Titford Canal
The Titford Canal is a small, 7-foot-wide canal in Oldbury, part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations in the West Midlands, England. It was authorised in 1768 and built in 1836–37, opening in 1837. The canal runs from Titford Pool, a reservoir created in the 1770s, to the BCN Old Main Line at Oldbury Junction under the M5 motorway.
Beyond Titford Pool, the line continued as the Portway Branch, which was abandoned in 1954 and served coal mines in the Titford Valley. A second branch, the Causeway Green Branch, opened in 1858 and was partly abandoned in 1954 and 1960.
Titford Pool sits at about 511 feet above sea level and was one of the original water sources for the Smethwick Summit Level, later called the Old Main Line. It is the highest navigable point of the Midlands on the BCN.
The canal was made navigable in 1837 with six locks near the pool, known as The Crow, which use single lower gates to reduce leakage. The Titford Locks later fell into disrepair but were restored in 1973–74. Between the pool and the locks is Langley Maltings, a Grade II listed building that was used for malting beer and was damaged by fire.
At the top lock is the Titford Engine House, built to pump water back up the locks and later to supply the feeder; today it houses the Birmingham Canal Navigations Society. Also at the top lock is the junction with the Tat Bank Branch (Spon Lane Branch). This branch is no longer navigable and now acts as a feeder to Edgbeston Reservoir, with no towpath access. The Titford Pool, the Tat Bank Branch, and the top section of the canal mark the highest point of the BCN and are reachable from Engine Street.
The Inland Waterways Association held national festivals at Titford in 1978 and 1982.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 11:09 (CET).