The Lapal Tunnel (old spelling Lappal Tunnel) is a disused canal tunnel on the five mile dry section of the Dudley No. 2 Canal in the West Midlands,

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It takes its name from the settlement of Lapal.

History

The narrow brick-lined tunnel, built in 1798 by William Underhill, had no towpath. It had a very small bore — at 7 feet 9 inches, barely wider than the boats which used it, with a headroom of only 6 feet. Boats originally took about three hours to complete the passage by legging or poling, so in 1841 a steam engine was built at the Halesowen end which drove a scoop wheel to load the tunnel with water. Stop gates could be opened at either end to assist boats along the tunnel in either direction. The tunnel suffered many collapses, and after a collapse in 1917 due to mining

subsidence Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope mov ...

it was abandoned. It runs under Lapal, the

M5 motorway The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West England, South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 motorway, M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Brom ...

near junction 3 and

Woodgate Valley Country Park Woodgate Valley Country Park is a country park within the Bartley Green and Quinton districts of Birmingham. It is the third largest Birmingham Country Park after Sutton Park and Lickey Hills Country Park. The park is maintained as a wildlife ...

. The canal between Halesowen and Selly Oak is disused and some sections have been filled in as the tunnel was considered uneconomic to repair. A short un-navigable length remains in the grounds

the Leasowes The Leasowes is a 57-hectare (around 141 acre) estate in Halesowen, historically in the county of Shropshire, later (from 1844) Worcestershire, England, comprising house and gardens. The parkland is now listed Grade I on English Heritage's Reg ...

, once a garden belonging to the poet

William Shenstone William Shenstone (18 November 171411 February 1763) was an English poet and one of the earliest practitioners of History of gardening#Picturesque and English Landscape gardens, landscape gardening through the development of his estate, ''The ...

(1714–1763), and now a public park and golf course. To the north of Halesowen,

the canal The Saintes Maries de la Mer Speed Canal, known to windsurfers as The Canal, is a man-made canal or trench near the French Mediterranean coastal town Saintes Maries de la Mer, built especially for speed record-breaking sailing by windsurfers. ...

is in good repair and is used by boats accessing Hawne Basin. The canal north of Halesowen includes the Gosty Hill Tunnel which at is much shorter than the Lapal Tunnel. It was built at the same time and has similar cross sectional dimensions.

Restoration

Th
Lapal Canal Trust
aims to restore the un-navigable parts of the Dudley No 2 canal to the tunnel entrance sites at Halesowen and

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, from Hawne Basin and

Selly Oak Selly Oak is an industrial and residential area in south-west Birmingham, England. The area gives its name to Selly Oak ward and includes the neighbourhoods of: Bournbrook, Selly Park, and Ten Acres. The adjoining wards of Edgbaston and Harbor ...

They originally aimed to restore the tunnel, but a study in 2007 showed this to be unfeasible.Feasibility Study for the Restoration of the Dudley No.2 Canal (The Lapal Canal)
/ref> The study showed that an "up and over" solution would be possible, though at a cost that makes its achievement in the foreseeable future somewhat unlikely. The restoration of a short section of the canal from the junction with the Worcester Birmingham Canal to Selly Oak Park is probably achievable. The recently built supermarket on the line includes allowance for the restoration. The exact locations of the portals a
California
an
Halesowen
can be seen on th
National Library of Scotland
website.

History

Restoration

Points of interest

See also

References

Further reading