The Ariel Aqueduct was built alongside a railway viaduct on the Cross City Line in Selly Oak when the Selly Oak Bypass was built, which opened in 2011. It carries the Worcester & Birmingham Canal. The towpath is suitable for walking, cycling and taking your dog for a walk, as well as going for a run. You can also see trains going past. Below is the Aston Webb Boulevard.

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The Ariel Aqueduct on the Worcester & Birmingham Canal in Selly Oak


The Ariel Aqueduct on the Worcester & Birmingham Canal in Selly Oak


The Ariel Aqueduct was built alongside a railway viaduct on the Cross City Line in Selly Oak when the Selly Oak Bypass was built, which opened in 2011. It carries the Worcester & Birmingham Canal. The towpath is suitable for walking, cycling and taking your dog for a walk, as well as going for a run. You can also see trains going past. Below is the Aston Webb Boulevard.


Ariel Aqueduct

When the Selly Oak Bypass (later to be named as the Aston Webb Boulevard) was built in Selly Oak during 2010 to 2011, it meant that an aqueduct had to built on the Worcester & Birmingham Canal, as well as a railway viaduct on the Cross City Line. The nearby wasteland used to be where the Battery Works used to be. With the completion of the first phase of the bypass, it meant that the University of Birmingham could build new student accommodation nearby to the aqueduct. Further up the bypass, the land had to be decontaminated, as there used to be a landfill there. Eventually the Selly Oak Shopping Park and a student accommodation block was opened in late 2018. And the rest of the land (still to be built on) will be for the Life Sciences Park of the University of Birmingham. Meanwhile since Sainsbury's moved to the new shopping park, it meant that work could start on extending the bypass to Selly Oak Triangle (started in 2019 but is not yet complete).

I used to be able to get onto the Worcester & Birmingham Canal down a road off the Bristol Road near a car showroom. But there is now new steps closed to the Unite student accommodation (as well as a shortcut to Sainsbury's and the new shopping park). Then walk as far as the University of Birmingham before getting off the canal.

 

View below of the Ariel Aqueduct from the Aston Webb Boulevard (Selly Oak Bypass) during September 2012. Leading towards Queen Elizabeth Island and New Fosse Way. The new Birmingham Super Hospital opened in 2010, so these new roads helped give access to it (the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham).

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The views of the Ariel Aqueduct taken during February 2013. This was during a walk along the canal from Selly Oak to the University of Birmingham.

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The towpath turns slightly to the right as you head onto the aqueduct.

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Saw a man in green running past me. Best to stop and let them pass you.

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From here you can see the railway viaduct on the right. If you are lucky you could see some trains passing by!

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Some nice reflections from the railings. You can only get to the other side in a narrowboat.

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In January 2014, could see the completed Victoria Hall from the Ariel Aqueduct next to Old Joe.

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Within a few years of the completion of the bypass several student accommodation blocks got built down there.

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Jarratt Hall is seen to the right of the aqueduct.

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The view of the bypass. The University of Birmingham is on the left. The Bournbrook area of Selly Oak is on the right.

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The view below taken during August 2017. It always feels weird walking over the aqueduct. It's so high up above the bypass.

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In this February 2019 view, I caught a view of the Ariel Aqueduct from a train passing over the railway viaduct.

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In August 2019 on another walk over the Ariel Aqueduct, saw a cyclist going past me. The grass and trees more grown by this point.

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Went over it again during January 2020. This time a cyclist in orange was coming towards me.

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From the other side, caught a Class 323 West Midlands Railway train passing over that railway bridge. Touch Base Pears seen behind.

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For another post on aqueducts in the West Midlands region go to this post on the Wootton Wawen & Edstone Aqueducts on the Stratford-on-Avon Canal in Warwickshire.

 

Photos taken by Elliott Brown.

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