Stourbridge
A UK Canal Boating Article
Category : Canals
Main Line - Length: 5.25 miles
Locks: 20
Aqueduct: 1
Branch Line (from Wordsley Junction to Stourbridge) - Length: 1.25 miles
No locks
HISTORY
The canal was built to transport coal from the Dudley coalfields to the glass manufacturers around Stourbridge. The Stourbridge Canal has a unique association with the glassmaking industry and at one time there were twenty glassworks in this area. These glassworks were world-famous for cameo glass and cut crystal.
THINGS OF INTEREST ON ROUTE
Red House Glass Cone is one of only four surviving cones in Britain and is now a museum. Visitors can stand where the furnaces used to burn and look upwards through the bricked tunnel to the sky. Visit the museum's canal side café, sit outside to see where raw materials of coal and sand were unloaded and the finished glass was loaded back on.
Buckpool and Fens Pool Nature Reserves are the largest areas of open water in Dudley and are important for migrating and over wintering waterfowl. The smaller ponds north of the Pools are home to a huge numbers of frogs, toads and newts. The willow areas, marshland and ancient woodland support a diverse wildlife.
Bunkers Hill Wood is a beautiful stretch of woodland to the West of Stourbridge. The area was opened to the public after it was purchased by the Woodland Trust with help from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Dadford's Shed was built between 1884 and 1903 is named after Thomas Daford Junior who supervised the building of the canal between 1776 and 1779. It was once part of the former warehouses and boat builders yard and traditional canal boats are still restored and painted there.
The Delph Flight of locks is a magnificent feat of engineering originally dating from 1792. Today the whole flight is a designated conservation area and some of the original stables have recently been restored.
Ruskin Glass Centre is home to a wide array of glass crafts raging from glassblowing, glass artists, engravers, glass decorators, and glass repair. Browse in the shops for range of unusual gifts or works of art or stroll around the gallery and watch the artists at work.
Kinver Edge is a three hundred acre site managed by the National Trust land and situated within easy walking distance of Kinver village. The soft sandstone is easy to carve and a distinctive feature of the Edge is the abundance of caves and former houses carved from the many rocky outcrops.
Merryhill Shopping Centre was developed between 1985 and 1990 and is now home to over 250 shops, a retail park, a cinema and a food hall. The architects wisely chose to make a feature of the canal and provided good moorings for canal boaters.
Locks: 20
Aqueduct: 1
Branch Line (from Wordsley Junction to Stourbridge) - Length: 1.25 miles
No locks
HISTORY
The canal was built to transport coal from the Dudley coalfields to the glass manufacturers around Stourbridge. The Stourbridge Canal has a unique association with the glassmaking industry and at one time there were twenty glassworks in this area. These glassworks were world-famous for cameo glass and cut crystal.
THINGS OF INTEREST ON ROUTE
Red House Glass Cone is one of only four surviving cones in Britain and is now a museum. Visitors can stand where the furnaces used to burn and look upwards through the bricked tunnel to the sky. Visit the museum's canal side café, sit outside to see where raw materials of coal and sand were unloaded and the finished glass was loaded back on.
Buckpool and Fens Pool Nature Reserves are the largest areas of open water in Dudley and are important for migrating and over wintering waterfowl. The smaller ponds north of the Pools are home to a huge numbers of frogs, toads and newts. The willow areas, marshland and ancient woodland support a diverse wildlife.
Bunkers Hill Wood is a beautiful stretch of woodland to the West of Stourbridge. The area was opened to the public after it was purchased by the Woodland Trust with help from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Dadford's Shed was built between 1884 and 1903 is named after Thomas Daford Junior who supervised the building of the canal between 1776 and 1779. It was once part of the former warehouses and boat builders yard and traditional canal boats are still restored and painted there.
The Delph Flight of locks is a magnificent feat of engineering originally dating from 1792. Today the whole flight is a designated conservation area and some of the original stables have recently been restored.
Ruskin Glass Centre is home to a wide array of glass crafts raging from glassblowing, glass artists, engravers, glass decorators, and glass repair. Browse in the shops for range of unusual gifts or works of art or stroll around the gallery and watch the artists at work.
Kinver Edge is a three hundred acre site managed by the National Trust land and situated within easy walking distance of Kinver village. The soft sandstone is easy to carve and a distinctive feature of the Edge is the abundance of caves and former houses carved from the many rocky outcrops.
Merryhill Shopping Centre was developed between 1985 and 1990 and is now home to over 250 shops, a retail park, a cinema and a food hall. The architects wisely chose to make a feature of the canal and provided good moorings for canal boaters.
Holiday Bases
AlvechurchWorcester
Canals
Staffordshire And Worcestershire
Rivers
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Places to Visit
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