Netherton Canal Tunnel & Warren’s Hall Nature Reserve Walk

While studying Birmingham’s canal network on a walk, I was intrigued by the Netherton Tunnel, just outside the city. Netherton Tunnel is a 1.7-mile-long canal tunnel further up the Main Line Canals from the section from Edgbaston Reservoir. One of the historical highlights is the Cobbs Engine House near the tunnel entrance.

The Netherton Tunnel runs from the area near Dudley Port Junction Bridge on the New Main Line. Or from the Tividale Aqueduct on the parallel-running New Main Line. The tunnel runs under Tividale Park, Oakham, and Dudley Golf Course before reaching Warren’s Hall Nature Reserve. I found the tunnel entrance by starting at Warren’s Hall Nature Reserve on this visit.

Getting to Warren’s Hall Nature Reserve

In Dudley, the Warren’s Hall Nature Reserve is on the X8 Platinum bus route. The X8 is a bus route that joins Birmingham with Dudley via Hagley Road. The bus starts at the SH2 bus stop, which is next to Birmingham Cathedral, AKA Pigeon Park. This journey takes just under 45 minutes from the city centre.

There is a car park here for those arriving by car, just next to the bus stop.

Warren’s Hall Nature Reserve

Warren’s Hall Nature Reserve has 17 hectares of grasslands, hedgerows, ponds, streams, and, of course, canals that provide a great habitat for wildlife. There are some amazing views of the conurbation from the right vantage points on the site.

The site has many ponds: Island Pool, Top Pool, Secret Pool, Swan Pool, Red Pool and Bumble Hole Pool. Sadly, I missed a few of these on my walk, but Komoot maps clearly mark them.

The site was once an industrial area; because of the canals, there are remnants of the industrial past about. This includes the tunnel and the Grade II-listed Cobbs Engine House, which was built around 1831 to pump water out of the coal mines.

My Walk Around Warren’s Hall Nature Reserve

Upon alighting the bus, you need to walk through the car park to a small gate into the park. This is when it gets beautiful. My visit was at the start of autumn, and the trees had changed colours.

When walking along the path from the parking area, you head towards the top pool. This is a tree-lined pool with a path around it. It is a popular area with dog walkers with a crisscross of paths nearby. There is also the island pool close to here. I wanted to avoid a sizeable group of dogs off-lead, as I needed a sit-down, so I took a narrow side trail.

This led me to Blow Cold Bank, a raised area with fantastic views of the conurbation and faraway hills. There was a park bench here, and it was empty, a great place for me to admire the views. Also, a fitting point to crack open the trusty hip flask and a can of Coke.

From here, I walked back along some narrow trails to reach a large meadow that overlooked one of the key sites. This was the Cobbs Engine House, a remnant from the area’s industrial past.

Cobb’s Engine House

This was a striking site, and Cobbs Engine House dominated the landscape nearby. Cobb’s Engine House is great for taking photographs via the lower windows and as part of the landscape.

The engine house is visible from many areas of the lower areas of the reserve. Cobb’s Engine House is a Grade II-listed building built around 1831. It used to house a stationary steam pump that pumped water first from Windmill End Colliery and later from other mines in the area.

Warren’s Hall Nature Reserve Walk

From the pumping station, there is another pond, this one called Swan Pool. Swan Pool has a pathway all around its edges, and there are small jetties here for fishing in the ponds. The far bank is next to the Dudley Canal, which runs towards Halesowen. In fact, I reached the end of the canal by accident later that day after getting off the bus at Leasowes Park.

There were loads of nice trees, birds were aplenty, and I even spotted some interesting mushrooms on the site. This is certainly a haven for wildlife, including resident wildfowl such as coots, moorhens and mallards.

The Dudley No. 2 Canal is near the principal attraction for me, where it meets the Netherton Tunnel Branch Canal. The junction has a few bridges here, all great vantage points for views of the reserves and the canals.

Walk To Netherton Tunnel

Now I had found the Netherton Branch Canal. I crossed the bridge to get a view of the tunnel. I proceeded along the left-hand bank, which had some delightful views across the water, to the pump house.

The tunnel was impressive, as I thought. Looking down the length, you could see a little tiny dot of light. The light at the end of the tunnel would have been great to reach, but it’s not on the agenda today. I also didn’t have spare shoes, as the path was wet, with deep puddles that gave my feet a good soaking. Netherton Tunnel has a path on both sides and is walkable or passable on a cycle. The right-hand side at this end seems to be the go-to for cyclists.

There are some interesting videos from the Netherton Tunnel on YouTube. Including some people cycling through, and another video was investigating ghosts spotted in the tunnel. All the clips were interesting in their own particular way. The paranormal one brought the Titanic anchor to my attention, so I had to visit it.

Because of puddles, lack of a torch and wanting to visit Netherton, I have earmarked walking the full length of the tunnel on a future visit. Really looking forward to this, but I hope not to bump into oncoming cyclists or the police officer ghost. After the tunnel, it was onwards down the canal to the equally picturesque Bumble Hole Nature Reserve.

Bumble Hole Nature Reserve.

The Bumble Hole Nature Reserve blends pretty much into the other nature reserve. It has a lovely larger lake, canal views, and visible signs of wildlife. The autumnal colours certainly are striking here. This, which was formerly a clay pit, is now a haven for wildlife. And serves as a stormwater balancing lake. The pool itself was man-made around 1970 and is fringed with flowering rush, an attractive and unusual plant.

The Titanic Anchor in Netherton

Because of the paranormal video I watched, I needed to find the Titanic anchor mentioned. This is another West Midlands connection I will have visited in recent times. The last one is the statue of Captain Edward J. Smith, the Titanic’s captain, in Lichfield.

I put the Titanic anchor into Google Maps and followed the canal south to where it meets Northfield Road. Here I followed the road up into the town of Netherton. They proudly display the Anchor at the centre of the town in a very well-tended garden. The garden had some information about the history of the Titanic. In particular, about the anchor and the rebuilding of the replica.

The historic 15.5-tonne Titanic replica anchor is near to where Noah Hingley and Sons Ltd manufactured the original. They pulled the original anchor by twenty Shire horses to Dudley Railway Station on its way to Belfast. The same techniques were used to make this replica of the anchor as were used for the original. It was itself pulled back to its spiritual home by 20 shire horses.

Old Swan Inn

After exploring the area and ticking off my list of local sights, it was beer o’clock. Asking Google for a local dog-friendly pub introduced me to the Old Swan Inn just down the road. They get a great mention in the Good Pub Guide for their beer and Victorian decor.

The Old Swan Inn is a nice local pub in Netherton. Their staff were friendly and provided excellent service, keeping me topped up. The whole pub is not dog-friendly, but they have 2 rooms behind the bar where dogs are welcome.

I had the entire room to myself to enjoy a pint of Stella and fill the dog’s bowl with some water. The seats were comfy in the wood-lined room.

The pub provided me with a great place to plan the next section of the day. My plan was to get the bus back towards Birmingham before hopping off at a new park. The most interesting to me was Leasowes Park, just outside Halesowen. This involved 2 short bus trips, including the X10, which would make it easy to get back home afterwards.