the direction of Selly Oak Junction is Pritchetts Road Bridge No 83; 2½ furlongs away." (
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The Worcester and Birmingham Canal is a canal linking Worcester and Birmingham. It starts in Worcester, as an 'offshoot' of the River Severn and climbs 428 feet (130 m) to its end in the Gas Street Basin in Birmingham. It is 29 miles (47 km) long and has 58 locks, including the 30 Tardebigge Locks, one of the largest lock flights in Europe.
The canal was surveyed by Josiah Clowes and John Snape and construction of a barge-width (14 ft) canal began in 1792 from the Birmingham end, but progressed slowly. Its engineers changed often, and included Thomas Cartwright, John Woodhouse and William Crosley. The final 16 miles (26 km) were opened in December 1815.
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