Thursday 1 December 2011

Weoley Castle and the Dudley No. 2 Canal

Yesterday Ally mentioned that she was going to Weoley Castle, near where she lives in Brum. She sent me a link to it, so I looked it up and read a surprising thing.

By the mid-17th century Weoley was referred to as a ‘ruyned castell’ and in the following centuries a farmhouse was built where the education room is now. The brick wall along the right hand arm of the moat and a few apple trees are all that now remain of the farm. In the late 18th century the Dudley Number 2 Canal was dug along the northern boundary and the spoil was dumped in the moat. Stone from the castle was used in the construction of canal bridges.


So stone from the ruined "castle" (actually a mediaeval manor house) was used in the construction of the Dudley No. 2 Canal. The two bridges I photographed on this canal didn't display any stonework, but the tunnel mouth does. I wonder if this is some of the reclaimed stone.

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