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110-576: Dudley Tunnel is a canal tunnel on the Dudley Canal Line No 1 , England . At about 3,172 yards (2,900.5 m) long, it is now the second longest canal tunnel on the UK canal network today. ( Standedge Tunnel is the longest, at 5,456 yards (4,989.0 m), and the 3,931 yards (3,594.5 m) Higham and Strood tunnel is now rail only). However, since the Dudley Tunnel is not continuous this status

220-534: A caisson of water in which boats float while being moved between two levels; and inclined planes where a caisson is hauled up a steep railway. To cross a stream, road or valley (where the delay caused by a flight of locks at either side would be unacceptable) the valley can be spanned by a navigable aqueduct – a famous example in Wales is the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct (now a UNESCO World Heritage Site ) across

330-419: A dam , leads under Wren's Nest to two underground basins, east basin and west basin, and was used to transport limestone from the underground mine workings. Surface quarries were also opened; they outlasted the underground workings and were last used in the early 1920s. The land above the underground workings, together with the surface quarries, became a National Nature Reserve . The restrictive dimensions of

440-504: A drainage divide atop a ridge , generally requiring an external water source above the highest elevation . The best-known example of such a canal is the Panama Canal . Many canals have been built at elevations, above valleys and other waterways. Canals with sources of water at a higher level can deliver water to a destination such as a city where water is needed. The Roman Empire 's aqueducts were such water supply canals. The term

550-415: A "cistern", or depressed area just downstream from the fall, to "cushion" the water by providing a deep pool for its kinetic energy to be diffused in. Vertical falls work for drops of up to 1.5 m in height, and for discharge of up to 15 cubic meters per second. The transport capacity of pack animals and carts is limited. A mule can carry an eighth-ton [250 pounds (113 kg)] maximum load over

660-658: A by-law that required each boat to have a crew of two men to propel it through the tunnel, and a number of boatmen were called to account for non-compliance. The Dudley Canal's superintendent, Thomas Brewin, suggested that cable haulage could resolve the issues, but the cost of the system at £6,000 was deemed to be too expensive. Despite the commercial difficulties, the tunnels were very popular with sightseers, and poetic descriptions of its operation appeared in Luke Booker's Dudley Castle , published in 1825, and W Harris's Rambles about Dudley Castle , published in 1843. Having completed

770-496: A canal has a series of dams and locks that create reservoirs of low speed current flow. These reservoirs are referred to as slack water levels , often just called levels . A canal can be called a navigation canal when it parallels a natural river and shares part of the latter's discharges and drainage basin , and leverages its resources by building dams and locks to increase and lengthen its stretches of slack water levels while staying in its valley . A canal can cut across

880-413: A combination of the three, depending on available water and available path: Smaller transportation canals can carry barges or narrowboats , while ship canals allow seagoing ships to travel to an inland port (e.g., Manchester Ship Canal ), or from one sea or ocean to another (e.g., Caledonian Canal , Panama Canal ). At their simplest, canals consist of a trench filled with water. Depending on

990-464: A family of respected canal contractors, was awarded the contract for construction of the tunnel, but it was the first time he had worked on a tunnel, and he hit problems, first with the quality of the ground he was trying to excavate, and also with the large volumes of groundwater that he encountered. There were complaints about his lack of progress and the poor quality of the brick lining, resulting in him being dismissed in 1787. He had to pay £2,000, which

1100-543: A journey measured in days and weeks, though much more for shorter distances and periods with appropriate rest. Besides, carts need roads. Transport over water is much more efficient and cost-effective for large cargoes. The oldest known canals were irrigation canals, built in Mesopotamia c.  4000 BC , in what is now Iraq . The Indus Valley civilization of ancient India ( c.  3000 BC ) had sophisticated irrigation and storage systems developed, including

1210-521: A long tunnel to link up with Lord Dudley and Ward's Castle Mill Basin. The route was surveyed by John Snape and John Bull, and was checked by Thomas Dadford . He then became the consulting engineer for the project, while Abraham Lees supervised the day-to-day work. In September 1785, the company announced that the tunnel would be 9 feet 3 inches (2.82 m) wide, the water would be 5 feet 6 inches (1.68 m) deep, and there would be headroom of 7 feet (2.1 m). John Pinkerton, one of

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1320-591: A railway viaduct at the Tipton portal with an embankment and a culvert . However, this never happened as the railway was closed in 1968 and the disused bridge demolished in the 1990s. The tunnel was reopened in 1973, as a result of restoration, which had been a collaboration between local volunteers (originally the Dudley Canal Tunnel Preservation Society, later the Dudley Canal Trust), and

1430-575: A rather low gradient for its time. The canal is still in use after renovation. In the Middle Ages , water transport was several times cheaper and faster than transport overland. Overland transport by animal drawn conveyances was used around settled areas, but unimproved roads required pack animal trains, usually of mules to carry any degree of mass, and while a mule could carry an eighth ton, it also needed teamsters to tend it and one man could only tend perhaps five mules, meaning overland bulk transport

