Trev's travails: Dudley Canal Tunnel

After a weekend in Birmingham, where we saw an excellent production of "The Lion King" we wended our way home via the Dudley Canal - well, why not? And we were glad we did.

The Dudley Canal Trust is one of the oldest Canal Societies. Although it wasn’t the first canal restoration to be started, the Dudley Canal was the first to be completed - in 1973.

The Dudley Canal, as its name suggests, is a canal passing though Dudley in the West Midlands. The canal forms part of the popular Stourport Ring narrowboat cruising route.

The first short section, which connected to the Stourbridge Canal, opened in 1779, and this was connected through the Dudley Tunnel to the Birmingham Canal system in 1792.

Almost immediately, work started on an extension, called Line No. 2, which ran through another long tunnel at Lapal, to reach the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. This was completed in 1798, but significant trade had to wait until the Worcester and Birmingham was completed in 1802.

Dudley Tunnel is the second longest navigable canal tunnel in UK.

Most of the canal was abandoned in the 1960s, but a committee was formed, which became the Dudley Canal Trust, and restoration took place, culminating in the reopening of Dudley Tunnel in 1973.

The Dudley Canal was seen as part of a scheme to transport coal from coalfields near Dudley to Stourbridge, where it would be used for industry. Limestone and ironstone were other cargoes. Dudley Tunnel was also popular with tourists, and was mentioned in guides to Dudley Castle written by The Rev. Luke Booker in 1825 and W. Harris is 1845.

The limestone beds lay beneath Castle Hill and Wren's Nest Hill. These beds were extensively mined in the 18th and 19th centuries. The vast underground workings had lain undisturbed for about a century when it was realised that significant parts of the mines were becoming unstable.

It was decided that the mines should be infilled but the Canal Trust suggested to the local Council that some parts of the mines were still safe and that these safe parts should be preserved.

This in time led to the present day where parts of the mines can be visited by boat from the Canal Tunnel. There are plans to eventually link the neighbouring Black Country Living Museum and nearby Dudley Zoo, making use of the canal basin and a light railway (to be constructed).