We finally did it! For the last two years we have promised ourselves that one day we would leg through Dudley tunnel and today we did just that. In our opinion it rates as the most exciting and enthralling canal journey we have ever made.
Our journey started at Coombeswood Basin which marks the limit of navigation on the Dudley No. 2 canal. It was here that we rejoined our 43 ft. narrowboat Willy No-Name, together with two friends and their young son. Our friends had been boating with us before on the southern Grand Union canal and immediately remarked on the great environmental differences between the BCN and the more popular waterways. Although the Birmingham canals may not always be the cleanest or the most beautiful in the accepted sense they are, for us, the most interesting.
We cruised through weedy and rubbish-strewn, but amazingly clear, water to Gosty Hill tunnel. Whilst this can only be an appetiser for the Great Dudley tunnel which was our objective, it was nonetheless interesting, being vary narrow and with a roof height that varies alarmingly.
The Dudley No.2 line meets the Netherton tunnel branch at Windmill End junction: Netherton tunnel which runs parallel to it's brother at Dudley has been closed since June 1978 for major structural repairs which have still not been started. After Windmill End the canal makes a big loop to the junction with the No. 1 line between Blowers Green lock and the Park Head locks. We arrived at the top of the three Park Head locks at about midday and moored up just below the tunnel entrance. Entry from this end of the tunnel is only permitted between 3 p.m. and 7.30 p.m and that from the Tipton end between 7 a.m. and 11.30 a.m. This is to ensure that craft do not meet in the main tunnel since there is insufficiient width for boats to pass. The other major difficulty with navigating the tunnel is it's height. Over a relatively short section it has been badly affected by mining subsidence causing the height to drop dramatically. There is a guage at each end of the tunnel and boats must clear this to be sure of not getting stuck. We had taken on about one ton of additional ballast in the form of brick rubble to lower the bow about six inches, but even then we could only just get under the gauge.
Whilst we were waiting for our 3 p.m. entry time, we were visited by a very helpful gentleman who introduced himself as Les. Les lives in a bungalow above the Park Head portal and acts as unpaid warden for this end of the tunnel. He told us that he would telephone to John Hoston at the Black Country Museum to let him know that we were coming through.
John runs the electrically-powered boat 'Electra' on passenger trips through the tunnel on behalf of the Dudley Canal Trust who, together with their predecessors, the Dudley Canal Tunnel Preservation Society, were responsible for the restoration and re-opening of the tunnel and it's approaches in 1973.
Les sold us the booklet 'Dudley Tunnel' published by the Canal Trust which is a must for anyone contemplating the trip since as well as giving a profile of the lowest part of the tunnel it also contains a great deal of useful information as well as some excellent photographs.
As 3 p.m. approached, Les said goodbye but promised with a grin that he would look into the tunnel at about 3.30 "just in case!".
Since there is only one remaining air shaft, the use of engines in the tunnel is prohibited. We used our engine to propel us up to the tunnel entrance and to give us sufficient momentum to get inside. There are numbers on the walls of the tunnel to mark progress every chain (66 feet).
The first section was affected by mining subsidence and had to be completely rebuilt and is, therefore, deceptively high. At 91/2 chains, however, a brick arch drops the height drastically and the tunnel enters the original 1792 bore. The lowest part of the tunnel occurs at about 15 chains and it is here that you will get stuck if your boat is too high.
A little further on is the Gaol, which is the narrowest part of the tunnel being only seven feet wide, and again a boat can stick here if it is oversize. It has even been necessary to remove a layer of bricks from one wall here to enable boats of seven foot beam to get through.
At about 30 chains one passes the only remaining air shaft. At this point the canal is approximately 130 feet below the surface.
Having shafted the boat through the low section of the tunnel, we thought it was high time to try the traditional art of legging. We laid our boat boarding plank across the fore deck and started to lay down on the job. It was remarkably easy. By walking along the tunnel walls or, in some places, roof, we found that we could propel the boat efficiently and without too great an effort. We would leg for five or six chains at a time and then rest for two or three more while 'Willy No-Name' drifted on. It worked so well that we forgot any ideas of shafting the boat any further and covered the remaining distance by legging. Our ladies too had a go at legging and pronounced it great fun.
At 40 chains we reached the first unlined section of the tunnel which is a 100-foot length of basalt rock over which the height and width of the tunnel varies considerably. There is also a very definite kink in the tunnel at this point. A little further on, at about 50 chains, comes another unlined section. This time the rock is sandstone. Further on still is a limestone cavern. On and on we went, passing hard calcite formations on the tunnel walls, until we reached the Well and Hurst's Cavern at about 124 chains. Daylight enters the tunnel from the Well and provides light for Hurst's Cavern which was once a limestone mine but now forms a site for various social functions. Just past Hurst's Cavern can be seen one of the eleven original construction shafts. These shafts were sunk into Dudley Hill with tunnelling carried out in each direction until the various headings met.
At 128 chains we arrived at Cathedral Arch where a fabulous double brick arch forms an underground waterways junction with a branch which led into a series of limestone mines.
At 132 chains is the end of the main tunnel and we were once more in the open air at the beautiful Castle Mill basin. This is a truly fairy book place with it's trees and marvellous coral reef. Here also is a blocked-off entrance to the Wrens Nest tunnel which once led to more limestone mines under Wrens Nest hill.
Reluctantly leaving Castle Mill basin, we entered a small tunnel leading to Shirts Mill basin which was also once a site of great activity where boats were loaded with limestone, brought by tramway from the faces of the mines to the canal wharf.
A further short tunnel leads on to the Tipton portal and the end. This short tunnel is in fact the oldest part of the Dudley tunnel system since it was built about 1778 by Lord Ward to connect his limestone mines to the Birmingham canal.
As we emerged from the Tipton portal we found ourselves on the site of the Black Country Museum and what a fascinating place that is!
For all waterways enthusiasts and anyone else for that matter, a voyage through Dudley tunnel is an experience not to be missed, either on one's own boat or as a passenger on 'Electra'.
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