Dudley Tunnel
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| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Location | Dudley, West Midlands, England |
| Coordinates | 52°31′03″N 2°05′12″W / 52.517544°N 2.086741°WCoordinates: 52°31′03″N 2°05′12″W / 52.517544°N 2.086741°W |
| OS grid reference | SO942910 |
| Status | Part-open |
| Waterway | Dudley Canal No 1 Line |
| Start | 52°31′18″N 2°04′42″W / 52.52173°N 2.07840°W |
| End | 52°30′04″N 2°06′03″W / 52.50110°N 2.10086°W |
| Operation | |
| Constructed | 1775 - 1791 |
| Opened | 25 June 1791 |
| Owner | Canal & River Trust |
| Technical | |
| Length | 3,172 yards (2,900.5 m) |
| Towpath | No |
| Boat-passable | No |
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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 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 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 the local authority, Dudley Borough Council. The opening ceremony was advertised as "TRAD 1973 - Tunnel Reopening at Dudley".
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. The work was completed in 1778 and was known as Lord Ward's canal. 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.
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