| AdminHistory | The Dudley No 2 Canal, authorised by an Act of 1793, was built to join the Dudley Canal with the Worcester-Birmingham Canal. It was hastily constructed and opened in 1798. The main line was nearly eleven miles long and contained the Lapal Tunnel which was also completed in 1798. The brickworks at California, South West Birmingham, were situated alongside the canal and made heavy use of it. The canal closed to full navigation (via the Lapal Tunnel) in 1917 and was officially abandoned in 1953. It is now in the process of sympathetic restoration. |
| The Gosty Hill Tunnel was constructed on the Dudley No. 2 Canal. It is comparatively short at just 557 yards long (it was originally 648 yards long but it was reduced to its present length when it was rebuilt in 1881). Its northern portal is situated near Station Road, Old Hill, with its southern portal between Windmill End junction and Coombes Wood, opening out into Stewarts & Lloyds Tube Works. Between 1913 and 1930, a motor tug called 'George', pulled boats through the tunnel, as the tunnel had no towpaths. The tug had a propeller at each end to eliminate the need for it to turn round. It had its own shed at the northern portal. Now it is mostly pleasure traffic that use the tunnel. |