Droitwich company noted that the Worcester and Birmingham had often attempted to meddle in the management of the canal. The repeal of a tax on salt in 1822 and 1825 resulted in the company being able to pay 5 per cent dividends from the late 1820s out of revenue, and only a few claims to honour the guarantee were made subsequently. The fortunes of the canal started to decline after 1830, when a source of brine was discovered at Stoke Prior, a village to the north east of Droitwich. Much of this was carried overland to the Worcester and Birmingham, where it was taken northwards, but tolls for its carriage on the River Severn were also negotiated so that the price of the product in Gloucester and Bristol was competitive with that using the Droitwich Canal. The coming of the railways took further trade away, although it particularly affected salt from Stoke Prior, and in order to eliminate the overland carriage of both salt and coal, an Act of Parliament was obtained in 1852 for the construction of the Droitwich Junction Canal, to connect the barge canal to Hanbury Wharf on the Worcester and Birmingham. The company who built it was in theory independent, but the intent was that the Worcester and Birmingham would lease it once it was finished, at a rate which would pay a 5 per cent dividend. They also leased the barge canal from 1853 for 21 years. In order to make it easier to compete with the railways, the locks on the barge canal were lengthened, so that coal could be carried up the River Severn and through both canals without having to be transhipped to shorter boats. This work was completed by mid-1854, and the Junction Canal was opened in late 1854. Built as a narrow canal, suitable for boats which were wide, it was one of the last canals to be built in the Canal Mania era. It was long and included another six locks, the final one of which connected the canal to the River Salwarpe. After on the river, the original sluice through which the barge canal was supplied with water had been converted to a wide lock, which enabled boats from the barge canal to use the river to reach a salt works situated above Chapel Bridge. The Barge Lock was , and had four sets of gates, so that