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Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal

The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal is part of the Waterways of mainland Britain and is made up of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal (Main Line: Stourport to Stourton), the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal (Main Line: Stourton to Aldersley), the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal (Main Line: Aldersley to Autherley), the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal (Main Line: Autherley to Great Haywood), the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal (Stourport Basins) and the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal (Hatherton Canal).

Closely linked with the other first 
        generation narrow canals the Staffordshire and 
        Worcestershire Canal (often known as the Staffs and Worcs) 
        received its act on the same day as the [[waterway:cheo|Trent and Mersey]].  
        With no major engineering obstacles, construction proceeded 
        quickly under James Brindley as the engineer and it was 
        fully opened by 1772.

But this lightly 
        engineered route was to fall out of favour with the coming 
        of new, more direct, canals such as the [[waterway:c0um|Birmingham and Liverpool Junction]] and the [[waterway:eoul|Worcester and Birmingham]].  But by 
        concentrating on local traffic, and by exploiting the 
        critical half mile between [[place:2cj9|Autherley]] and [[place:t2q1|Aldersley Junction]]s, 
        the Company remained in business until nationalisation.

Even today, when it makes up parts of several of 
        the most popular cruising routes, there is a slightly 
        down-at-heel feel about the canal - somehow it seems to be 
        slightly forgotten about.  To me, this adds to the charm of 
        what is one of my favourite canals.