Data from a Building Survey at Digbeth Canal Wall, Birmingham, West Midlands, 2020 (HS2 Phase One)
Oxford Archaeology Ltd, COPA: Cotswold Oxford Pre-Construct Archaeology, High Speed Two Ltd., 2025. https://doi.org/10.5284/1129155. How to cite using this DOI
- HS2 Phase One: London to West Midlands Historic Environment Digital Archive
- Curated Collection: A Digital Archive of Britain's Railway History
Data copyright © High Speed Two Ltd. unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under a The Open Government Licence (OGL).
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Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 5631
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1129155
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
Project Summary
This collection comprises reports, spreadsheets, GIS, and image data from a building survey at the Digbeth Canal Wall, Birmingham, West Midlands, conducted between August and October 2020 as part of HS2 Phase One. Commissioned by LM-JV, COPA (Cotswold Oxford Pre-Construct Archaeology) carried out historic building and setting recording prior to the partial demolition of a section of the retaining wall to accommodate enabling works for HS2 in the Birmingham area. The surveyed section lies south of Curzon Street and north of a Grade II listed former railway bridge built in 1837–8. The work was conducted in accordance with the Location Specific Written Scheme of Investigation and the Project Plan.
Re-Use Value Statement
The growth of the transport network of canals and railways was of huge importance to the development of Birmingham, particularly from the mid-18th century to the mid-20th century and caused dramatic changes to the urban landscape. The current recording has helped investigate the development of the transport network and the link with wider urbanisation, thereby contributing to the KC43 HERDS objective.
The Site provides evidence of the relationship between the canals and railways in the 19th century with goods or materials being transferred between the two. The evolution of the wall, illustrated by the patchwork nature of its brickwork particularly reflects the development of the adjacent site by the railway. The original canal would have had no more than low brick walls to each side (perhaps in places not even this) and one section survives from this phase. The southern end of the wall was then raised in the 1830s, when the railway was originally constructed, as part of the new bridge. The rest of the wall was gradually constructed during the mid and later 19th century in relation to the development of the railway site. This included the construction of a covered transhipment shed over the basin and then the construction of a pumping station close to the northern end of the wall. Identification of these phases in the wall helps contribute to HERDS objective KC43.
Another important aspect of the Digbeth Branch Canal which the work has highlighted is the fact that the canals in this area continued in use and remained of importance in transporting goods well into the 20th century. The Warwick Bar Conservation Area contains many canal-side works from the mid-19th to the 20th century and the canal continued to see investment long after the establishment of the railway network and after the hey-day of the canal. The retaining wall helps illustrate this as part of the overall history of the canal and it therefore contributes to KC43.
