Earlswood Lakes, along the border between West Midlands county and Warwickshire were constructed in the 1820s as part of the great boom in canal reservoir construction.
This makes Earlswood Lakes, which collect and supply water to the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal, contemporaneous with many of the midlands other great canal reservoirs and reservoir networks such as Knypersley (formed by the construction of the only dam on the 185 mile long course of the River Trent) and the vast Chasewater just north of Walsall.
Earlswood Lakes is composed of a network of three lakes. The lie of the land between Hockley Heath – just south of Earlswood – and Stratford is hilly with 55 locks in total. A lot for a stretch of canal that is around 15 miles long. This is what necessitates the continuous supply of large quantities of water to the reservoir.
Described by the journalist, author and critic Juliet Jacques as one of the few good things about Britain, despite being created by human labour and yet to pass their 200th birthday, Earlswood Lakes are a rightly popular beauty spot. Their handy situation practically beside the railway line between the West Midlands and Stratford-upon-Avon made them a popular daytip destination, alongside the Clent and Lickey Hills to the west, for Birmingham’s workers on their days off.
Nicknamed “The Scarborough of the Midlands” – a title that is hotly in dispute given the tendency of Midlanders to treat anywhere with water like the seaside – Earlswood Lakes became so popular as a place for walking, dinghy sailing, fishing and other activities that in 1935 a dedicated railway station was constructed to grant easy access. Unusually for such halts it still exists to this day. Bearing the name “The Lakes (Warwickshire)” (presumably to enable travellers and railway ticket clerks to distinguish it from a destination in the Cumbrian Lake District…) it is a rare example of a request stop, where you have to ask the guard to alight, and flag down the train driver – as if you were on a bus – to get onboard.
With repairs most recently undertaken in 2021 it looks likely that Earlswood Lakes will continue to be a popular visitor destination for people from Birmingham, Solihull and central Warwickshire for a very long time to come.