3. c. 25) received royal assent on 28 March 1794, entitled "An Act for extending the Wyrley and Essington Canal" – this authorised a long extension, from Sneyd (thus making the line from Sneyd to Wyrley Bank effectively a branch) past Lichfield to Huddlesford Junction on the Coventry Canal, together with the raising of up to £115,000 (equivalent to £15.3 million in 2023),[8] to complete construction.

[10] The Lichfield branch would create a new and shorter route for coal traffic from Tipton bound for the Trent and Mersey Canal, and because this would take traffic away from the Birmingham Canal, passage of the bill through Parliament was smoothed out by allowing them to charge a compensation toll of 3 pence (3/240 of a pound) per ton on coal passing through Wolverhampton which was bound for Fazeley via the new route.

[11] The Lichfield route through to Huddlesford Junction was opened on 8 May 1797,[12] but the company faced financial difficulties, partly caused by shareholders failing to honour the calls on their shares.

[12][15] In one sense, the Wyrley and Essington Canal was built ahead of its time, as it ran through rural countryside, and its full potential was only realised with the opening of the Cannock Chase coalfield, towards the end of the nineteenth century.

[16] The Daw End Branch ran from Catshill Junction to limestone quarries and limeworks at Hay Head.

Boats only travelled as far as Daw End wharf at that time, but by 1822 they had reopened, as they were advertised as supplying the ingredients for Brindley's British Cement.

He then laid a bill before Parliament for a railway, to run from his collieries to the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal at Little Sandon, which would enable him to stop using the Essington Branch.

Disagreement carried on for years, and the canal company proposed to open proceedings against him in 1812 and 1813, to recover money that he still owed them.

There was more pressure for a link at Walsall from a group of industrialists in 1829, which resulted in the Wyrley and Essington proposing amalgamation.

In 1838, the Walsall contingent suggested the Birmingham company could build the link, and the Wyrley and Essington could supply the water.

Still the Birmingham company were not interested, and so the Wyrley and Essington decided to submit a bill to Parliament to build the link themselves.

[23] The extensions of the 1840s had proved to be a success, and in 1854 the BCN, now under the control of the London and North Western Railway (LNWR), obtained an act of Parliament to authorise further works, three of which affected the Wyrley and Essington.

Purchase of the land for the link was jointly funded by the two companies, but the construction of the flight of 13 locks was paid for by the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal.

Water supply for the Wyrley and Essington came from the Cannock reservoir, and was fed into the canal by a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) feeder.

In the early 1860s, the Marquess of Anglesey was opening new coal mines close to the reservoir, and the feeder was widened to make it navigable, to tap into this new market.

[26] Heavy coal traffic used the Cannock Extension Canal for its entire life, although subsidence caused by the mining was a regular problem.

In an effort to combat the effects of a section of canal sinking, the BCN erected a number of safety gates.

The Daw End Branch from Catshill Junction to limestone quarries and limeworks at Hay Head was also opened in 1800, some 5.4 miles (8.7 kilometres) long with no locks.

Surrounded now by Hay Head Woods, it is still partially watered, and the area has been declared a Site of Important Nature Conservation (SINC).

In July 1960, mining subsidence resulted in the canal bed dropping by 21 ft (6.4 m), and although the banks were rebuilt, commercial traffic stopped in 1961.

The Churchbridge flight of locks and most of the route north of the A5 have since been destroyed, as a result of opencast mining.

Since the closure of the Ogley Locks section through Lichfield, the basin is the most northerly point on the Birmingham Canal Navigations to which it is possible to travel by boat.

[39] Part of the Lord Hayes branch could be restored, as it has been identified as a suitable terminus for the reinstated Hatherton Canal in a feasibility study carried out by W S Atkins.

Previously a route to reconnect the Hatherton Canal to Grove Basin on the Cannock Extension Canal had been favoured, but met with opposition from landowners and on environmental grounds,[40] whereas the Lord Hayes route satisfies the environmental concerns, is preferable to landowners, and would reduce the number of new road bridges needed.