1540-532: A shorter tunnel could have been made, the completion of Whitworth's line was by then the most sensible plan. He received another request to survey the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, but had to decline, due to his volume of work. The Worcester and Birmingham Canal continued their attempts to entice him by flattery, and in January 1792 he became their consultant, for which he received 29 guineas (£30.45) per day. Surveys of

1650-421: A storm water drainage system. The canals at both ends of the tunnel were dredged, as were the basins within the tunnels, resulting in the removal of some 50,000 tons of mud and debris. The locks to the south of the tunnel were restored, with help from British Waterways and Dudley Borough Council, and the first boat reached the tunnel portal. At Easter 1973, the tunnel was reopened, an event that drew 300 boats to

1760-629: A survey for the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal, which became the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal , when work began the following year, although the plans were modified by Robert Mylne. At the time, he was also working for five other canal companies, on projects which were all completed after his death. The Ledbury to Gloucester section of the Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal was not finally linked to Hereford until 1845. The Worcester and Birmingham Canal

1870-453: A uniform altitude. Other, generally later, canals took more direct routes requiring the use of various methods to deal with the change in level. Canals have various features to tackle the problem of water supply. In cases, like the Suez Canal, the canal is open to the sea. Where the canal is not at sea level, a number of approaches have been adopted. Taking water from existing rivers or springs

1980-422: Is a channel that cuts across a drainage divide , making a navigable channel connecting two different drainage basins . Both navigations and canals use engineered structures to improve navigation: Since they cut across drainage divides, canals are more difficult to construct and often need additional improvements, like viaducts and aqueducts to bridge waters over streams and roads, and ways to keep water in

2090-675: Is presumed, introduced in Italy by Bertola da Novate in the 16th century. This allowed wider gates and also removed the height restriction of guillotine locks . To break out of the limitations caused by river valleys, the first summit level canals were developed with the Grand Canal of China in 581–617 AD whilst in Europe the first, also using single locks, was the Stecknitz Canal in Germany in 1398. In

2200-578: Is rarely less than 30 metres (98 ft) wide. In the 5th century BC, Achaemenid king Xerxes I of Persia ordered the construction of the Xerxes Canal through the base of Mount Athos peninsula, Chalkidiki , northern Greece. It was constructed as part of his preparations for the Second Persian invasion of Greece , a part of the Greco-Persian Wars . It is one of the few monuments left by

2310-537: Is sometimes questioned: (the main tunnel is 2,942 yards (2,690.2 m), Lord Ward's tunnel is 196 yards (179.2 m) and Castle Mill basin is 34 yards (31.1 m)). In 1959 the British Transport Commission sought to close the tunnel but this led to an Inland Waterways Association -organised massed protest cruise in 1960. The tunnel was however closed in 1962; and was further threatened with permanent closure by British Railways who wished to replace

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2420-418: Is steeper than the desired canal gradient. They are constructed so the falling water's kinetic energy is dissipated in order to prevent it from scouring the bed and sides of the canal. A canal fall is constructed by cut and fill . It may be combined with a regulator, bridge, or other structure to save costs. There are various types of canal falls, based on their shape. One type is the ogee fall, where

2530-465: Is still used for social functions and storage. 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 led into

2640-448: Is the pound lock , which consists of a chamber within which the water level can be raised or lowered connecting either two pieces of canal at a different level or the canal with a river or the sea. When there is a hill to be climbed, flights of many locks in short succession may be used. Prior to the development of the pound lock in 984 AD in China by Chhaio Wei-Yo and later in Europe in

2750-602: The Ashton Canal , the Peak Forest Canal and the Caldon Canal , Dudley Corporation became the first local authority to finance canal restoration when they announced that they would fund half of the repair costs for the tunnel branch, as well as landscaping the derelict land at Park Head, around the southern end of the tunnel. The fact that the tunnel remained open also meant that they did not have to spend millions of pounds on

2860-565: The Chester Canal had asked him to work for them in 1776, but instead became a partner with Henshall in a canal carrying business, running boats on the Trent and Mersey Canal . The date of his second marriage to Margaret is not known, but is thought to be around this time. After further approaches by the Chester Canal, he agreed to help them in 1778, becoming their 'general surveyor and overseer of

2970-639: The Elbe , Oder and Weser being linked by canals. In post-Roman Britain, the first early modern period canal built appears to have been the Exeter Canal , which was surveyed in 1563, and open in 1566. The oldest canal in the European settlements of North America, technically a mill race built for industrial purposes, is Mother Brook between the Boston, Massachusetts neighbourhoods of Dedham and Hyde Park connecting

3080-530: The Naviglio Grande built between 1127 and 1257 to connect Milan with the river Ticino . The Naviglio Grande is the most important of the lombard " navigli " and the oldest functioning canal in Europe. Later, canals were built in the Netherlands and Flanders to drain the polders and assist transportation of goods and people. Canal building was revived in this age because of commercial expansion from

