The northern section was the setting for a high-profile campaign by the fledgling Inland Waterways Association in 1947, involving the right of navigation under Tunnel Lane bridge, which required the Great Western Railway to jack it up in order to allow boats to pass.

The southern section was managed by the National Trust from 1959, and restored by David Hutchings and the Stratford Canal Society between 1961 and 1964, after an attempt to close it was thwarted.

The easy cruising is interrupted by the Wilmcote flight of eleven locks in just over a mile (1.6 km), soon after which the canal reaches Stratford-upon-Avon.

270 yards (250 m) further south is the electrically operated Shirley Draw Bridge which carries Drawbridge Road over the canal.

On the southern section interesting features of the canal include the unique barrel-roofed lock keeper's cottages to be found south of Kingswood Junction.

All but two have been swamped by large modern extensions, but those at locks 28 and 31 are still in something like their original state, neither of them have either electricity supply or mains water.

This cast iron aqueduct was built in 1834 to replace the original wooden structure which was washed away when the stream flooded that year.

[8] The route would take it close to Warwick and Birmingham Canal at Lapworth, but the act did not include any provision for a direct connection with it, or with the River Avon at Stratford.

[9] Josiah Clowes was employed as the engineer, and construction began in November 1793, starting at the Kings Norton end.

He died in December of the following year,[10] but work continued until the main line reached Hockley Heath in May 1796, one mile (1.6 km) short of the first lock at Lapworth.

on 21 June 1799, which allowed it to raise more money, and included a diversion of the route further to the east near Lapworth, so that the length of the connecting link to the Warwick and Birmingham was only about 200 yards (180 m).

[11] The southern section of the canal never realised James' ambitions, as the Upper Avon was too tortuous and prone to floods to be a reliable through route.

[12] Traffic steadily built up, although tolls were low, to offset the costs imposed on goods passing through Kingswood Junction to the Warwick and Birmingham Canal.

[11] In 1845, the company agreed to sell the canal to the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway, who were also keen to purchase the Stratford and Moreton Tramway.

Despite difficulties with the state of the canal, and the fact that the accompanying boat provided by the GWR got stuck, the bridge was reached.

[4] Robert Aickman, another of the founders of the IWA, had organised press coverage, and the story was reported in the national newspapers.

A horse-drawn ice breaker was used to create a channel through the weed on this occasion,[4] and the following year, Peter Scott asked for the bridge to be lifted.

Warwickshire County Council sought to obtain legal abandonment of the canal in 1958, as they wished to replace bridge 59 at Wilmcote without the expense of providing navigable headroom.

Although the Transport Commission made a contribution towards the cost,[15] the National Trust raised most of the £42,000 required to put it back into good order.

Ten years after the re-opening, the Queen Mother performed the same ceremony for the Upper Avon Navigation, which had been derelict for more than a century, and the canal became part of a through route to the River Severn once more.

[17] In 1986, the National Trust indicated that they would like to hand control of the canal back to the British Waterways Board, and held discussions on 7 October 1986.