from Birmingham. The Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal, however, was one of the new generation of canals, which rather than winding across the countryside following the contours, used embankments and cuttings to create a more direct route, and tended to group the locks into flights. It was therefore shorter and quicker, with the result that much of the trade which had formerly travelled the from Aldersley to Great Haywood Junction now travelled the short distance between Aldersley and Autherley. The Staffordshire and Worcestershire raised the tolls for this stretch to absurd levels, in an attempt to reduce their losses. In order to resolve the situation, the Birmingham Canal company worked with the Liverpool Junction company, and proposed the Tettenhall and Autherley Canal and Aqueduct. This would have left the Birmingham Canal just above lock 19, crossed the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal just below Aldersley Junction by an aqueduct made of iron, and then dropped down through three locks to join the Liverpool Junction Canal above the stop lock. The plans were drawn up by Dugdale Houghton, a firm of surveyors from Birmingham, but the canal was never constructed, as the Staffordshire and Worcestershire company reduced their tolls rather than lose them altogether. Location Aldersley Junction is on the summit level of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, which is at a height of around above sea level. The pound continues for to the north before reaching Gailey Lock, the first one that starts the descent to Great Haywood Junction. To the south, Compton Lock is away, and starts the descent to Stourbridge. The Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal became part of the Shropshire Union Canal network in 1846. There is a stop lock just after Autherley Junction, which drops the level by just a few inches, and then a level pound of before the first real lock at Wheaton Aston. The Birmingham Canal became part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations, and the first of 21 locks which raise the canal up to the level is located immediately after the junction. See also List of canal junctions in Great Britain Bibliography References Canal junctions in England Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Transport in Wolverhampton Birmingham Canal Navigations Canals in the West Midlands (county) Canals opened in 1772