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Map sources for Dudley Tunnel at grid reference SO947917

Dudley Tunnel is a canal tunnel on the Dudley Canal Line No 1, England. At about 3,172 yards long, it is now the second longest canal tunnel on the UK canal network today. (Standedge Tunnel is the longest, at 5,456 yd, and the 3,931 yd Higham and Strood tunnel is now rail only). However, since the Dudley Tunnel is not continuous this status is sometimes questioned: (the main tunnel is 2,942 yards, Lord Ward's tunnel is 196 yards and Castle Mill basin is 34 yards}.

A private Act of Parliament to construct the tunnel and associated canal, later to be known as the Dudley Canal Line No. 1, was passed in 1776. However Lord Dudley and Ward started building a canal and tunnel, in 1775, to link his Tipton Colliery and his lime works to the Birmingham Canal Navigations, at Tipton, on the 473 ft Wolverhampton Level. He later agreed to sell the canal and tunnel to the Dudley Canal Company. The Dudley Canal Line No. 1 and Dudley Tunnel were reported as finished on 25 June 1791.

The earliest part of tunnel system was built to help with the transport of limestone extracted from the mines inside Castle hill through which the tunnel runs. This was Lord Ward's tunnel, which leads to Castle Mill Basin. From there the main tunnel runs, via the Cathedral Arch, to Parkhead, near Netherton. At Cathedral Arch a branch canal lead into the Little Tess Cavern mine workings. This route is now blocked, but has been by-passed by two new tunnels (see below). The southern end, including the southern portal, of the tunnel had to be rebuilt in 1884 due to subsidence caused by adjacent coal mines. This section of the tunnel was built several feet wider than the original tunnel bore. The southern portal bears a brick date stone of 1884.

Another 1,227 yard canal tunnel at Castle Mill Basin, now blocked off by a dam, leads under Wren's Nest and was used to transport limestone from the Wren's Nest mines (see Wren's Nest NNR). It was last used for this purpose in the early 1920s.

In 1989 two completely new canal tunnels were made, linking Singer Cavern and the Rock Tunnel, via Little Tess Cavern, to Castle Mill Basin (the northern portal of the main tunnel).

The restrictive dimensions of the tunnel and the absence of a towpath mean that many boats are unable to pass through it. Those that can are not allowed to use diesel engines due to the lack of ventilation in the tunnel. Visitors to the adjacent Black Country Living Museum may take a battery-powered narrowboat trip through the tunnel.

The Netherton Tunnel follows a parallel route 1½ miles to the south east; it is much larger and has a towpath running through it. It was built to ease congestion in the Dudley Tunnel.

The rock on Castle Hill into which the tunnel is dug, Oolitic limestone, allows visitors to see Trilobite fossils preserved within it. Some fossils which were considered notable and were located close to the water line, have been removed to prevent them from being eroded and attacked by visitors. Other parts of the tunnel pass through a granite-type rock known locally as Rowley Rag; and through coal measures.

• Canal trips
• Dudley Canal Trust
• Commercial video documenting restoration
• Map and aerial photo sources for: grid reference SO947917 - the northern portal near the Black Country Museum and SO932892 - the southern portal

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