The Nine Locks

I drive past these all the time first time I have photographed them
They have some history, they are called the nine locks even though theres only eight.
It takes a good few hours to navigate from top to bottom.


Black Delph marked the division between the Stourbridge Canal to the south and the Dudley Canal to the north and could be classed as a 'junction' .The flight of locks which climb straight up the hill are part of the Dudley Canal and are known locally as the 'Ninelocks'; However you will soon discover there are only eight. The original locks built in 1779 by Thomas Dadford Senior, engineer to the Dudley Canal Company, are just south of the present line and can still be seen among the trees and grassland. Mining of the thick coal seam caused major subsidence and in 1856 these locks had to be replaced. The old top and bottom locks were kept but the remainder were superseded by six new locks hence the eight locks in existence today.