3190-667: The Pensnett Canal and the Grazebrook Arm both joined the main canal. This was reinstated in 1995, when the Grazebrook Arm was dredged. A small part of the line of the filled-in Pensnett Canal was bought from the Lord Dudley's Estate, and a brick lining was constructed as it was excavated. The work included rebuilding the bridges which crossed the two arms, and resurfacing of towpaths in the area. Because of its limited size, boats using

3300-532: The Phoenix metropolitan area was the most complex in ancient North America. A portion of the ancient canals has been renovated for the Salt River Project and now helps to supply the city's water. The Sinhalese constructed the 87 km (54 mi) Yodha Ela in 459 A.D. as a part of their extensive irrigation network which functioned in a way of a moving reservoir due to its single banking aspect to manage

3410-522: The River Brue at Northover with Glastonbury Abbey , a distance of about 1.75 kilometres (1,900 yd). Its initial purpose is believed to be the transport of building stone for the abbey, but later it was used for delivering produce, including grain, wine and fish, from the abbey's outlying properties. It remained in use until at least the 14th century, but possibly as late as the mid-16th century. More lasting and of more economic impact were canals like

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3520-594: The Songhai Empire of West Africa, several canals were constructed under Sunni Ali and Askia Muhammad I between Kabara and Timbuktu in the 15th century. These were used primarily for irrigation and transport. Sunni Ali also attempted to construct a canal from the Niger River to Walata to facilitate conquest of the city but his progress was halted when he went to war with the Mossi Kingdoms . Around 1500–1800

3630-519: The Stourbridge Canal , authorised by a separate act on the same day. The principal shareholders included Lord Dudley and Ward and Thomas Talbot Foley. Shareholders had contributed the authorised capital of £7,000 by July 1778, and the canal was completed on 14 June 1779, at a total cost of £9,700. The Stourbridge Canal opened in December. Quite separately, Lord Dudley and Ward was mining limestone in

3740-672: The Stratford-on-Avon Canal and the Dudley No. 2 Canal followed. On the first he acted as engineer for the 352-yard (322 m) Brandwood Tunnel, while on the second, there were over 5 miles (8.0 km) of tunnels, including the Lappal Tunnel , at 3,795 yards (3,470 m), which passed underneath the California coal mines. He died before it was finished, and its excavation was completed by William Underhill. In 1792, he carried out

3850-548: The reservoirs built at Girnar in 3000 BC. This is the first time that such planned civil project had taken place in the ancient world. In Egypt , canals date back at least to the time of Pepi I Meryre (reigned 2332–2283 BC), who ordered a canal built to bypass the cataract on the Nile near Aswan . In ancient China , large canals for river transport were established as far back as the Spring and Autumn period (8th–5th centuries BC),

3960-404: The stratum the canal passes through, it may be necessary to line the cut with some form of watertight material such as clay or concrete. When this is done with clay, it is known as puddling . Canals need to be level, and while small irregularities in the lie of the land can be dealt with through cuttings and embankments, for larger deviations other approaches have been adopted. The most common

4070-466: The 12th century. River navigations were improved progressively by the use of single, or flash locks . Taking boats through these used large amounts of water leading to conflicts with watermill owners and to correct this, the pound or chamber lock first appeared, in the 10th century in China and in Europe in 1373 in Vreeswijk , Netherlands. Another important development was the mitre gate , which was, it

4180-465: The 15th century, either flash locks consisting of a single gate were used or ramps, sometimes equipped with rollers, were used to change the level. Flash locks were only practical where there was plenty of water available. Locks use a lot of water, so builders have adopted other approaches for situations where little water is available. These include boat lifts , such as the Falkirk Wheel , which use

4290-576: The Birmingham Canal Navigations since 1794, had suggested amalgamating with the Dudley Canal in 1813, but nothing further took place. A second approach was made in 1845, and in the face of competition from the proposed Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway, as well as the plans of the Birmingham Canal Navigations, they agreed to the merger on 8 October. The Birmingham and Dudley Canal Consolidation Act 1846 ( 9 & 10 Vict. c. cclxix)

4400-554: The Birmingham Canal at the north end. The new junction opened on 6 March 1792, but the tunnel was not formally announced as being complete until 25 June. The stop lock in the tunnel did not last for long, and was removed in December 1795. There were initially complaints, because the tunnels were used by limestone boats working the quarries, as well as being a through route. Normal passage was often obstructed by boats loading limestone at Charles Starkey's Quarry, by empty boats blocking

4510-524: The Castle Mill and Wren's Next area, further to the north. This was brought up to the surface, and transported overland. In 1775, he started building a private canal, which branched from the 473 ft Wolverhampton Level of the Birmingham Canal at Tipton , and reached Tipton Colliery through a tunnel. This was known as Lord Dudley and Ward's branch, and the first phase was completed by 1 June 1778. It

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4620-635: The Dudley Canal and Tunnel were one. While there was an assurance that no action would be taken that would adversely affect the possibility of navigation on three of them, the Dudley Tunnel did not fall into this category. Protests by the Inland Waterways Association and the Inland Waterways Preservation Society were rejected, and the Dudley Canal Branch closed in 1962. The following year, the viaduct that carried

