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Colwall Tunnels

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31-686: The Colwall Tunnels are a pair of railway tunnels that connect Colwall and Malvern Wells on the Cotswold Line , passing under the Malvern Hills in the Welsh Marches region of England . The original route planned for the Worcester and Hereford Railway did not include the first tunnel, but its inclusion became necessary in response to pressure for the line to serve the towns of Malvern and Ledbury . The first Colwall Tunnel

62-470: A colony of about 700 hibernating lesser horseshoe bats , but otherwise disused and inaccessible. The Ledbury Area Cycle Forum has promoted a project to reopen the disused tunnel as a recreational and utility facility for cyclists and walkers. It is periodically inspected by engineers for safety purposes. By the 1920s, it was clear that the original Colwall Tunnel possessed several negative attributes, including being very narrow, relatively low and steep (it had

93-575: A contract with a Colwall family, and built a bottling plant in 1892. The actual source of the spring is on the western side of the hills in Herefordshire. The factory was acquired by Coca-Cola & Schweppes Beverages and latterly employed 25 people who bottled 12 million litres annually. On 21 October 2010, Coca-Cola announced that Malvern Water would cease production and the Colwall plant would be sold off to property developers. Malvern Water

124-411: A gradient of 1 in 80), all of which made it increasingly difficult to accommodate the emerging specification of rolling stock . Furthermore, locomotive crews complained about the tunnel's inhospitable conditions; there were cases of individuals passing out on the footplate due to the fumes. Accordingly, management decided that the best solution would be to construct a new, wider tunnel directly adjacent to

155-699: Is a civil parish in Herefordshire , England, situated on the border with Worcestershire , nestling on the western side of the Malvern Hills at the heart of the AONB . Areas of the village are known as Colwall Stone , Upper Colwall which shares a common border at the Wyche Cutting with the Malvern suburb of Malvern Wells , and Colwall Green , spread along 2 miles (3.2 km) of the B4218 road, with

186-612: Is also home to a BBC Children in Need youth project 'Colwall Youth Project' that serves over 180 young people from Colwall and the surrounding area (including Malvern and Ledbury). 'Colwall Youth Project' was founded by Colwall Community Church and now receives funding from National Lottery, BBC Children in Need and the Everson Trust. The world's oldest (private) miniature railway is the Downs Light Railway , located on

217-894: Is the 'Wyche Free Church '. There is also a large, modern village hall on Mill Lane between Colwall Stone and Colwall Green, which incorporates the Church of England's St Crispin's Chapel. The Church of the Good Shepherd in Upper Colwall is no longer a place of worship. There are four public houses in the parish – the Chase Inn in Upper Colwall, the Crown in Colwall Stone, the Yew Tree in Colwall Green, and

248-720: The Wellington Inn in Chance's Pitch. Additionally there is the Colwall Park Hotel and Thai Rama in Colwall Stone and the Malvern Hills Hotel at the southern end of Jubilee Drive, near the British Camp. A clock tower , built in 1931, stands in Colwall Stone, and is locally known as "Aunt Alice". The population of the parish was recorded in the 2011 census at 2,400 – compared to 2,433 in

279-403: The Worcester and Hereford Railway commenced. The need to traverse the Malvern Hills represented the endeavour's largest engineering challenge; in addition to Colwall Tunnel, Ledbury Tunnel was also constructed for the line. Both tunnels share considerable similarities, such as a relatively narrow cross section and only able to accommodate a single track; trains were particularly constrained by

310-556: The igneous Malvern rock (some of the hardest rock to be found in Great Britain ) was reached, the rate of progress slowed to as little as 15 cm (six inches) per day. Further complications came in the form of spring waters, multiple pumps had to be installed to remove the water from the construction site; this water source was subsequently helpful, being used to refill the line's steam locomotives , as well as being piped to Great Malvern railway station . On 17 September 1861,

341-595: The 1920s until the 1960s, the road passing through Colwall and The Wyche was numbered the A4105, before being re-classified as the B4218. It is named "Walwyn Road" from Colwall Green to The Wyche Cutting, and is served by the 675 bus route, running between Great Malvern , West Malvern , Wellington Heath and Ledbury , Mondays through Saturdays. The village has a state primary school (Church of England), and two independent preparatory schools, The Downs, Malvern College Prep. and The Elms , founded in 1614. The village

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372-506: The 1920s, work on the construction of a second tunnel commenced. Once this newer, wider bore was completed and brought into service on 2 August 1926, the original Colwall Tunnel was permanently closed that same day. It was used during the Second World War for storing munitions, being furnished with a concrete floor and a narrow-gauge railway . Only the newer bore remains in use as of the present day. It has been proposed to reopen

403-427: The 2001 census. Malvern water has formed a part of the national heritage and culture since Queen Elizabeth I made a point of drinking it in public in the 16th century, and Queen Victoria refused to travel without it. In 1987 Malvern gained recognition as a Natural Mineral Water , a mark of purity and quality. Malvern Water was the only bottled water used by Queen Elizabeth II , which she took on her travels around

434-632: The B4218. Colwall is often included in the informal region referred to as "The Malverns", which refers to the Malvern Hills and the surrounding settlements. The village is served by a single platform railway station on the single track line between the Great Malvern and Ledbury railway stations , which passes through the Colwall Tunnels , the first of which was dug under the Malvern Hills between 1856 and 1860. The original tunnel

465-696: The Council . Colwall is notable in cricket and has one of Herefordshire's main cricket grounds – Stowe Lane – which hosts a minor counties championship match and a minor counties knockout trophy match every year. In 1926 the Women's Cricket Association was founded in Colwall, and a Women's Cricket Week is held there every year. The Horton brothers Joseph and Henry , came from Colwall, and both played first-class cricket for Worcestershire ; