Stratford Canal

Stratford-upon-Avon Canal
A stretch of the canal in Stratford
Specifications
Maximum boat length	70 ft 0 in (21.34 m)
Maximum boat beam	7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
Locks	56
Status	Navigable
Navigation authority	Canal and River Trust
History
Original owner	Stratford-upon-Avon Canal Company
Principal engineer	William Clowes
Date of act	1793
Date of first use	1800
Date completed	1816
Date closed	1939
Date restored	1964
Geography
Start point	Kings Norton
End point	Stratford
Connects to	Worcester and Birmingham Canal, Grand Union Canal, River Avon

The Stratford-upon-Avon Canal is a canal in the south Midlands of England. The canal, which was built between 1793 and 1816, runs for 25.5 miles (41.0 km) in total, and consists of two sections. The dividing line is at Kingswood Junction, which gives access to the Grand Union Canal. Following acquisition by a railway company in 1856, it gradually declined, the southern section being un-navigable by 1945, and the northern section little better.

The northern section was the setting for a high-profile campaign by the fledgling Inland Waterways Association in 1947, involving the right of navigation under Tunnel Lane bridge, which required the Great Western Railway to jack it up in order to allow boats to pass. These actions saved the section from closure. The southern section was restored by the National Trust between 1961 and 1964, after an attempt to close it was thwarted. The revived canal was re-opened by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and responsibility for it was transferred to British Waterways in 1988.

The Stratford-upon-Avon canal connects the Worcester and Birmingham Canal at Kings Norton to the River Avon at Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire. It consists of two sections, divided by a junction which connects it to the Grand Union Canal. The northern section from Kings Norton in the suburbs of Birmingham to Lapworth is level for the first 10.8 miles (17.4 km), following the 453-foot (138 m) Birmingham Level, but then descends quite rapidly through the Lapworth flight of 18 locks, to reach the junction. There is a choice of route to reach the Grand Union, as there are two locks side by side, one on the main line of the canal, and one on the branch, but a channel joins the bottom ends of both locks. The junction is almost exactly halfway along the canal.