The arm is now managed by the Canal and River Trust and the basin beyond the site of the pumping station, which was replaced by a new engine house near Brasshouse Lane bridge in 1892, is used for residential moorings.

When the Birmingham Canal was authorised by Act of Parliament in February 1767, the engineer James Brindley had expected to be able to tunnel through a ridge of higher ground near Smethwick.

However, trial borings to assess the nature of the ridge revealed running sand and other material quite unsuitable for tunnelling through, so Brindley recommended that they go over the top of the ridge, with locks at both ends and fire engines to pump the water up to the summit level, because of the lack of local water sources.

[2] Negotiations with Boulton and Watt began in August 1776, and the Spon Lane engine was installed by them and operational by April 1778, pumping reclaimed water back up to the summit level.

[5] The Spon Lane engine also became redundant, and although the company considered moving it to supply the locks at Toll End and Bradley Hall, they sold it to the Dudley Canal.

However, they were faced with the new threat of a railway being built from Birmingham to Liverpool, and engaged Thomas Telford to advise them on improvements that could be made.

He recommended that a new reservoir should be built at Rotton Park to improve the water supply, and that the main line should be improved by a number of deep cuttings, to enable it to follow a straighter route at a lower level than the old main line,[8] as well as sowing the seeds for the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal, to link the network to the River Mersey.

Henry Ford tried to buy it in 1928 for his museum of Physical Science in Detroit, but the company did not want to part with it, and sold him an engine from Ashted.

It is managed by the Canal and River Trust, and the site includes a facilities block, car parking for residents and electric hook-ups for the boats.