Bumble Hole Branch Canal

Entrance to Boshboil Branch (under Boshboil Arm Bridge)

Bumble Hole Branch Canal
Legend Netherton Tunnel (South portal) Cobb's Engine House Bumble Hole railway Windmill End Jn. Toll island and Dudley No 2 Canal to Halesowen (right) Boshboil Branch Loop encloses Bumble Hole Bumble Hole Branch extended to Dixon's Green Furnaces Bumble Hole Branch Dudley No 2 Canal (to Parkhead Jn)

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.

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.

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

Features

Toll Island near Windmill End Junction

Point	Coordinates (Links to map resources)	OS Grid Ref	Notes
Netherton Tunnel south portal	52.4933°N 2.0692°W / 52.4933; -2.0692 (Netherton Tunnel)	SO953884
Cobb's Engine House	52.4929°N 2.0690°W / 52.4929; -2.0690 (Cobb's Engine House)	SO953883
Windmill End Junction	52.4916°N 2.0702°W / 52.4916; -2.0702 (Windmill End Junction)	SO952882
Bumble Hole pool	52.4912°N 2.0732°W / 52.4912; -2.0732 (Bumble Hole pool)	SO950881
Bumble Hole Branch (junction)	52.4900°N 2.0725°W / 52.4900; -2.0725 (Bumble Hole Branch (junction))	SO950880

See also

• Canals of Great Britain

References

Dunn's Bridge over the junction of Bumble Hole Branch Canal on the left with Bumble Hole Bridge on the right. The bridges were constructed in 1858 and were cast at the Toll End Works in Tipton.

• Pearson, Michael (1989). Canal Companion - Birmingham Canal Navigations. J. M. Pearson & Associates. ISBN 0-907864-49-X. 
• Perrott, David; Mosse, Jonathan (2006). Nicholson Waterways Guide 2 - Severn, Avon & Birmingham. Collins. ISBN 978-0-00-721110-4. 
• Palmer, Marilyn; Neaverson, Peter (1994). Industry in the Landscape, 1700-1900. Routledge. ISBN 0415112060. 

External links

• Cruising the BCN - photographs
• English Nature - Bumble Hole and Warrens Hall LNRs