stressedMore pictures of abandoned places on the Birmingham Canal Navigations
If anyone can tell me how to get the pictures to appear larger on this site without them becoming pixilated I would be grateful.
I took these pictures a few weeks ago. The light was terrible so they have turned into moody black and white pictures.
The Titford canal is a little used part of the system because it does not really go anywhere. Originally built as a reservoir and a feeder canal it was made navigable and extended to reach the coal mines in the Sandwell Valley.
At the end of the canal are the Titford pools ( the remains of the reservoir) and two short branches; the Portway and the Causeway Green. Both branches are now severely truncated and lead nowhere. I only had time to get pictures of the Portway Branch the day I went there.
I had been trying to find them for ages, finally worked out where they were using live maps and got on my bike. Took about an hour longer to get there than I expected so I did not get many photos. I should have been more suspicious when I found they were off the edge of my map.
This branch is now unnavigable because the M5 motorway crosses it at a narrow point and the sediment from the run off has silted it up.
This is the approach to the Titford pools. The structure above it is the the M5.
Beyond the viaduct it feels very isolated. Try reading the short story Three Miles Up by Elizabeth Jane Howard to understand how it feels - in fact read it anyway; it's one of the best supernatural stories I have ever read.
This open expanse is the remains of the Portway branch.
Because the canal is not used it is silted up even away from the motorway. The reed bed is slowly filling the canal. As you go around the end of the canal you can see that the canal should really end beyond the trees but has filled in over time.
More pictures with better lighting later in the week.
