Both Ends (3) : Stratford-upon-Avon Canal

The Stratford-upon-Avon Canal starts at Kings Norton Junction where it splits off the Worcester & Birmingham Canal.

Just by this junction is the Kings Norton Stop Lock, originally intended to stop water flowing from one canal to another (in the days when canals were owned by rival companies). Its the only guillotine stop lock on the canal network.

The canal then winds on through Warwickshire, meeting the Grand Union Canal at Lapworth before heading south to finally end up at Stratford-upon-Avon. The canal has a junction with the river Avon, in the original plans for the canal it was intended for the canal to stop short of the river (about where the railway station is now) but wiser heads prevailed.