4730-790: The Dudley No. 2 Canal was completed in 1798, while the Kings Norton to Kingswood section of the Stratford-on-Avon Canal was completed in 1916. In 1794, he advised the Stroudwater Canal on improvements to the junction with the River Severn. Clowes was at Middlewich , Cheshire, when he died in late 1794, and was buried in St. Bartholomew's churchyard, Norton le Moors , North Staffordshire on 1 January 1795, next to his first wife, where his memorial can still be seen. His second wife died shortly afterwards, and

4840-479: The Dudley Tunnel and beginning on the Dudley Canal Line No 2 some 2 miles (3.2 km) to the east. Work began on 31 December 1855, when the first sod was cut, and Netherton Tunnel opened on 20 August 1858. It was 27 feet (8.2 m) wide and 16 feet (4.9 m) above water level, with towpaths on both sides. From the beginning, it was lit by gas lights, later replaced by electric lighting. Subsidence at

4950-420: The Dudley Tunnel, he found a message in a bottle. He made contact with the writers, John Westwood and Cliff Sherwood, and plans to rescue the tunnel were soon drawn up. Regular trips were made through the tunnels on Sundays, and when barriers were erected at the tunnel ends, these were removed with crowbars, sledge hammers and ropes. The Dudley Tunnel Committee was formed, co-ordinating interest in its plight within

5060-539: The Dudley Tunnel, the company did not rest, but pressed on with another ambitious extension, linking the southern end of the tunnel to the Worcester and Birmingham Canal passing through the Lapal Tunnel near Selly Oak . This was completed by 28 May 1798, and the original canal and tunnel became known as the Dudley Canal Line No 1 or the Dudley No 1 Canal, to distinguish it from the new venture. The Birmingham Canal, known as

5170-541: The Little Tess Cavern mine workings. This route is now blocked, but has been by-passed by two new tunnels. 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 (1,122 m) canal tunnel at Castle Mill Basin, now blocked off by

5280-571: The Persian Empire in Europe . Greek engineers were also among the first to use canal locks , by which they regulated the water flow in the Ancient Suez Canal as early as the 3rd century BC. There was little experience moving bulk loads by carts, while a pack-horse would [i.e. 'could'] carry only an eighth of a ton. On a soft road a horse might be able to draw 5/8ths of a ton. But if

5390-753: The Southwest by 1300 CE. Archaeologists working at a major archaeological dig in the 1990s in the Tucson Basin, along the Santa Cruz River, identified a culture and people that may have been the ancestors of the Hohokam. This prehistoric group occupied southern Arizona as early as 2000 BCE, and in the Early Agricultural period grew corn, lived year-round in sedentary villages, and developed sophisticated irrigation canals. The large-scale Hohokam irrigation network in

5500-465: The Stourbridge to Wolverhampton railway line over the northern portal of the tunnel at Tipton was found to be structurally unsound. The line was largely a goods line since the closure of passenger stations along it from 30 July 1962, but the railway authorities planned to preserve the railway line and wanted to replace the viaduct with an embankment, which would have sealed off the northern portal. However,

5610-420: The blocked Rock Tunnel, and a new tunnel was built, to link Little Tess cavern to Castle Mill basin. The work was completed in 1990, and the circular route was formally opened by councillor D H Sparkes, chairman of Dudley Economic Development Committee on 25 April. By 2004, between 80,000 and 90,000 visitors were visiting the tunnels each year. At the south end of the tunnel there was once a triple junction, where

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5720-436: The canal pressure with the influx of water. It was also designed as an elongated reservoir passing through traps creating 66 mini catchments as it flows from Kala Wewa to Thissa Wawa . The canal was not designed for the quick conveying of water from Kala Wewa to Thissa Wawa but to create a mass of water between the two reservoirs, which would in turn provided for agriculture and the use of humans and animals. They also achieved

5830-418: The canal to form a dam. They are generally placed in pre-existing grooves in the canal bank. On more modern canals, "guard locks" or gates were sometimes placed to allow a section of the canal to be quickly closed off, either for maintenance, or to prevent a major loss of water due to a canal breach. A canal fall , or canal drop, is a vertical drop in the canal bed. These are built when the natural ground slope

5940-462: The canal. Where large amounts of goods are loaded or unloaded such as at the end of a canal, a canal basin may be built. This would normally be a section of water wider than the general canal. In some cases, the canal basins contain wharfs and cranes to assist with movement of goods. When a section of the canal needs to be sealed off so it can be drained for maintenance stop planks are frequently used. These consist of planks of wood placed across

6050-570: The celebrations, and some 14,000 visitors. The trust began running trip boats into the tunnel, which were moved by legging , but as this was very tiring for the crews, the boat was converted to use battery power in 1975, and became the first electric powered narrow boat to carry passengers in the country. In 1977 the Manpower Services Commission announced its Job Creation Scheme, through which they funded various projects which would create employment. One project that benefitted from this

