Dudley Canal and Tunnel

This trip was organised by Boater Christian Fellowship with 52 of us having a two hour boat trip retelling the history of Dudley’s mining and canal heritage. This area is called the Black Country deriving it’s name from it’s industrial past of coal mines and blast furnaces during its heyday of iron and steel making. Dudley tunnel is the second longest tunnel, 2888 metres, on the UK Canal network built in 1792 to serve the limestone quarries and coal mines in the Dudley area. The tunnel has been built without a towpath or ventilation shafts, therefore Diesel engines are not permitted. The only way to get from one end to the other was by legging and this took two and a half hours. We went in an electric boat. After our trip we enjoyed a Buffet lunch in the Gongoozler restaurant. Some phots of the trip. The three minerals are lime (white), coal (black) and iron (tan).