The Wren's Nest is a National Nature Reserve (NNR) located to the north west of the town centre of Dudley, West Midlands, England.[1][2][3] Today, apart from the geological interest, the site is home to a number of species of birds and locally rare flora; the caverns also support large roosting populations of bats.[1] You may spot a fox or smaller mammals such as wood mice or bank voles, or locally rare plants such as small scabious, milkwart and quaking grass.[4][5]
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The Wren's Nest National Nature Reserve is world famous geologically for its well-preserved Silurian coral reef fossils. Founded in 1956 it was the UK's first National Nature Reserve for geology.[2][6] More than 700 types of fossil have been discovered here, with 86 of those found nowhere else, including Calymene blumenbachi, a trilobite nicknamed the Dudley Bug or Dudley Locust by 18th century quarrymen.[7] A trilobite also featured on the town's coat of arms until 1974.[2] The limestone in the Dudley region was formed from the material remnants of an ancient sea bed.[2][7] The limestone deposits contain ripple marks made from the sea's action on sand when the area formed part of a sea bed.[6]
The outcrop of Wenlock Group limestone which was formed some 420 to 425 million years ago.[6] Wren's Nest Hill was extensively quarried during the Industrial Revolution for building stone and lime production.[1][2] The site was originally studied by the Scottish paleontologist Sir Roderick Murchison, whose work in defining the Silurian System was mainly based on fossils and rock formations found at sites in Dudley.[1]
Abraham Darby, who was one of the fathers of the Industrial Revolution, was born on Wren's Nest hill in 1678.[2]
The caves were mined for hundreds of years for the valuable limestone, used firstly for mortar and agriculture and then principally iron production during the Industrial Revolution. The Victorians installed the world's first industrial steam engine next to the Wren's Nest which pumped water from mines and access tunnels.[8] Dudley was once part of the Victorian urban-industrial landscape known as the Black Country, a name still used today.[7]
During the height of the Industrial Revolution up to 20,000 tons of limestone was quarried annually.[2] When quarrying officially finished in 1925, the site was abandoned. Some of the caves are now on the brink of collapse due to the weight of Dudley Castle situated above it.[7] Local industrialisation was considerable at this time, as the district had become highly industrialised in the then heyday of the Black Country's industrial past.
In 2004, Wren's Nest and the nearby Castle Hill were declared Scheduled Ancient Monuments as they represented the best surviving remains of the limestone industry in Dudley. The most impressive part of this is the last remaining surface opening limestone cavern in the world - formerly reaching more than 100 m underground - which is known as the Seven Sisters. The workings were originally connected by underground canal to the Dudley Tunnel complex, which has now been blocked off for safety reasons.[9]
The Wren's Nest is a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) considered to be one of the most notable geological locations in the British Isles.[10] The Wren's Nest geological value was first recognised by Sir Roderick Murchison in 1839, and is now both the ex-quarry and tunnels visited by scientists from all over the world to study it’s valuable content.[2][8]
The most impressive is the world. Named the Castle Hill, the Wren's nest and the Dudley canal. This tunnel in Castle Hill is one of many leads to the canal tunnels underneath which are run by the Dudley Canal Trust.[9][11]
A major roof collapse and mine cave in occurred during October 2001 could have resulted in the loss of the Seven Sisters cavern, if it was not for emergency work by Dudley Council. More recent work had also began on the infilling the huge Cathedral Gallery with loose sand. The former limestone mine and the adjacent vast underground canal basin, which leads to a now blocked off passage to Dudley Tunnel, contain some of what local historians claimed to be some of the world's most important geology and mining heritage.[2] Geologists consider the fossils to be of world-wide importance.[8]
If the region fails to win £50,000,000 national lottery funding then the chance to fully explore and open the mines to the public could be permanently lost.[7] It would become part of the Black Country Urban Park - a project competing against three others nationally for the Big Lottery's Living Landmark Award.[7] The Dudley project would ensure it is preserved for future generations and also safeguard future geo-tourism, science, historical study and conservation. It would take people up the 34’ degree slope the 120m back to the surface. The Dudley project would be also be designed to allow disabled access. A £13,000,000 share in National Lottery cash would pay for the first serious action to get underway and it was planned in 2007 establish the attraction by 2012.[2][7]
The base is about 200 ft below and hasn't been seen for 200 years.[7]
Roger Morgan, an engineer with Dudley Metropolitan Council, said the ambitious project would also include the world's first underground, publicly licensed, inclined lift of any kind. Dudley Metropolitan Council said it would use its slice of the cash to let visitors tread where only a handful of experienced miners and geologists can go at present.[7]
In 2007 journalists from Birmingham Mail were allowed privileged access to the massive subterranean chambers via the 200 ft deep maintenance worker's Step Shaft.[7]
A mineral line once connected the quarry to the Seven Sister Tunnels and Dudley station as this 1930's O.S. map shows-.[12] The line was not present in 1903 as this-[13] 1903 O.S. map illustrates and was cut back by the Wren's Nest Estate by 1948 as this- [14] 1948 O.S map points out. It was used as a long siding by local freight trains after the pit closed and was removed by the early 1950s. This was preceded by a canal basin that lead to the Dudley Canal at the Dudley Tunnel.[2]
The Wren's Nest Estate was originally council housing and was largely built between 1935 and 1939 to rehouse families from town centre slum clearances.