Hay Basin, Wolverhampton


I have heard from Annette Grant that there are plans to reopen and
restore Hay Basin, Wolverhampton. The basin was located at the top
of the Wolverhampton flight, in the grassed area on the left hand
side of the canal looking from the top lock towards Broad Street.
Originally known as Albert Basin, it was one of the first
railway/canal interchange basins to be opened on the BCN, being built
by the Company for the Shrewsbury & Birmingham Railway in 1850-51.
It was later used by the LNWR. By the 1930s the basin had finished
as a trading wharf and was a backwater where boats would moor while
waiting to load. Gradually silting up it became too shallow to use.
In the first half of the 1970s the entrance bridge was removed and
over a couple of years the basin and its surroundings were built up
with earth removed from the ring road works and the whole area
landscaped.


British Waterways and Wolverhampton Borough Council are considering
restoring the basin to make more moorings in Wolverhampton. This
would be an excellent idea, as there is currently a lack of good
moorings in the city, and one which we should support.


According to Annette, groundwork investigations are to be carried out
in the next few days. Does anyone have detailed information about
exactly when the Basin was filled in and with what material ?


Phil Clayton, Chairman. BCNSociety.