page_title: Dudley Canal
section_title: Line No. 2
hierarchical_section_title: Dudley Canal / History / Line No. 2
caption_attribution_description: Old OS map of Halesowen and the western portal of the Lapal Tunnel on the Dudley Canal in England. Portal is below the capital "A" of "LAPAL".
context_page_description: The Dudley Canal is a canal passing through Dudley in the West Midlands of England. The canal is part of the English and Welsh connected network of navigable inland waterways, and in particular forms part of the popular Stourport Ring narrowboat cruising route.
  The first short section, which connected to the Stourbridge Canal, opened in 1779, and this was connected through the Dudley Tunnel to the Birmingham Canal system in 1792. Almost immediately, work started on an extension, called Line No. 2, which ran through another long tunnel at Lapal, to reach the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. This was completed in 1798, but significant trade had to wait until the Worcester and Birmingham was completed in 1802. In 1846, the company amalgamated with the Birmingham Canal Navigations, and various improvements followed, including the Netherton Tunnel, of a similar length to the Dudley Tunnel, but much bigger, with towpaths on both sides and gas lighting. It was the last canal tunnel built in England.
  Subsidence from coal mining was a significant problem for much of the life of the canal.
context_section_description: With the tunnel just finished, a meeting was held in Birmingham on 31 August 1792, at which a canal from Birmingham to serve the collieries at Netherton was proposed. The following day, the canal company proposed their own version of a similar canal, and following meetings with the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, whose line it would join, it was agreed that those who had been at the meeting would raise £61,500, and that the remaining £28,500 required would be subscribed by existing Dudley shareholders. The line would be constructed at the same level as the Dudley Canal at Park Head. A tunnel of 3,795 yards (3,470 m) would be required at Lapal, and a shorter one of 537 yards (491 m) at Gosty Hill. Another short tunnel was to be built at Halesowen, but became a cutting and bridge when work began. The length of the canal was to be 10.8 miles (17.4 km), for which the working capital would be £90,000, with an additional £40,000 if required. John Snape carried out a survey, and despite opposition from the Birmingham Canal, the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, and a contingent of iron foundries in Wolverhampton, an Act of Parliament was obtained in 1793. The Stratford-upon-Avon Canal was authorised soon afterwards, which would provide a connection to London.
  The original route was renamed "Line no 1" to distinguish it from the new "Line no 2" which linked the canal at Park Head Junction (near Netherton) to Halesowen, and then via the tunnel at Lapal to the Worcester and Birmingham Canal at Selly Oak, Birmingham. Work began in early 1794 with Josiah Clowes as engineer and William Underhill as resident engineer. Clowes died in early 1796, and Underhill managed the whole project for a year, after which Robert Whitworth carried out an inspection. He was satisfied, and Underhill continued to manage the construction of the tunnel and an aqueduct near the junction with the No.1 Line, while management of the rest of the project was handled by Benjamin Timmins. The section from Netherton to Halesowen had been built about 1 foot (0.30 m) too high, but this was rectified and the wharf at Halesowen opened for business in early 1797.
  Tunnelling proved difficult. Thirty shafts were dug, to provide multiple work faces, but
  much of the route was through sand, and large quantities of water had to be pumped out of the workings, using three steam engines. The £90,000 had been spent by May 1796, and additional calls on the shares were used to raise the extra £40,000 authorised. Another Act of Parliament was obtained in December 1796, to authorise a further £40,000, and by the time the new route was completed on 28 May 1798, a total of £162.50 had been called on each £100 share. The original shares were worth £118.75, and financial matters were simplified by issuing additional shares so that they all had a nominal value of £100. Lord Dudley resigned from the committee at this point, having steered the company through twenty-two year of construction. The working capital had risen from just £7,000 to over £200,000 in this period, and no dividends had been paid. Traffic through the new tunnel was meagre until 1802, when the Stratford Canal provided a link to the Warwick and Birmingham Canal (later the Grand Union Canal), and hence to London. The first dividend was paid in 1804, and although dividends were never high, they averaged around 4 per cent between 1826 and 1844.
caption: 1955 Ordnance Survey map of the west portal of Lapal Tunnel, the western dry section, and the last half mile of navigable canal (entering from the top)
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