The Dudley Canal is a canal passing though Dudley in the West Midlands of England. The canal forms part of the popular Stourport Ring narrowboat cruising route.
The original canal route was built in the 18th century. It later became known as the Dudley Canal Line No 1.
It was built to link the Birmingham Canal Navigations, at Tipton Junction, near Tipton to the Stourbridge Canal, linking Birmingham and the Black Country to the River Severn.
From Tipton, the canal passes through the Dudley Tunnel, then the short Grazebrook Arm leaves to the south-east. After Parkhead Locks, the Dudley Canal's Line no 2 leaves at Park Head Junction, and the canal passes though the Merry Hill Shopping Centre, built on the site of the former Round Oak Steelworks, before meeting the Stourbridge Canal end-on at the bottom of the eight Delph Locks.
The two Acts of Parliament permitting the construction of the Dudley Canal and the Stourbridge Canal were passed on the same day in 1776.
In 1846 the Dudley Canal Company merged with the Birmingham Canal Navigations.
After a period of disuse following nationalisation in 1948, Line No 1 was rescued by the Dudley Canal Trust, and the tunnel reopened in 1973. A short arm north of the tunnel runs into what is now the Black Country Museum, from where visitors can take boat trips into the tunnel.
An extension was built, the Dudley Canal Line No 2, to link the Dudley Canal, at Park Head Junction (near Netherton)), via Halesowen and a tunnel at Lapal, to the Worcester and Birmingham Canal at Selly Oak, Birmingham, thereby bypassing the congested canals of central Birmingham.
A loop around Bumble Hole was bypassed after the Netherton Tunnel Branch Canal made a connection through the Netherton Tunnel at Windmill End Junction in 1858. The cut-off loop became the Bumble Hole Branch Canal and Bushboil Arm after a collapse of the canal filled in part of the loop.
Lapal Tunnel collapsed in 1917 and the section from Lapal to Selly Oak is filled in. Part of the Lapal Tunnel was unearthed during the construction of the M5 motorway during the 1960s and it was filled with concrete.
The Lapal Canal Trust is working on the restoration of the lost canal.