Standedge Tunnel Diggle 15/04/2011

[legoff]

had another walk to Marsden last night info from www.forgottenrelics.co.uk

The Great Western Company’s Severn Tunnel, 4 miles 636 yards in length, is the longest tunnel in Great Britain. Next to it comes the LMS Totley Tunnel, 3 miles 950 yards long. The third longest tunnel, on the LMS Manchester-Leeds line, is now to be described.

The Standedge double line tunnel is 3 miles 64 yards in length and there are three other tunnels running parallel to it. The first of the four to be constructed, and incidentally the longest,


The canal tunnel

This passes under the mountainous district known as Standedge. It is the summit level of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and the three Acts of Parliament under which it was constructed are dated 1794, 1800 and 1806. The Huddersfield & Manchester Railway Company acquired it, together with the Huddersfield Broad Canal at Huddersfield, under the Act of 1845. Both the railway and canals were vested in the L&NWR in 1847.

The length of the whole summit level is 4 miles and the height above OD 648.6 feet which is greater than that of any other canal in the country. It is straight throughout.

The canal rises 438 feet 10 inches to the summit level from Huddersfield to Marsden by 42 locks in eight miles and falls through a series of 32 locks 338 feet 1½ inches from Marsden to Ashton in less than nine miles.

The original construction of the canal tunnel, which had a length of 3 miles 135 yards, was partly of stone arch with side walls and partly rock cutting. In places the rock beds are horizontal and much broken up, in consequence of which ‘falls’ of rock occasionally take place.

The work was commenced in 1794 and completed in 1811, at a cost of £271,000. There is no towpath through the tunnel and the boats are propelled through by boatmen - or ‘leggers’ as they are called - from the roof or sides, the operation occupying 1½ to four hours, according to the weight of the cargo and the number of men engaged in the work. The boat horses and attendants travel by road over the tunnel.

There are four ‘wides’ or passing places for boats in the tunnel, viz Brunnclough Wide, Whitehorse Wide, Old Judy Wide and Redbrook Wide at distances of 0.8, 1.1, 1.5 and 1.7 miles respectively from the Diggle end.

Practically the whole water supply from the reservoirs situated on the top of Standedge is brought down the lockages on each side of the summit level. The minimum height above water level is 6 feet 8 inches, width 7 feet 3 inches, and average depth of waterway is 4 feet.

During the construction of the new double-line tunnel between 1890 and 1894, great damage was done by the mining operations to the canal tunnel. To make good the damage, a considerable length of brick flying arches (with side walls where required) and continuous arching were built.

The present lining of the tunnel consists of 2,300 linear yards of rock cutting, 1,060 linear yards stone lining, 870 linear yards brick flying arches (new work) and 1,130 linear yards continuous arching (new work).

In construction of the new double tunnel, about 32 yards of the original canal tunnel at the Diggle end was removed and the waterway covered over with steel girders and floor plates for a length of about 275 yards.

Of the ventilation shafts for the tunnels, seven are situated directly over the canal tunnel and one over a side passage or waterway, but a detailed description of these is given under the head of ‘ventilation’.








Peter Pan (CaveMan) n Wendy
























Trans Pennine Express




















Speak no evil, Hear no evil, See no evil


Thanks for viewing

[Clough]

Thats a beast mate! Well done that looks ace! Top stuff!

[MJS]

Some of the best pics I've seen in here mate, hats off!!

[crippletron 3000]

Haha didn't you see the lights last night in the distance, we were there and bailed just in case it was rail workers

[Kevsy21]

Like the look of this place,well done.Good pics.

[legoff]

Haha didn't you see the lights last night in the distance, we were there and bailed just in case it was rail workers

sorry man did see lights spent about an hour wondering what to do thought it might be other explorers cos of random lighting and elvis said he was going in so called his name and yours a couple of times to no reply
well done for getting past us unseen cos you were in the distance in front of us then behind will be going in again in a month or so will let you know and we can go in together
really sorry for disturbing yous

[Mutilated_Pixie]

Nice work I never thought standege could be so interesting I'm gonna have to gety myself over there sometime

[crippletron 3000]

Haha We never got any pics and the end, although I have been a few times before and got some, we got out at Marsden, had a few pints and a kebab and got a taxi back, was a decent night, we did hear your voices but honestly thought we were being followed so fucked it off

[Nicola]

Cracking pics!

[legoff]

Thanks for your comments guys