Bumble Hole Branch Canal


The present day Bumble Hole Branch Canal and Boshboil Branch surround Bumble Hole, a water-filled clay pit, in Bumble Hole and Warren's Hall Nature Reserve, Rowley Regis, West Midlands, England. They formed a looped part of the original Dudley No. 2 Canal until the opening of the Netherton Tunnel in 1858 when the loop was bypassed by a new cut, in line with the new tunnel. Part of the bypassed canal loop, which surrounds Bumble Hole, is now in-filled giving access to the pool of Bumble Hole. An area next to the Bumble Hole and Dudley canals is the Bumble Hole Local Nature Reserve.

Cobb's Engine House

Between Windmill End Junction and the tunnel portal stands Cobb's Engine House, built in 1831 to pump water from coal mines into the canal.

Bumble Hole railway

The Bumble Hole railway used to cross the canal near Windmill End Junction, but was dismantled in 1969.

Canal map

Features