History
Dudley Tunnel is the second largest canal tunnel in the UK; it is approximately 3,170 yards (2,900m) long. This, however, is often contested since the Dudley Tunnel is not one continuous passage – the Castle Mill basin and Lord Ward’s tunnel are also included as being part of the same system. Permission to build the tunnel was initially granted in 1776, although Lord Dudley and Ward had already begun to construct the tunnel in 1775. The main purpose of the tunnel was to connect Dudley’s Tipton Colliery and his lime works to the Birmingham Canal Navigations. This work was completed in 1778 and the passage became known as Lord Ward’s Canal. In later years Dudley agreed to sell the short canal to the Dudley Canal Company; they continued to extend the main passage and the entire tunnel was completed by June 1791.
As indicated above, the early section of the tunnel was constructed to support the transportation of limestone which was extracted from mines inside Castle Hill. After the change of ownership, the Dudley Tunnel, as it was renamed, was extended through the Cathedral Arch and from the open-air area the system was split into a number of different sections: the Dudley Tunnel itself, a branch into Little Tess Cavern mine workings (which is now blocked) and, in later years, various other coal and limestone mines. Most of the mines still exist today, although most are entirely blocked off for safety reasons because most have since collapsed.
By 1959, the Dudley Tunnel was largely abandoned; no one, except for a few occasional boaters, used the passage through the hillside anymore. Despite a small number of protests, British Waterways officially closed the tunnel in 1962. Soon after its closure a railway viaduct located nearby was found to be structurally unsound. This line was, for the most part, a goods line since most of its passenger stations had been closed in the previous year, however, the railway authorities planned to preserve the line and this meant replacing the viaduct with an embankment: consequently, this would have involved sealing off the Dudley Tunnels. Nevertheless, the railway closed later in 1968 and so the tunnel was saved.
After some extensive restoration work, the Dudley Canal Tunnel was reopened in 1973. Two completely new canal tunnels were built later in 1989, inside the existing tunnel, to link Singing Cavern, via Little Tess Cavern, to Castle Mill Basin. Unfortunately, due to the restrictive dimensions of the tunnel, and the absence of a towing pathway, many boats are unable to pass through the system and, in addition, diesel engines are not permitted inside the tunnel owing to the lack of ventilation throughout. However, for visitors who wish to pass through the tunnel, they may use a battery powered narrowboat similar to those operated by Dudley Canal Trust as part of their tunnel tour journey. A second tunnel (Netherton Tunnel), which runs parallel to Dudley Tunnel, is used by larger canal boats, and it helps to ease congestion on the main Dudley waterway.
Our Version of Events
After some fun and games in the city of Leicester we decided to head over to the village of Dudley to seek out and explore its famous canal tunnel. After a couple of beers and some incredibly soggy chips from the Indian, we left the company of KM_Punk late in the evening and proceeded to bomb down the empty motorway towards our destination. A few miles and several coffees later, we arrived at Dudley in the dead of night. However, rather than stopping to admire our new surroundings; to avoid wasting too much time since daylight was fast approaching, we unpacked the car as quickly as possible and raced to our newly discovered discrete location in the bushes. But, it was at this point that we realised what we had forgotten at the Urbex Lodge… None other than an important piece of our outboard. Nevertheless, despite being very pissed off and tired, we proceeded to blow up the faithful dinghy, having decided that we would paddle through the bastard tunnel instead. Good job we hadn’t forgotten the paddles wasn’t it!
We pumped the raft up from within the bushes, while watching a nearby canal boat very carefully as the owner popped his head out several times to see what all the commotion was (the sound that comes with inflating a rubber dinghy). His bedroom light inside the boat turned on and off a number of times throughout this entire process. Eventually, after much toil and effort though, the raft was ready to go, and we managed to get the whole thing down to the canal without being noticed (or so we hope). Next, however, we had to navigate our way down the canal itself, past a number of stationary boats which were waiting to pass through the tunnel later that same morning. As silently as we could manage, we paddled past the rows of boats; assuming the whole time that someone was probably going to see us through one of the open windows, or one of those emitting light from the inside. Somehow, and much to our amazement, we manage to avoid detection; even while we had to lift the dinghy over the main barrier gate at the tunnel entrance. Once we were back inside we hit legs (in a fashion), and paddled hard to get ourselves out of sight and into the depths of Dudley Tunnel. The rest is history.
Explored with Ford Mayhem and Soul.
Dudley Tunnel is the second largest canal tunnel in the UK; it is approximately 3,170 yards (2,900m) long. This, however, is often contested since the Dudley Tunnel is not one continuous passage – the Castle Mill basin and Lord Ward’s tunnel are also included as being part of the same system. Permission to build the tunnel was initially granted in 1776, although Lord Dudley and Ward had already begun to construct the tunnel in 1775. The main purpose of the tunnel was to connect Dudley’s Tipton Colliery and his lime works to the Birmingham Canal Navigations. This work was completed in 1778 and the passage became known as Lord Ward’s Canal. In later years Dudley agreed to sell the short canal to the Dudley Canal Company; they continued to extend the main passage and the entire tunnel was completed by June 1791.
