48342
Dudley Canal Line No 1 as it passes by the Black country Living Museum, in Dudley, West Midlands
It was created 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 potential cargos.
A meeting was held in Stourbridge in February 1775 at which Robert Whitworth was commissioned to survey a route and the whole cost of the project was promised. The principal promoter was Lord Dudley and the route ran from Dudley to Stourton on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire. A bill was placed before Parliament in the spring but there was opposition from the Birmingham Canal Company and the promoters withdrew it.
They then presented separate bills for the Stourbridge Canal and the Dudley Canal, both of which became Acts of Parliament on 2 April 1776 despite further opposition from the Birmingham Canal Company.
The first short section, which connected to the Stourbridge Canal, opened in 1779. This was then connected to the Birmingham Canal system in 1792 via Dudley Tunnel.
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.
In 1846, the company amalgamated with the Birmingham Canal Navigations and various improvements followed including the Netherton Tunnel. This was of a similar length to and parallel to the Dudley Tunnel but it was much bigger with towpaths on both sides and gas lighting. It was the last canal tunnel built in England.
Subsidence from coal mining was a significant problem for much of the life of the canal. The Lapal Tunnel was regularly affected and a section near Blackbrook Junction fell into mine workings in 1894. The route was restored but the short Two Locks Line nearby was abandoned in 1909 and the Lapal Tunnel suffered the same fate in 1917.
Most of rest of the canal was abandoned in the 1960s but a committee was formed, later becoming the Dudley Canal Trust, and restoration took place culminating in the reopening of Dudley Tunnel in 1973. Lapal Tunnel remains closed and although the Lapal Canal Trust originally campaigned for it to be reopened, they have modified their plans to include a surface route following the conclusion of an engineering study.
Information Source:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudley_Canal
48342
Dudley Canal Line No 1 as it passes by the Black country Living Museum, in Dudley, West Midlands
It was created 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 potential cargos.
A meeting was held in Stourbridge in February 1775 at which Robert Whitworth was commissioned to survey a route and the whole cost of the project was promised. The principal promoter was Lord Dudley and the route ran from Dudley to Stourton on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire. A bill was placed before Parliament in the spring but there was opposition from the Birmingham Canal Company and the promoters withdrew it.
They then presented separate bills for the Stourbridge Canal and the Dudley Canal, both of which became Acts of Parliament on 2 April 1776 despite further opposition from the Birmingham Canal Company.
The first short section, which connected to the Stourbridge Canal, opened in 1779. This was then connected to the Birmingham Canal system in 1792 via Dudley Tunnel.
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.
In 1846, the company amalgamated with the Birmingham Canal Navigations and various improvements followed including the Netherton Tunnel. This was of a similar length to and parallel to the Dudley Tunnel but it was much bigger with towpaths on both sides and gas lighting. It was the last canal tunnel built in England.
Subsidence from coal mining was a significant problem for much of the life of the canal. The Lapal Tunnel was regularly affected and a section near Blackbrook Junction fell into mine workings in 1894. The route was restored but the short Two Locks Line nearby was abandoned in 1909 and the Lapal Tunnel suffered the same fate in 1917.
Most of rest of the canal was abandoned in the 1960s but a committee was formed, later becoming the Dudley Canal Trust, and restoration took place culminating in the reopening of Dudley Tunnel in 1973. Lapal Tunnel remains closed and although the Lapal Canal Trust originally campaigned for it to be reopened, they have modified their plans to include a surface route following the conclusion of an engineering study.
Information Source:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudley_Canal