Harecastle Tunnel is a canal tunnel on the Trent and Mersey Canal at Kidsgrove in Staffordshire.
It is made up of two separate, parallel, tunnels. The fist tunnel was built by James Brindley and the second by Thomas Telford. Today only the Telford tunnel is navigable.
There are two blue plaques to commemorate the tunnels constructed by engineers James Brindley and Thomas Telford, located on the canal keepers office at the Harecastle Tunnel, North Portal on the Trent and Mersey Canal, Kidsgrove.
The entrances to both tunnels can also be seen at this location.
James Brindley started work on the first tunnel on 27 June 1766, partly at the urging of local potter Josiah Wedgewood, who needed a safe and cheap means to transport coal to the kilns. The tunnel took eleven years to build, during which time Brindley died and was replaced as chief engineer by his brother in law, Hugh Henshall. The 2,880 yards long tunnel had presented a number of problems, including quicksand, hard rock outcrops, springs and even deadly methane gas. It was eventually opened in 1777, a tremendous engineering achievement.
The tunnel had no towpath, and so boatsmen had to leg their way through the tunnel, lying on the roof of their boat and pushing on the sides of the tunnel with their feet. It could take up to three hours to get through the tunnel. The boat horses were led over Harecastle Hill via 'Boathorse Road'.
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Brindley's Tunnel was a great success but was unable to cope with the increasing traffic on the canal and the slow process of legging meant that the Harecastle Tunnel was becoming a major bottleneck on the canal.
The second tunnel was commissioned and built by Thomas Telford. Due to advances in engineering, it took just three years to build compared with the eleven years it took to build James Brindley's tunnel. The 2962 yard tunnel was completed in 1827. It had a towpath so that horses could pull the boats through the tunnel. After its construction it was used in conjunction with the Brindley tunnel, with each tunnel taking traffic in opposite directions. The Brindley tunnel was closed in 1914.
Between 1914 and 1954 an electric tug was used to pull boats through the tunnel. In 1954 a large fan was constructed at the south portal. While all the boats are within the tunnel an airtight door is shut and all the air is pulled through the tunnel by the fan. This allows diesel boats to use the tunnel without suffocating the boaters. Today the journey takes about 30–40 minutes.
In the late 20th century, the Telford tunnel also began to suffer subsidence, and was closed between 1973 and 1977. The towpath, long disused, was removed, allowing boats to take advantage of the greater air draft in the centre of the tunnel. Source: (
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