6160-463: The channel. There are two broad types of canal: Historically, canals were of immense importance to commerce and the development, growth and vitality of a civilization. In 1855 the Lehigh Canal carried over 1.2 million tons of anthracite coal; by the 1930s the company which built and operated it for over a century ceased operation. The few canals still in operation in our modern age are a fraction of

6270-615: The concept of an industrial museum for the Black Country. The Council called a public meeting, where the museum concept was greeted enthusiastically, and they started planning for the project. The Society then became the Dudley Canal Trust, and expanded its vision to include the Park Head locks, the basins at the north end of the tunnel which are now part of the museum, and the environs of the Dudley Canal in general. Official attitudes to

6380-502: The construction of the canal in 1789 shortly before its completion, his work on the 3,817-yard (3,490 m) tunnel gained him good reports from other engineers, including Whitworth, John Smeaton and a French engineer called Dupin, which made him highly sought after in the final years of his career. He left the Thames and Severn Canal to work on Dudley Tunnel , which was 3,172 yards (2,900 m) long, but had problems with misalignment. He

6490-399: The drop follows an s-shaped curve to create a smooth transition and reduce turbulence . However, this smooth transition does not dissipate the water's kinetic energy, which leads to heavy scouring. As a result, the canal needs to be reinforced with concrete or masonry to protect it from eroding. Another type of canal fall is the vertical fall, which is "simple and economical". These feature

6600-648: The first summit level canal to use pound locks in Europe was the Briare Canal connecting the Loire and Seine (1642), followed by the more ambitious Canal du Midi (1683) connecting the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. This included a staircase of 8 locks at Béziers , a 157 metres (515 ft) tunnel, and three major aqueducts. Canal building progressed steadily in Germany in the 17th and 18th centuries with three great rivers,

6710-456: The freedom to make deliveries well away from rail lined road beds or ditches in the dirt which could not operate in the winter. The longest extant canal today, the Grand Canal in northern China, still remains in heavy use, especially the portion south of the Yellow River . It stretches from Beijing to Hangzhou at 1,794 kilometres (1,115 miles). Canals are built in one of three ways, or

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6820-672: The higher waters of the Charles River and the mouth of the Neponset River and the sea. It was constructed in 1639 to provide water power for mills. In Russia, the Volga–Baltic Waterway , a nationwide canal system connecting the Baltic Sea and Caspian Sea via the Neva and Volga rivers, was opened in 1718. Josiah Clowes Clowes was the youngest child of a family of six, and

6930-422: The load were carried by a barge on a waterway, then up to 30 tons could be drawn by the same horse. — technology historian Ronald W. Clark referring to transport realities before the industrial revolution and the Canal age . Hohokam was a society in the North American Southwest in what is now part of Arizona , United States, and Sonora , Mexico. Their irrigation systems supported the largest population in

7040-483: The local authority, Dudley Borough Council. The opening ceremony was advertised as "TRAD 1973 - Tunnel Reopening at Dudley" . When the Dudley Canal Act 1776 ( 16 Geo. 3 . c. 66) to construct a canal near Dudley was obtained in 1776, it did not include Dudley Tunnel. It authorised a route that started in two fields called Great Ox Leasow and Little Ox Leasow, a little to the south of the tunnel site near Peartree Lane in Dudley, and ran southwards to an end-on junction with

7150-399: The local community. Smallshire wrote an 8-page article about the need to preserve the tunnel for the Inland Waterways Association, and there was widespread interest in the concept. The committee was approached by the Workers Educational Association, to arrange a trip into the tunnels. After a date was agreed, Dr John Fletcher, their regional officer, contacted the press and invited anyone who

7260-412: The longest canal in the world today and the oldest extant one. It is 1,794 kilometres (1,115 mi) long and was built to carry the Emperor Yang Guang between Zhuodu ( Beijing ) and Yuhang ( Hangzhou ). The project began in 605 and was completed in 609, although much of the work combined older canals, the oldest section of the canal existing since at least 486 BC. Even in its narrowest urban sections it

7370-419: The longest one of that period being the Hong Gou (Canal of the Wild Geese), which according to the ancient historian Sima Qian connected the old states of Song, Zhang, Chen, Cai, Cao, and Wei. The Caoyun System of canals was essential for imperial taxation, which was largely assessed in kind and involved enormous shipments of rice and other grains. By far the longest canal was the Grand Canal of China , still

7480-438: The main tunnel and the Rock Tunnel, in order to provide access to the Singing Cavern. The cavern was formally opened to the public on 23 April 1985 by Neil MacFarlane MP and John Wilson, chairman of the MEB. By 1987, the number of visitors wanting boat trips meant that it was necessary to create a round trip route through the caverns. A connection was made between the Singing Cavern and the Little Tess cavern, by excavating part of

7590-431: The next five years seems to have been the carrying company. Clowes made the switch to engineering as a career in 1783, when he was appointed 'head engineer, surveyor and carpenter' to the Thames and Severn Canal , to assist Robert Whitworth . Together they laid out the route of the summit level, which included the Sapperton tunnel, at the time of its construction the longest in the world. Whitworth then seems to have left

