Distance: 4.9 miles

Difficulty of the terrain: medium

Get the route via: Ordnance Survey Maps or download the gpx. from Dropbox

Varied urban, suburban walk from Birmingham city centre to the ruins of Weoley Castle near the city’s south western edge. Along the Birmingham and Worcester Canal towpath and the route of the infamous Lost Lapal Canal.

The Story

The Walk

Getting Back

Suburban South Birmingham’s Castle

Situated in south west Birmingham, Weoley Castle gives its name to the eponymous suburb surrounding it. These days the substantial ruins of the little castle’s base sit quietly, a little way back from the road, behind high fences, in a green but highly quotidian location.

The castle structure visible today dates from around 1270 when it was constructed as a hunting lodge for the lords of Dudley who historically owned the Weoley Castle area. An archeological dig in the early 1960s revealed that the sandstone ruins are merely the second structure on the site, a large wooden lodge having been constructed there earlier in the 13th Century.

During the middle ages Weoley Castle sat at the heart of a hunting park consisting of at least 1,000 acres that stretched at least as far east as the modern Birmingham suburb of Selly Oak. The castle’s moat, parts of which remain visible, was originally fed by the nearby Bourn Brook.

No record survives of when Weoley Castle fell out of use, but it is known to have been derelict by the 17th Century when it was described in one account as “a ruin”. During the 18th Century a farmhouse was built adjacent to the castle structure, which likely used some of the derelict building’s stone.

During the 1790s the Dudley Canal, whose southern stretch passing the site is now long disused, was built very close to the Weoley Castle site. It is thought that spoil from the excavation of the canal’s cut was dumped in the moat and that further stone was taken to construct parts of the waterway. The canal was heavily promoted by the then Earls of Dudley who as local landowners had extensive coal mining interests in the Black Country. Their 19th Century rural retreat – built off the back of coal miner’s labour – was Witley Court in Worcestershire which is now also a ruin.

The area which is now Weoley Castle remained sparsely populated until after the First World War when Birmingham City Council purchased the land to construct a council estate. It was very much the case that the remnants of the castle came with the land on which the city council was to construct the new houses. This was the point at which the castle’s ruins entered the care of the city of Birmingham. Which was not unusual during the period, many historic sites entered the management of local authorities in these years through similar transactions. On the eastern side of Birmingham, Blakesley Hall in Yardley entered the ownership of the city council at around the same time, part of a turn in the early 20th Century towards creating community museums to celebrate narratives about the city’s past and educate residents in them.

Informed rumor has it that in the early years of the Weoley Castle estate numerous pieces of masonry from the ruin were surreptitiously taken away to construct rock gardens in the little patches of private greenspace they obtained with their new homes. The Weoley Castle remains became a scheduled ancient monument in 1934. Since then the site has been secured and maintained, but its fortunes have fluctuated, at times the city council and museums service have been able to care for it, at others when resources have been tighter the remains have been more neglected.

These days the site is well secured, while being visible from the road and a viewing point which is open the entire time. A community centre constructed with a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant stands near the site. The challenge these days is a lack of staff to open the site, or even to manage volunteers, due to Birmingham Museums Trust being strapped for cash. This means that while the site is secure and visible to the public, it is relatively seldom open, though where possible the Museums Trust and partners in and around the Weoley Castle community, do try and open up the site as often as they are able throughout the year.

The Walk

Get the route: via Ordnance Survey Maps or download the gpx. from Dropbox

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This walk from central Birmingham to the ruins of Weoley Castle in the city’s southwestern suburbs begins from New Street Station’s Stephenson Street exit opposite the West Midlands Metro stop.

Having reached New Street’s Stephenson Street exit, turn left.

Walk along Stephenson Street heading for the A38 and the Mailbox shopping centre. This is near where Cadbury’s first city centre factory was prior to their move south to Bournville in 1879.

Upon reaching a raised section of the A38 keep walking straight ahead beneath the road.

On the far side of the road turn left walking towards the entrance of the Mailbox.

