Aldersley Junction is where the Birmingham Main Line Canal terminates and meets the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal near to Oxley, north Wolverhampton. It lies 1 km (0.6 miles) south of Autherley Junction (see entry) where the Shropshire Union Canal terminates and meets the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal.
When opened in 1835, the Shropshire Union was called the Birmingham & Liverpool Junction Canal. Almost immediately, most of the traffic which had previously used Aldersley Junction and travelled northwards on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal now used the new canal, and so only travelled for the half mile between the two junctions. The Staffordshire & Worcestershire company raised the tolls to a very high level, to compensate for the loss of revenue.
In order to resolve the situation, the Birmingham Canal company worked with the Liverpool Junction company, and proposed the Tettenhall and Autherley Canal and Aqueduct. This would have left the Birmingham Canal just above lock 19, crossed the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal just below Aldersley Junction by an aqueduct made of iron, and then dropped down through three locks to join the Liverpool Junction Canal above the stop lock. The plans were drawn up by Birmingham surveyors, Dugdale Houghton, but the canal was never constructed, as the Staffordshire & Worcestershire company reduced their tolls rather than lose them altogether.
By road: Off A449 in Oxley, close to Dunstall Park Stadium on the northern outskirts of Wolverhampton. but best approached by boat.
Atterbury, Paul, English Rivers and Canals, Weidenfeld Nicolson Illustrated, ISBN 0 297 78318 1 (1984)
Bartholomew, Nicholson Inland Waterways Map of Great Britain, Bartholomew, ISBN 978-00072 11173 (2006)
Boughey, Joseph, Hadfield's British Canals: the Inland Waterways of Britain and Ireland, Sutton Publishing, ISBN 978 18401 50247 (1998)
Boughey, J. and Hadfield, C., British Canals: A Standard History, The History Press, ISBN 978-07524 46677 (2008)
Burton, A., Waterways of Britain, Collins Willow, ISBN 0 00 218047 2 (1983)
Canal Companion, Birmingham Canal Navigations, J. M. Pearson & Associates, ISBN 0-907864-49-X (1989)
Gladwin, D.D., A Pictorial History of Canals, Batsford, ISBN 0 7134 0554 6 (1977)
Pratt, D. Waterways Past and Present: A Unique Record of Britain's Waterways Heritage, Adlard Coles Nautical, ISBN 978-07136 76341 2006)
Pratt, F., Canal Architecture in Britain, Shire Publications, ISBN 978- 09032 18139 (1976)
Roberts, B., Britain's Waterways: A Unique Insight, GEOprojects, ISBN 978- 08635 11158 (2006)
Rolt, L.T.C., Inland Waterways of England, Allen & Unwin, ISBN-10: 0043860036 (1950)
Shill, Ray.,Birmingham Canal Navigations, The History Press, ISBN 978 07524 27676 (2002)
Ware, M.E., Britain's Lost Commercial Waterways, Landmark Publishing ISBN 978-18430 61816 (2005)
Birmingham Canal Navigation Society
Geograph - Images of Aldersley Junction
Staffs & Worcs Canal Society - "It could have been different"