7700-506: The numbers that once fueled and enabled economic growth, indeed were practically a prerequisite to further urbanization and industrialization. For the movement of bulk raw materials such as coal and ores are difficult and marginally affordable without water transport. Such raw materials fueled the industrial developments and new metallurgy resulting of the spiral of increasing mechanization during 17th–20th century, leading to new research disciplines, new industries and economies of scale, raising

7810-411: The pre-railroad days of the industrial revolution, water transport was the gold standard of fast transportation. The first artificial canal in Western Europe was the Fossa Carolina built at the end of the 8th century under personal supervision of Charlemagne . In Britain, the Glastonbury Canal   is believed to be the first post-Roman canal and was built in the middle of the 10th century to link

7920-399: The project, leaving Clowes as resident engineer, for which he was paid £300 per year. The superintendent of the company, James Perry, oversaw the work, but although he was a good manager, he had no experience of canal construction and so Clowes' task was both difficult and onerous. The size of the tunnel was still under debate at this point, and it was not until September 1783 that the decision

8030-593: The publication of Birmingham Canal Navigations , a report produced by the BCN Working Party. This was presented to British Waterways, and suggested that 66 miles (106 km) of the network of 80 miles (130 km) of the BCN which had been effectively abandoned by being classified as "Remainder Waterways" in 1968 had a viable future. These were divided into four groups, with priority 1 and 2 canals requiring no major expenditure to return them to navigation. Dudley Canal Branch

8140-591: The railway closed completely in 1968 as part of the Beeching cuts , and so the tunnel mouth remained accessible. Despite the fact that it was officially closed, Vic Smallshire and some colleagues decided to travel through the tunnel and return via the Netherton Tunnel. However, when they got to Park Head, the three locks down to the No 2 Line had been damaged by British Waterways to prevent navigation, and while returning through

8250-478: The situation. Boats could pass in one direction for four hours, and then the direction was reversed, but in 1830, the time allowed was reduced to three hours, with a penalty imposed if the time was exceeded. With threats of competition from the proposed Stourbridge, Wolverhampton and Birmingham Junction Canal in May 1836, the company looked at ways in which passage through the tunnel could be improved. They decided to enforce

8360-433: The size of boat that can pass through the tunnel. The work was completed in time for it to be reopened on 23 April 1885. By 1959, the tunnel was virtually disused, with no significant traffic having passed through it in the 1950s, and British Waterways announced plans to close it officially. A number of protest groups organised cruises through the tunnel during 1960 in the hope of it being kept open, but British Waterways at

8470-520: The south end of the tunnel resulted in it closing again in 1979, although boat trips into the caverns from the museum were not affected by this. It took over a decade to find the funds to repair the damage, but grants from the European Regional Development Fund and other agencies enabled the original brick lining to be removed from a 110-yard (100 m) section, to be replaced by a concrete tube cast in situ. The work cost £730,000, and

8580-401: The southern end got sufficiently bad that the tunnel was closed in 1884, to allow a section to be rebuilt. Around 200 yards (180 m) were reconstructed, to dimensions that were considerably larger than the original bore. At the end of the new section, the size of the tunnel suddenly reduces to the original size, and a warning gauge is fitted at the tunnel mouth, to prevent false impressions of

8690-480: The standard of living for any industrialized society. Most ship canals today primarily service bulk cargo and large ship transportation industries, whereas the once critical smaller inland waterways conceived and engineered as boat and barge canals have largely been supplanted and filled in, abandoned and left to deteriorate, or kept in service and staffed by state employees, where dams and locks are maintained for flood control or pleasure boating. Their replacement

8800-563: The time were intent on closing much of the canal network. A paper called The Future of our Inland Waterways , presented on 3 November 1961 by W I Ives, a senior official within the organisation, called for changes in the law to make it much easier to close redundant canals. When the British Transport Commission presented their annual bill to Parliament in November 1961, it included proposals to close ten waterways immediately, of which

8910-435: 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 may take a battery -powered narrowboat trip operated by Dudley Canal Trust either through the tunnel or partway through the tunnel and the adjacent mines; and, also, try legging the boat. The rock of Castle Hill into which

9020-829: 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 waterline, have been removed to prevent them from being eroded and attacked by visitors. Other parts of the tunnel pass through a dolerite known locally as Rowley Rag; and through Coal Measures rocks. (With links to map and aerial photo sources) Download coordinates as: Canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation ) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi ). They carry free, calm surface flow under atmospheric pressure , and can be thought of as artificial rivers . In most cases,

9130-537: The tunnel must not use diesel engines, and the Trust used to use a trip boat to tow them through, but in 1996 they commissioned a purpose built electric tug, so that they did not lose the use of a trip boat. It is named John C Brown after the British Waterways engineer who oversaw the reconstruction of the tunnel in 1992, and it has a diesel engine connected to a generator to allow the batteries to be recharged when not in

