canals and boat trips

THE CANALS OF THE BLACK COUNTRY

The Black Country canals are a network urban and rural routes which include a fascinating network of junctions and branches.

The canals were fundimental to the success of the industrial revolution in the Black Country. Today they provide a stunning green corridor through a predominantly build up area attracting boating visitors, anglers, cyclists, walkers, industiral archaeologists and those enjoying the wildlife and peace, quiet and bueauty of the countryside.

There are many places along the Black Country canals that are a must see which give a fascinationg insight into the history of the Black Country.

Dudley canal tunnel - view coming out of first tunnel — Dudley canal tunnel – view coming out of first tunnel

WALKING, CYCLING AND ANGLING

The canals offer a peaceful and interesting place to relax. There are several places where the canals link with other walks and trails around the Black Country. Due to the industrial decline the water quality has greatly improved and the canals have now become home to an increasing variety of wild life. For the angler there are roach, bream, pearch and other coarse fish.

NARROW BOAT CRUISING

The Dudley and Stourbridge canals are part of two curcuits used by cruising boaters which take several days to complete. One takes in Wolverhampton and the other Birmingham.

Dudley Canals in the Past

These canals played a key part in bringing the Industrial Revolution into what was then rather remote country in south Staffordshire and north Worcestershire situated on the watershed of England and thus distant from navigable rivers. Cheap bulk transport allowed the mineral resources of the area, above all coal, to be exploited to the full. Ironworks, brickworks, glassworks and many other industries proliferated amongst coalmines, claypits and limestone quarries; creating the ‘Black Country’.

The Stourbridge and Dudley Canals were cut in the late 18th century to link with the Staffs & Worcester Canal to the west and the Birmingham Canal Navigations system (‘BCN’ to the enthusiasts) to the east and thus become a part of the national network of waterways. The traffic was so great that the old Dudley Tunnel became a bottleneck and was supplemented by a new line of canal, the Dudley No. 2 Canal which originally took a short cut to join the national system at Selly Oak south of Birmingham. This route also had the advantage of avoiding the Birmingham Canal Company’s notoriously high tolls! However even this was insufficient and in 1859 a new double width tunnel was driven through the Rowley Hills at Netherton – the last canal tunnel to be built in Britain until the Dudley Canal tunnel was extended into the Singing Cavern in 1984.

In addition to the main lines of these canals there were many branches and hundreds of basins and docks serving canalside factories. Most of these have now gone as have many of the factories themselves.