The canal junction with a guillotine lock
At Kings Norton Junction two major canals meet beside an unusual stop lock designed to protect water levels.
Kings Norton Junction is where the Worcester & Birmingham Canal meets the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal. The junction became part of a network that linked Birmingham industry with Worcester, the Severn and Stratford.
Canal & River Trust highlights the unusual guillotine lock at the junction. Its purpose was to let each canal preserve its own water level — a practical solution to the financially and politically sensitive problem of one navigation losing water to another.
The Stratford Canal reached Kings Norton early in its construction history, and the Worcester & Birmingham Canal eventually opened throughout in 1815. Today the engineering survives as part of a much quieter leisure landscape.