BW107

Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Company

Records of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Company: financial records 1933-1948, general administrative records 1939-1947, work diaries of P Morgan, foreman 1942-1992, plans and drawings of the canal and its associated features 1933-mid 20th century, Acts kept by the canal company for information 1914.

1890s-1992

BW107

These records are available immediately for research

The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal was promoted by James Perry and friends from Wolverhampton and a Bill was passed in 1766, on the back of surveys done by Hugh Henshall and Samuel Simcock, for a narrow canal from the Trent and Mersey Canal at Great Haywood to the River Severn near Bewdley. James Brindley was surveyor and Samuel Simcock and Thomas Dadford engineers. The canal was 46 1/8 miles long with 43 locks, including two barge locks at Stourport (the junction with the River Severn). Water was supplied from reservoirs at Gailey and Calf Heath, and from the Wyrley brook via the Hatherton Branch (opened 1841). In 1772 the canal was opened, the same year as the Birmingham Canal, which joined the Staffordshire and Worcestershire at Aldersley just outside Wolverhampton. In 1779 the Dudley and Stourbridge canals joined the Staffordshire and Worcester Canal at Stourton Bridge. Stourport became a transshipment centre between Severn craft and narrow boats with a new road bridge across the River Severn. Stafford had been bypassed by 1805 when a tramroad linked it to the canal and in 1816 the River Sow was made navigable to the town from the canal at Baswich. The canal did well although the opening of the Oxford Canal in 1790 and the Worcester and Birmingham Canal in 1815, canals with more direct links to the River Severn, caused Staffordshire and Worcestershire dividends to fall. The completion in 1835 of the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal with a junction at Autherley caused traffic to decline on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal between Great Haywood and Autherley. The new canal did make the section between Autherley and Aldersley very busy and the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Company raised the tolls here for compensation. They were later dropped when a Bill threatened to bypass the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal altogether unless charges were reduced. In 1841 the Hatherton Branch, named after the chairman Lord Hatherton, was opened to the Cannock coalfields. In 1863 it made a junction with the Churchbridge Branch of the Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN) and was 3 ½ miles long with eight locks. The canal did well until 1860 because of the heavy traffic on the Birmingham Canal Navigations, the Stourbridge Navigation and the Shropshire Union. In 1851 it started a carrying company and took over a Severn tug business. After 1860 the canal became more dependent upon the Birmingham Canal Navigations for traffic and water down the Wolverhampton locks. In 1895 the canal joined the Thames and Severn Trust to enable the continued distribution of Staffordshire coal. The Stafford Branch was not used after the 1920s and the last coal was carried on the Hatherton Branch in about 1949. The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Company paid a dividend until nationalisation in 1948. The company changed its name from the Company of Proprietors of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Navigation in 1933 to the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Company. For further information on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal see Edward Paget-Tomlinson's 'The Illustrated History of Canals & River Navigations' and Charles Hadfield's 'The Canals of the West Midlands'.

It has not been possible to ascertain the complete original structure of record-keeping from the records held for this company. The fonds has been arranged into series by subject, which is how some of the records may have originally been kept. The company's financial records have been placed first, followed by general administrative records. These are followed by work diaries of P Morgan, foreman, then plans and drawings of the canal and its associated features. At the end of the collection are Acts kept by the canal company for information. The records within these series have been arranged chronologically while keeping records relating to each other together. This means that some records may fall slightly out of the chronological sequence. The series of financial records has been split into four subseries - stock registers, statement of accounts, accounts ledgers and accounts letter books. The records within these subseries have generally been arranged chronologically while keeping records relating to each other together. This means that some records may fall slightly out of the chronological sequence.

[See also: BW151 for records of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal during other periods of ownership]