Climb the steps and enter the shopping centre.

Head of the Mailbox’s escalators, walking straight through the shopping centre.

At the back of the shopping centre you come out onto a terrace.

Here head left and follow the terrace around passing a series of bars and restaurants.

On the far side of the terrace beside the Cube tower block, turn right and head across a foot bridge spanning the Worcester and Birmingham Canal.

Upon reaching the base of the ramp of the bridge turn right, and double back upon yourself walking along the towpath to opposite the basin where the Cube and the back of the Mailbox stands.

The foundations and frame of what is now the Mailbox was constructed as Birmingham’s central Royal Mail sorting office in the early 1970s. The facility was operational for less than 30 years, shutting in 1998 to be transformed into the complex of flats, shops, restaurants, bars, hotels and offices which stands to this day. Prior to the Royal Mail sorting office being constructed the site was a railway goods station on the edge of the city centre which was intermodal, long before that was a term, with the canal network. Indeed – as Worcester Wharf – the depot had originally been constructed solely to serve the canal network. Canals ran deep into the city centre during the 19th Century. Today only the basin around which the back of the Mailbox sits is the sole remnant of this era of the site’s history.

Once opposite the Cube and the basin turn right. Begin walking along the canal towpath heading south towards Bournville. You stay on the canal pretty much all the way.

The stretch of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal heading south from Gas Street Basin in the city centre where the waterway begins and intersects with the Birmingham Canal Navigation heading north, was the first bit to be constructed in the 1790s.

You follow the waterway running close to the Cross-City Line south out through Five Ways. Then out into leafy Edgbaston.

Approaching the edge of the University of Birmingham’s extensive grounds which are bounded to the west by the canal you pass through the Edgbaston Tunnel which is pretty short, just 96 metres long.

Initial work to turn the towpath into a walking and cycling route linking south Birmingham with the city centre was conducted in the early 1990s around the time of the . The route was then steadily upgraded and eventually completely hard surfaced in the 2010s. It was then that the previously narrow, uneven footway through the tunnel was extensively widened.

A little way beyond the Edgbaston Tunnel you pass a canal winding hole just after a footbridge adjacent to the Vale site, where the majority of the University of Birmingham’s own student halls are located.

Now walking adjacent to the University’s Edgbaston campus you walk through a twisting wooded section of canal.

Before passing underneath a bridge on to a long straight section very close to the Cross-City Railway Line.

Beyond a further bridge you pass the campus of the University of Birmingham approaching the recently remodelled University Station which also serves the University Hospitals Birmingham complex on top of Metchley Ridge to your right.

Passing University Station you approach the edge of the University of Birmingham’s land heading for Selly Oak.

Soon you cross the Ariel Aqueduct (named for a historic bike manufacturer based in Bournbrook) which was constructed in 2011 for the new section of the A38 (called the Aston Webb Boulevard after the architect of the University of Birmingham’s bizarre byzantine looking early 20th Century hilltop precinct) entering Selly Oak.

Historically the Bourn Brook which runs through a culvert beneath the canal embankment was the boundary between Warwickshire and Worcestershire. Putting Selly Oak and every south of it that is now Birmingham, in a different county from the city’s historic core where you began the walk.

You approach the recently built retail park with a large Sainsbury’s and a towering, rather bleak stack of student bedrooms, which was until the late 1980s the site of the notorious Birmingham Battery works. It was from the wharf, recently re-cut by the redoubtable Lapal Canal Trust, that the ill fated southern section of the Dudley No. 2 Canal headed north and west towards the Black Country. A route now long lost, and unnavigable in its entirety since 1917 when the troublesome Lapal Tunnel beneath what is now Woodgate Valley Park closed for good.

On your right just after the student tower block you see a covered underground walkway, this slightly unforbidding portal takes you underneath the loading bay and stock room of the giant Sainsbury’s.

