The first canal to be built in the area was the Birmingham Canal, built from 1768 to 1772 under the supervision of James Brindley from the, then, edge of Birmingham, with termini at Newhall Wharf (since built over) and Paradise Wharf (also known as Old Wharf) near to Gas Street Basin to meet the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal at Aldersley (north of Wolverhampton).
The Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, from Birmingham to Tamworth, followed in 1784 with the Birmingham Canal Company merging with the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal Company immediately, to form what was originally called the Birmingham and Birmingham and Fazeley Canal Company. This cumbersome name was short-lived, and the combined company became known as the Birmingham Canal Navigations from 1794, as the network was expanded.
The Engine Arm or Birmingham Feeder Arm near Smethwick is a short canal built by Thomas Telford in 1825 to carry water from Rotton Park Reservoir (now called Edgbaston Reservoir) to the Old Main Line of the BCN Main Line Canal.
The nearby Smethwick Engine (1779) was built to pump water from below the six locks (Smethwick flight) at the eastern end of the Smethwick Summit back to the summit level. Another engine at the western end reclaimed water from use at the Spon Lane locks.
In the 1780s, a cutting was constructed by John Smeaton, enabling three of the six locks on each side of the Smethwick Summit to be removed.
When, in the 1820s, Thomas Telford cut his deeper, straighter New Main Line of the Birmingham Canal it ran close to the existing James Brindley and John Smeaton Old Main Line near Smethwick Summit.
The Engine Arm was built to bring water from Rotton Park Reservoir and also to connect the Smethwick Engine, which was used to pump water from the Birmingham Level of the canal to the Smethwick Summit (Wolverhampton Level) of the Old Main Line.
The Engine Arm was made navigable in 1830 between the Smethwick Summit of the Old Main Line canal and Engine Arm Basin, just beyond the Smethwick Engine a few hundred metres away so that boats could carry coal to the engine. Beyond Engine Arm Basin a culvert, the Birmingham Feeder, which ran parallel to the New Main Line at the top of the southern embankment, was a second feeder which brought water from Rotton Park Reservoir, supplementing an earlier feeder which followed a level contour route. The culvert is open for a part of its run along the canal but is covered where it runs through built-up places.
The branch crossed the New Main Line via Telford's cast iron Engine Arm Aqueduct, a Scheduled Ancient Monument. This is a 16 m. (52 ft.) single arch structure cast by Horseley Ironworks.
The original Smethwick Engine, at the corner of Rolfe Street and Bridge Street North was replaced in 1892 by a newer engine at Brasshouse Lane bridge, and its excavated foundations are also a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
By road: Best approached on foot from B4135, Rolfe Street, which runs from Smethwick Rolfe Street Railway Station.
By boat: A better view is from the canal below.
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