9240-429: The tunnel, and by full boats blocking access to the stop lock into the Birmingham Canal. Such complaints ceased after 1799, presumably because more space was made for the limestone boats, and their organisation was better regulated. More serious was the fact that the tunnel was affected by mining subsidence, and the regular closure for repairs damaged trade. The company employed their own Inspector of Mines to keep on top of

9350-444: The tunnel. The Trust were given use of the disused Blowers Green Pumphouse at the foot of Park Head locks in 1996, and converted it to become offices and an education centre with workshops and stores attached. By 2012, they had funding in place for a permanent headquarters at Todd's End Field, on which work started in 2015. The complex, known as "The Portal", was formally opened by Princess Anne on 4 March 2016. Blowers Green Pumphouse

9460-689: The upper reaches of the River Thames . He surveyed the line for the Hereford and Gloucester Canal , and was also involved in its engineering, as it included a 2,192-yard (2,004 m) tunnel at Oxenhall. The tunnel was recommended by Henshall and Whitworth, and Clowes used gin wheels from the Sapperton tunnel to assist the work. Next he was asked by the Leeds and Liverpool Canal to assess their summit level, as they thought Whitworth had made errors. He reported that although

9570-509: The valley of the River Dee . Another option for dealing with hills is to tunnel through them. An example of this approach is the Harecastle Tunnel on the Trent and Mersey Canal . Tunnels are only practical for smaller canals. Some canals attempted to keep changes in level down to a minimum. These canals known as contour canals would take longer, winding routes, along which the land was

9680-716: The waterways changed as the 1960s progressed, and in 1968 the government announced the membership of the Inland Waterways Amenity Advisory Committee, which included members from the Inland Waterways Association. Between June and December its members visited seven canals to discuss their future with local organisations, of which Dudley Tunnel was one. The Society renamed itself to the Dudley Canal Trust in 1970, and began restoration work, borrowing equipment from British Waterways, Dudley Council and local contractors. Further impetus came in 1971 with

9790-502: The works'. He was to be paid £200 per year, and was initially involved with lock reconstruction. He then travelled to Gloucestershire, to assist Thomas Dadford , who was constructing locks for the Stroudwater Navigation . He appears to have still been involved in running Henshall's carrying company, and the Chester Canal decided that he was not giving sufficient attention to their business, and so dismissed him. His main focus over

9900-511: Was a priority 3 canal, but restoration plans were produced, with the work partly financed by the local authorities in which it was located. The project was aided by the organisation of a "big dig" in collaboration with the Waterway Recovery Group . The event took place in 1970, and 300 volunteers arrived at Park Head, to undertake restoration work. Their work was widely publicised. In early 1972, following successful agreements to restore

10010-410: Was also buried with him. He left a large estate, which was inherited by his nephew William Clowes after the death of Margaret, as they had no children of their own. His contribution to the canal system was huge, and since he was responsible for three of the four longest canal tunnels built, he was probably the first great tunnelling engineer. Although it is not certain, he was probably also consulted on

10120-466: Was also expensive, as men expect compensation in the form of wages, room and board. This was because long-haul roads were unpaved, more often than not too narrow for carts, much less wagons, and in poor condition, wending their way through forests, marshy or muddy quagmires as often as unimproved but dry footing. In that era, as today, greater cargoes, especially bulk goods and raw materials , could be transported by ship far more economically than by land; in

10230-434: Was an amount agreed as a bond when the contract was awarded, after which there was an interlude, while arguments were resolved. The tunnelling was then supervised by Isaac Pratt, one of the Stourbridge and Dudley committee members, with Abraham Lees continuing as resident engineer. In May 1789, there were more difficulties, when it was realised that the tunnel had deviated from its proper line in several places, and that progress

10340-458: Was an option in some cases, sometimes supplemented by other methods to deal with seasonal variations in flow. Where such sources were unavailable, reservoirs  – either separate from the canal or built into its course – and back pumping were used to provide the required water. In other cases, water pumped from mines was used to feed the canal. In certain cases, extensive "feeder canals" were built to bring water from sources located far from

10450-551: Was born in North Staffordshire in 1735. His parents are believed to be William Clowes and Maria Whitlock. He also had an older brother called William, who was involved in coal mining at Whitfield, Norton and Sneyd Green , and it was through him that he met another partner in the business called Charles Bagnall. In late 1762 he married Bagnall's sister Elizabeth, and the marriage was witnessed by another canal engineer, Hugh Henshall . Elizabeth died less than eight weeks later, and

10560-419: Was buried on 19 February 1763 at Norton. Construction of the Trent and Mersey Canal began in 1766, and when its engineer James Brindley died in 1772, Henshall was given the post. Clowes worked as a contractor, as he advertised for labourers in 1775 to work on the project, and was probably involved in the construction of locks and of Harecastle Tunnel . He did not immediately take up engineering, even though

