Staffs & Worcs Canal

摘要

The Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal, to give it its full name, is one of the 'Golden Oldies' of our canal system - being opened for navigation as early as 1772, and one of the few canals that its engineer James Brindley lived to see complete. The south western link of his Grand Cross scheme to unite the rivers Trent, Mersey, Thames and Severn, it connected the Trent & Mersey Canal to the River Severn. The canal begins at Great Haywood and follows a course around the western edge of the Black Country to Stourport on the River Severn, a total of 46 miles. However, despite its proximity to the West Midlands it maintains a rural aspect for most of its length. It only meets built-up areas in Kidderminster and by the western suburbs of Wolverhampton at Compton.