Monday 18 March (Indoor Meeting, 7.00 for 7.30 start): AGM followed by 'Rock along the Cut'. Speaker: Andrew Jenkinson. The canal system in Birmingham and the Black Country was included in William Smith's first geological map of England & Wales in 1815, because at the time, canals had been developed to a greater extent than the road and rail networks. Canals in B&BC were developed to better exploit products from the earth such as iron ore, coal and limestone, based on geological knowledge. Canals enabled these products to be moved more easily from one place to another.