During the 17th century, shallow mine workings began to develop in the area and in 1759 a turnpike was erected in the Catshill area. A local legend claims that Dick Turpin once vaulted the barricade on his horse to avoid paying the toll, although this is demonstrably false as Turpin was executed in 1739, twenty years before the turnpike's construction. In 1794 Brownhills (now in the plural) was included in a list of local settlements mentioned in an Act of Parliament concerning canals in Staffordshire, and three years later the Wyrley & Essington Canal, nicknamed the "Curly Wyrley" by the locals due to its winding course, was opened. In 1799 Norton Pool, later to be renamed Chasewater, was created to serve as a reservoir for the canals.