Dudley Canal

The Dudley Canal is a canal passing through Dudley in the West Midlands of England. The canal is part of the English and Welsh network of connected navigable inland waterways and forms part of the popular Stourport Ring narrowboat cruising route.

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.

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 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, the Stourbridge Canal Act 1776 (16 Geo. 3. c. 28) and the Dudley Canal Act 1776 (16 Geo. 3. c. 66). They passed despite further opposition from the Birmingham Canal Company. The junction between the Dudley canal and the Stourbridge canal was at the foot of the nine-lock Black Delph flight.

Thomas Dadford, Sr. was engaged as the engineer and surveyor and acted in this capacity until 1783 after which he was employed more informally. The Dudley Canal Act 1796 allowed the Dudley Canal Company to raise £7,000 and this had been subscribed by July 1778 but was insufficient to finance the work. The company continued to call money on the shares and raised £9,200 in this way with each £100 share being worth £128. Construction work was completed by 24 June 1779, apart from a water supply reservoir at Pensnett Chase, although little traffic used the canal until the Stourbridge Canal was completed in December of that year. As built, the canal terminated at two basins at Great Ox Leasow and Little Ox Leasow, both built on land owned by T. T. Foley, one of the main shareholders.

In 1784, the Stourbridge and Dudley companies approached the Birmingham Canal about a junction. This would involve building extra locks at Park Head and a tunnel which would link to Lord Dudley's existing mining tunnel which joined the Birmingham Canal at Tipton. The Birmingham Canal Company agreed but imposed heavy tolls on traffic using the junction to compensate for the loss of revenue of goods which would formerly have travelled via Aldersley Junction. Lord Dudley agreed to sell his tunnel to the Dudley Canal Company but never received any payment as the beneficial tolls and usefulness of the new canal were deemed to be adequate compensation. An act of Parliament, the Dudley Canal Act 1785 (25 Geo. 3. c. 87), was obtained in July 1785 to authorise the work which had been surveyed by John Snape and John Bull and checked by Dadford, who then became consulting engineer. Abraham Lees was the on-site engineering manager and the main contract for the tunnel went to John Pinkerton. Its width was to be 9.25 feet (2.82 m) with 7 feet (2.1 m) of headroom and 5.5 feet (1.7 m) of water. The contract specified that it should be finished by 25 March 1788. In 1787, Pinkerton's work was thought to be unsatisfactory and work stopped while arguments took place. Dadford was paid off, Pinkerton had to pay half of his £4,000 bond and work restarted with Isaac Pratt in charge. He was a member of both the Stourbridge and the Dudley canal company committees. Lees retained his position.

In May 1789, there were further issues when it was discovered that the tunnel was not straight. Pratt resigned, and Josiah Clowes was engaged to complete the project. He finished the tunnel, built a new junction with the Birmingham Canal at Tipton and a reservoir at Gad's Green. Completion was announced at a shareholder's meeting on 25 June 1792, and the official opening was on 15 October.

With the Dudley Tunnel just finished, a meeting was held in Birmingham on 31 August 1792 at which a canal from Birmingham to serve the collieries at Netherton was proposed. The following day, the Dudley Canal Company proposed their own version of a similar canal and following meetings with the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, whose line it would join, it was agreed that those who had been at the meeting would raise £61,500 and that the remaining £28,500 required would be subscribed by existing Dudley shareholders. The line would be constructed at the same level as the Dudley Canal at Park Head.