The canal to Essington also suffered from mixed fortunes. The water supply was never really adequate for the number of locks, and in 1798 Henry Vernon, who owned most of the collieries and who had for a time been chairman of the canal company, was paid to pump water from his mines into the canal. 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. The bill was opposed by both canals, with the Wyrley and Essington arguing that Vernon had become bankrupt in 1789, and that the managment of his collieries had since been entrusted to Hordern, who was the canal company's treasurer. The branch had only ben built on the promise of the coal traffic from Vernon's mines. 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. Attempts to resolve the issues included an agreement to extend the Wyrley branch for towards Wyrley Bank, and to construct a railway to his collieries. The new canal was closed by 1829, but was later reopened and extended. The Essington Branch, which was only long, rose to a height of above ordnance datum. It was the highest point on the Wyrley and Essington, but the branch was the first part of the canal to close, in the 1830s.