Except for its branches and a small section at the eastern end, which have been filled in, most of it is still in water, but it is not navigable as a low-level bridge carrying the Black Country New Road spans the entrance.

It was authorised by Act of Parliament in 1768, as a branch to the main line between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, but because there were coal mines at Balls Hill, the branch and the route into Birmingham were built, to tap into the lucrative coal trade.

[2] It was 0.75 miles (1.2 km) in length, and opened in 1826, running from the Wednesbury Canal at Swan Bridge Junction, just to the north of the modern New Swan Lane / Black Country New Road roundabout, in a north easterly direction to a basin and coal mines near Hateley Heath.

It was around 0.5 miles (0.80 km) ling, and tramways linked the terminal basin to the Hall End Colliery.

The existing junction with the turning head for the Balls Hill Branch would have been closed and a new entrance created slightly further to the east.

The Wednesbury Canal arrived at the junction from the south west, and the Ridgeacre headed east.

There was a large gas works on the south bank, while to the north, the Wednesbury Canal entered a wider section, with a short basin to the east and a longer one to the west, flanked by railway sidings.

The wider section and the western basin remain in water, although the junction is beneath the modern roundabout of the Black Country Spine Road.

The next bridge was for the Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Dudley Railway, which has since been re-used for the West Midlands Metro tramway system.

Open in 1890, it was disused in 1904, by which time an electricity generating station had been built on the southern part of the site.

The Oriental Tube Works had been built on the north bank of the next section of the Halford Branch by 1904, and a wharf served the Hall End Brick Works, where the canal turned to the north to pass under Church Lane again, at Church Lane Bridge.

There was a large basin beyond the bridge in 1890, connected by tramways to workings to the east and to Hall End Colliery to the north.