Bumble Hole and Warren Hill are two adjoining Dudley Council local nature reserves. Like several of the Dudley LNRs they are on land formerly used for mining, quarrying and industry: in this case around the Dudley canal as it approaches the western entrance to the Netherton tunnel.
As well as the considerable wildlife interest, the reserve is worth visiting to see the remaining industrial remains. Featuring in the first two pictures is Cobb’s engine house, a Victorian building for the engine which powered the pumps which stopped the mines here from flooding, raising the water to feed the canals.
Here the engine house is seen in its setting above the canal and the entrance to the tunnel.
This is the view just inside the entrance to the tunnel. The dot of white is not the light at the other end of the tunnel. It is the spotlight of a distant oncoming boat.