It is an accommodation bridge, carrying the lane from Bridgenorth Road over the locks. Botterham bridge is one of 109 bridges built by the time the Staffs and Worcs canal opened. These are sequentially filled or emptied of water allowing the vessel to rise or descend the staircase. It is believed to be an early example of a lock staircase where three lock gates create two lock chambers large enough for a single vessel to enter. A double lock or ‘riser’ was built at Botterham in around 1770 to navigate a rise of just over six metres. Like many of Brindley’s canals, the Staffs and Worcs Canal was narrow and followed the contour of the landscape to avoid cuttings and embankments, requiring a series of 43 locks to navigate the undulating topography. When the canal opened in 1772 it navigated just over 46 miles from Stourport Basins to Great Haywood Junction. Brindley was employed as the principal engineer, assisted by Hugh Henshall, Samuel Simcock and Thomas Dadford. The Parliamentary Act for the Staffs and Worcs Canal was passed on. Proposals for the Staffs and Worcs Canal were put forward by James Perry, a businessman from Wolverhampton and capital was provided by several landowners along the proposed route, headed by Earl Gower. Brindley had made his name as a canal engineer on the Bridgewater Canal (1759-1761) and this encouraged a number of separate investors to implement his vision for a ‘Grand Cross’, a series of canals linking the four main river estuaries: the Mersey, Trent, Thames, and Severn. The Staffordshire and Worcestershire (Staffs and Worcs) Canal was designed by the engineer James Brindley who is widely credited with being a pioneer of the canal age. The C18 saw water travel revolutionised by the creation of an expansive network of canals which linked major centres of commerce and industry. * as part of an attractive group of canal features at Botterham as well as other listed structures along the canal. * as an early example of a lock staircase which was a forerunner to later developments in canal building. * for their survival, illustrative of the great period of canal building during the late C18 * for their association with the engineer James Brindley, who is widely considered to be a pioneer of the canal age. * as a well-constructed and largely unaltered accommodation bridge, lock staircase and circular weir which exemplify the architectural character of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal A canal bridge, two-lock staircase and circular weir c.1770, designed by James Brindley.īotterham bridge and locks and adjacent circular weir, Wombourne are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
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