Description:Campaigning for Canals in Kings Norton
Frank Lockwood’s pencil drawing The Junction, Kings Norton shows the toll house in 1958, <a href="http://www.search.suburbanbirmingham.org.uk/engine/resource/default.asp?resource=1828">where the Worcester and Stratford canals join</a>. This tranquil scene reflects a locality in transition, the cargo boats having gone but leisure craft not yet being plentiful.<small><sup>1</sup></small> Lockwood was a commercial artist at Cadbury and he knew Kings Norton, drawing local landmarks for pleasure (see <a href="http://www.search.suburbanbirmingham.org.uk/engine/resource/default.asp?resource=1848">Lifford Lane Railway Bridge</a>, and <a href="http://www.search.suburbanbirmingham.org.uk/engine/resource/default.asp?resource=1850">Fair at the Lickey Hills</a>). It is likely that he was familiar with the work of the Inland Waterways Association (IWA), whose ‘bridge busting’ exploits aimed at highlighting the neglect of canals occurred just yards from this location from 1947 onwards.<small><sup>2</sup></small> By the time Lockwood recorded this scene, a stream of campaigners including early environmentalists were familiar with this junction, as was a future prime minister.<small><sup>3</sup></small>
Formed in 1946, the IWA campaigned for the preservation and enhancement of Britain’s canal system. An early priority was to ensure complete navigation on the Stratford canal, whose northern section between Kingswood and Kings Norton was particularly poor. A major problem was the Lifford Lane Bridge, almost adjacent to the toll house. Until 1946 this had been a lift bridge (characteristic of the Stratford Canal), that avoided the need for embanked road approaches. It was replaced by a fixed bridge set at the existing road level; thereby reflecting the changed priorities between road and canal traffic. Boats could no longer transit between the two canals and ‘The Stratford’ was cut off from its major traffic destination of Birmingham. The fixed bridge frustrated working crews and bargees alike.
In principle, the bridge would be lifted with 24 hours’ notice and the IWA decided to test this. A series of ‘campaigning cruises’ commenced in 1947 and these highlighted the appalling condition of the canal and the impracticality of manually ‘jacking up’ a bridge for navigation.<small><sup>4</sup></small> Public interest was captured and maintained. Sir Peter Scott led a notable cruise in 1949, when he forced the British Transport Commission to raise the bridge for his boat Beatrice. Having just been fitted out in Birmingham as floating accommodation for ornithologists, Scott took Beatrice by the most direct route to Slimbridge wildfowl reserve despite official resistance.
After much lobbying and direct action, the bridge busters’ case was accepted and a fixed, but arched bridge was eventually installed to accommodate both road and canal traffic. Whilst this was too late for cargo carriers, it facilitated Kings Norton’s promotion as a major hub on the ‘Avon Ring’ leisure circuit and a more general recognition of canals as recreational resources. Frank Lockwood availed himself of this aspect of canals to indulge his passion for art in August 1958.
<font color="#666633"><small><sup>1</sup> For details of these canals, see C. Hadfield, The Canals of the West Midlands, (1966, reprinted 1977)
<sup>2</sup> For details of the IWA, see D. Bolton, Race against Time: How Britain's Waterways were Saved (1990)
<sup>3</sup> James Callaghan was constantly lobbied whilst Parliamentary Secretary for Transport. See Bolton, p.90
<sup>4</sup> Bolton, pp.33-5, 60-61</small></font>