As you walk through the walkway you’ll see a tall, sturdy, slatted fence on your left hand side. If you peer through into the murk beyond you’ll see a culvert full of stagnant water. This, believe it or not, is your first sight of the Dudley No. 2 Canal. The Lapal Canal and Tunnel Trust, an enthusiastic, dedicated and very well organised lobbying group who are campaigning for the disused southern section of the Dudley Canal No. 2 Canal to be reopened. When the retail park you are walking through gained planning permission in the early 2010s the Lapal Trust secured a commitment the line of the old canal would be preserved and partially restored so as to readily enable the anticipated reopening. The concrete culvert running under Sainsbury’s is the first part of that.

Leaving the covered walkway head across the retail park’s car park. This can be quite dangerous, especially at busy times such as weekends, so take care as you do so. One way to avoid the worst of the traffic is to follow the yellow clay and gravel path along the retail park’s perimeter fence, this marks the preserved canal, so by doing so you’re also adhering closely to the route.

At the top of the retail park there is a Sainsbury’s branded petrol station. Here you can either continue along the yellow clay and gravel path and then scramble up a short but steep bank onto Harborne Lane or you can walk around the petrol station on the pavement. When crossing the car park you will have noticed that there is a low road bridge over a culvert blocked off by a metal grill. This is part of the old canal line and the bridge was put in by the council in the late 2000s to enable the canal to be potentially restored and run under the road causing minimal disruption one day. Once on this bridge look to cross Harborne Lane and head in the direction of Selly Oak Park immediately opposite, this can be achieved by means of some traffic lights slightly further down, if you don’t fancy waiting for a gap in the traffic to cross the busy roadway.

Once on the side of the road by the park you’ll see a single story building with the Scouting Associate logo. Walk into the park and across the small tarmacked carpark in front of the scout hut. From here you’ll see a wooden fence and some tall grasses just by the side of the scout hut. This is the start of a short section of semi-restored canal. The wooden fence exists to stop people falling into the water at the bottom of the canal ditch (or “cut” to use the traditional West Midlands term). 

Walking along besides the partly restored cut you’ll see quite a fine, rather weathered red brick bridge in front of you. This is one of the surviving canal bridges on this section, today it forms a means of accessing Selly Oak Park from Harborne Lane, but you can walk under it and take a look before continuing on your way.

The Semi-restoration peters out shortly after the bridge, but the outline of the cut remains clear running along the bottom of the park. There is a clear path running along the side of the overgrown ditch enabling you to easily follow it for several minutes as you cross the park.

At the end of the park the old cut peters out, but there is a wide, very clearly worn path which you can follow through the overhanging trees. This is situated to your right at the bottom of the park.

 At this point you are walking on what used to be the canal. Today – whilst it is a public footpath maintained by Birmingham City Council – it is a bit of a no-man’s land between the back gardens of the inter-war semis lining the route. There are very few signs in this section that this was ever a canal, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a bit of leftover land when the houses were built, but in fact when the houses in this part of Selly Oak were constructed 80-90 years ago the canal was at least notionally still operational so nobody could build there.

For about the next mile or so, the route continues in much the same vein. There are several points along the route where the path curves dramatically or branches. These instances always remain on the larger path.

Emerging beside a strip of grass forming the base of a cul-de-sac turn left towards a main road.

Upon reaching the main road turn right.

Walk along this road past a row of bungalows for a little distance.

Soon you reach the remains of Weoley Castle which stand on your right. There is a path running to the right towards the viewing point for the ruins.

This is where the walk ends.

Getting Back

From the stop beside the Castle’s ruins the 76 bus (at the time of writing in January 2025) runs half hourly on weekdays and Saturdays, and hourly on Sundays, between Northfield town centre and Solihull town centre, via Selly Oak, Kings Heath and Shirley. At Northfield it is a relatively short walk to the town’s station on the Cross City Line with trains north to central Birmingham and beyond to Sutton Coldfield and Lichfield. There are also buses from there to the city centre. At Selly Oak there are also numerous bus options back to the city centre, a Cross City Line railway station, and connections to the number 11 Outer Circle (which also goes through Kings Heath).