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This wooded cutting leads into the 2726 yard long Wast Hills Tunnel about five hundred yards ahead.
©Roger Kidd
Dist:0.2km<br/>The Lea End Lane Bridge stands close to the southern portal of Wast Hill Tunnel.
©John M
Dist:0.2km<br/>This high bridge is No 69 on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal where it is already in a cutting on the approach to Wast Hills Tunnel (just visible about 250 metres ahead).
©Roger Kidd
Dist:0.2km<br/>This high bridge is No 69 on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal where it is already in a cutting on the approach to Wast Hills Tunnel (just visible about 250 metres ahead).
©Roger Kidd
Dist:0.2km<br/>
©Row17
Dist:0.2km<br/>This bird seemed to accompany us towards the Wast Hills Tunnel entrance a few hundred metres ahead.
©Roger Kidd
Dist:0.2km<br/>This bridge is a farmer's accommodation bridge and carries no public right of way, though a footpath does come from Lea Lane to the east and stops at the bridge.
©Roger Kidd
Dist:0.3km<br/>On a dull afternoon, this bridge is a farmer's accommodation bridge and carries no public right of way, though a footpath does come from Lea Lane to the east and stops at the bridge. The Worcester and Birmingham Canal was constructed in stages between 1791 and 1815. Between the River Severn at Worcester and the Birmingham level at the top of the Tardebigge flight (just under sixteen miles) there are 58 locks, raising the water level by 428 feet (about 157 metres) and four tunnels. This was not the original plan, which involved 76 locks. At one time the engineer John Woodhouse proposed that there be just twelve locks and a series of boat-lifts, but although just one lift was built (at the present Tardebigge Top Lock) this was quite quickly replaced, and the lift idea was replaced with just 58 locks. Industrial goods and coal were carried down towards Worcester, often for onward transport to Bristol. Pairs of donkeys were often used in preference to horses, maybe because they could easily be put onto the boats which had to be legged through the tunnels near Birmingham.
©Roger Kidd
Dist:0.3km<br/>Newhouse Farm Bridge is a farm overbridge.
©John M
Dist:0.3km<br/>The light is actually the headlight of the narrowboat about to emerge from [[151865]]. The tunnel is 2493 metres long and even from a boat entering the tunnel the far end is little more than a pin-prick of light in the distance.
©David Stowell
Dist:0.3km<br/>A tug-style narrowboat emerges from the south end of the 2493 metre long Wast Hill Tunnel on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. The tunnel opened in 1797 and is one of the longest in the country. The other end is at [[2544]] with several intermediate construction/ventilation shafts such as [[151870]].
©David Stowell
Dist:0.3km<br/>Beside Wast Hills Lane at the top path up from the Worcester & Birmingham Canal by the southern portal of Wast Hill Tunnel. This building would originally have been erected for canal workers.
©David Stowell
Dist:0.3km<br/>This is the south portal of the tunnel on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. The heron is on guard on the right! [[[2281703]]] The tunnel was formerly called King's Norton Tunnel. It is 2726 yards in length, (2493 metres), is wide enough for boats to pass by each other, and is one of the longest tunnels on the British canal system. It is a wet tunnel to navigate, with a leaky brickwork roof. A steam powered (later diesel) tunnel tug service used to operate in the days of horse or donkey hauled boats. There is no towpath. A standard time to navigate through the tunnel is between forty minutes and one hour, depending on the slowest boat in front.
©Roger Kidd
Dist:0.3km<br/>This tunnel has three alternative names: West Hill, Wast Hill and Kings Norton. The last appears to have been preferred by British Waterways - it appears on the notice board above the tunnel mouth. The notices advise the length is 2726 yd, all boats keep right and no canoes permitted. Apart from the obvious, another hazard of this tunnel was (and probably is) drifting rubbish - it floats down from the Birmingham suburbs. The boat log records "13:05 Encountered worst of several obstructions in West Hill Tunnel".
©Robin Webster
Dist:0.3km<br/>The tunnel does not have towpaths and must be a daunting prospect for boaters at 2493m(2672yds). Unpowered craft are not permitted.
©John M

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