10670-519: Was completed by William Cartwright in 1815. His work on the Shrewsbury Canal included the 970-yard (890 m) Berwick Tunnel, with a wooden towpath cantilevered from the side wall, and an aqueduct at Longdon on Tern , which was swept away by floods in 1795 and replaced by Thomas Telford with a cast iron design, one of the first to use this material. Telford completed the canal construction in 1796. The Blower's Green Junction to Selly Oak section of

10780-463: Was gradual, beginning first in the United States in the mid-1850s where canal shipping was first augmented by, then began being replaced by using much faster , less geographically constrained & limited, and generally cheaper to maintain railways . By the early 1880s, canals which had little ability to economically compete with rail transport, were off the map. In the next couple of decades, coal

10890-424: Was increasingly diminished as the heating fuel of choice by oil, and growth of coal shipments leveled off. Later, after World War I when motor-trucks came into their own, the last small U.S. barge canals saw a steady decline in cargo ton-miles alongside many railways, the flexibility and steep slope climbing capability of lorries taking over cargo hauling increasingly as road networks were improved, and which also had

11000-529: Was interested to come on a last chance trip to see the tunnels, and some 300 people arrived for the trip. A second boat was hastily borrowed, and 150 people were crammed into each of the two boats for the trip. Afterwards, Fletcher warned that the group urgently needed to become official, which resulted in the formation of the Dudley Canal Tunnel Preservation Society on 1 January 1964. The Society soon had several hundred members, and British Waterways had to acknowledge them. They were also talking to Dudley Council about

11110-551: Was later extended to Castle Mill, where a basin was constructed. The Dudley Canal and Stourbridge Canal then looked at an extension northwards from Dudley, to join the Birmingham Canal. This would involve a long tunnel, and Lord Dudley and Ward agreed to sell his branch canal and tunnel to the company. The enterprise was authorised by another act of Parliament, the Dudley Canal Act 1785 ( 25 Geo. 3 . c. 87), obtained in July 1785, which

11220-418: Was made to build a tunnel suitable for broad-beamed boats, rather than narrow boats. There were major problems with the construction of the tunnel, as parts of it passed through Fuller's earth , which swelled up when it got wet, causing the ground to move. Water leaked into the tunnel from above, and springs came through from below. The leaks from above proved very difficult to seal, and the problem of springs

11330-399: Was not finally resolved until 1790, when Robert Mylne found a solution. Clowes also had problems with a contractor, and pleaded with the proprietors to find someone who understood canal navigations. The tunnel took around five and a half years to complete, and one of Clowes' innovations was a driving frame, which may have included movable centring, to assist in the tunnelling. Although he left

11440-418: Was obtained to authorise the amalgamation, and the Dudley Tunnel became part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations system from 27 July 1846. Despite its diminutive size, some 41,000 boats passed through the tunnel in 1853. Birmingham Canal Navigations began looking at ways in which its capacity could be improved, but all of them were rejected. Instead they elected to build a new tunnel, running roughly parallel to

11550-426: Was once used to describe linear features seen on the surface of Mars , Martian canals , an optical illusion. A navigation is a series of channels that run roughly parallel to the valley and stream bed of an unimproved river. A navigation always shares the drainage basin of the river. A vessel uses the calm parts of the river itself as well as improvements, traversing the same changes in height. A true canal

11660-599: Was paid one and a half guineas (£1.57) a day, plus expenses, and worked for two years, completing both the tunnel and a reservoir at Gads Green. By this time Clowes was quite rich, and acted in a consultative capacity, as well as continuing with engineering projects. In 1791 he gave evidence on three projects to the House of Commons . These were the Leominster Canal , the Worcester and Birmingham Canal , (which he had surveyed with John Snape ), and improvements to navigation on

11770-418: Was part of a larger project to improve towpaths in the area, with the total cost being £1.8 million. The restored tunnel was reopened in 1992, 200 years after it first opened for traffic. The Trust had hoped that it would be possible to fix other points where the roof was particularly low, but there were insufficient funds for that. The Trust commissioned the construction of a new tunnel in 1984, running between

11880-405: Was slow. Isaac Pratt ceased supervising the work on 30 May 1789, and Josiah Clowes was employed as engineer from early June, aided by John Gunnery. Gunnery died in December 1791, and a newspaper article announced that the tunnel he had been working on was complete. The work included a stop lock in the tunnel where it joined Lord Dudley and Ward's basin, and a new straighter section and junction with

11990-445: Was steered through the parliamentary process by Lord Dudley and Ward. He was thanked for his efforts, but the company argued that he received sufficient benefit from the convenience of the Dudley Canal and the favourable tolls awarded to him, that payment for his branch canal should not be made, and it never was. The Dudley Canal Act 1785 authorised the company to build five locks to the north of their existing canal, to reach Parkhead, and

12100-498: Was the first phase of the Black Country Museum project at the northern portal of the tunnel. A short canal arm was restored, and the electric trip boat was stabled within the museum complex. In August 1977, the Dudley Canal Trust celebrated the fact that 25,000 visitors had been carried into the tunnel by the trip boat since 1964, and on 1 October 1977, phase one of the museum opened, Subsidence some 440 yards (400 m) from

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