As indicated above, the early section of the tunnel was constructed to support the transportation of limestone which was extracted from mines inside Castle Hill. After the change of ownership, the Dudley Tunnel, as it was renamed, was extended through the Cathedral Arch and from the open-air area the system was split into a number of different sections: the Dudley Tunnel itself, a branch into Little Tess Cavern mine workings (which is now blocked) and, in later years, various other coal and limestone mines. Most of the mines still exist today, although most are entirely blocked off for safety reasons because most have since collapsed.
By 1959, the Dudley Tunnel was largely abandoned; no one, except for a few occasional boaters, used the passage through the hillside anymore. Despite a small number of protests, British Waterways officially closed the tunnel in 1962. Soon after its closure a railway viaduct located nearby was found to be structurally unsound. This line was, for the most part, a goods line since most of its passenger stations had been closed in the previous year, however, the railway authorities planned to preserve the line and this meant replacing the viaduct with an embankment: consequently, this would have involved sealing off the Dudley Tunnels. Nevertheless, the railway closed later in 1968 and so the tunnel was saved.
After some extensive restoration work, the Dudley Canal Tunnel was reopened in 1973. Two completely new canal tunnels were built later in 1989, inside the existing tunnel, to link Singing Cavern, via Little Tess Cavern, to Castle Mill Basin. Unfortunately, due to the restrictive dimensions of the tunnel, and the absence of a towing pathway, many boats are unable to pass through the system and, in addition, diesel engines are not permitted inside the tunnel owing to the lack of ventilation throughout. However, for visitors who wish to pass through the tunnel, they may use a battery powered narrowboat similar to those operated by Dudley Canal Trust as part of their tunnel tour journey. A second tunnel (Netherton Tunnel), which runs parallel to Dudley Tunnel, is used by larger canal boats, and it helps to ease congestion on the main Dudley waterway.
Our Version of Events
After some fun and games in the city of Leicester we decided to head over to the village of Dudley to seek out and explore its famous canal tunnel. After a couple of beers and some incredibly soggy chips from the Indian, we left the company of KM_Punk late in the evening and proceeded to bomb down the empty motorway towards our destination. A few miles and several coffees later, we arrived at Dudley in the dead of night. However, rather than stopping to admire our new surroundings; to avoid wasting too much time since daylight was fast approaching, we unpacked the car as quickly as possible and raced to our newly discovered discrete location in the bushes. But, it was at this point that we realised what we had forgotten at the Urbex Lodge… None other than an important piece of our outboard. Nevertheless, despite being very pissed off and tired, we proceeded to blow up the faithful dinghy, having decided that we would paddle through the bastard tunnel instead. Good job we hadn’t forgotten the paddles wasn’t it!
We pumped the raft up from within the bushes, while watching a nearby canal boat very carefully as the owner popped his head out several times to see what all the commotion was (the sound that comes with inflating a rubber dinghy). His bedroom light inside the boat turned on and off a number of times throughout this entire process. Eventually, after much toil and effort though, the raft was ready to go, and we managed to get the whole thing down to the canal without being noticed (or so we hope). Next, however, we had to navigate our way down the canal itself, past a number of stationary boats which were waiting to pass through the tunnel later that same morning. As silently as we could manage, we paddled past the rows of boats; assuming the whole time that someone was probably going to see us through one of the open windows, or one of those emitting light from the inside. Somehow, and much to our amazement, we manage to avoid detection; even while we had to lift the dinghy over the main barrier gate at the tunnel entrance. Once we were back inside we hit legs (in a fashion), and paddled hard to get ourselves out of sight and into the depths of Dudley Tunnel. The rest is history.
Explored with Ford Mayhem and Soul.
1: Lord Ward’s Tunnel
2: Approaching Shirts Mill Basin
3: Paddling On
4: Approaching Cathedral Arch
5: Cathedral Arch
6: Boat Number 17 and the Way to Little Tess
7: Heading Towards The Well
8: Nearly at The Well
9: To Emphasise How Slow Paddle Power Is… Still Nearly at The Well
10: Inside the Well (Looking Towards Hurst Junction)
11: 1984 Canal Tunnel Heading Towards Singing Cavern
12: Dudley Canal Tunnel
13: Approaching the 400 Metre Mark
14: More of Dudley Canal Tunnel
15: Beginning to Mist Up (Quite Deep in Now)
16: Hurst Cavern
17: Looking Out From Hurst Cavern
18: The Back of Hurst Cavern
19: Wrens Nest Tunnel (Unnavigable)
20: Dudley Canal Tunnel
2: Approaching Shirts Mill Basin
3: Paddling On
4: Approaching Cathedral Arch
5: Cathedral Arch
6: Boat Number 17 and the Way to Little Tess
7: Heading Towards The Well
8: Nearly at The Well
9: To Emphasise How Slow Paddle Power Is… Still Nearly at The Well
10: Inside the Well (Looking Towards Hurst Junction)
11: 1984 Canal Tunnel Heading Towards Singing Cavern
12: Dudley Canal Tunnel
13: Approaching the 400 Metre Mark
14: More of Dudley Canal Tunnel
15: Beginning to Mist Up (Quite Deep in Now)
16: Hurst Cavern
17: Looking Out From Hurst Cavern
18: The Back of Hurst Cavern
19: Wrens Nest Tunnel (Unnavigable)
20: Dudley Canal Tunnel
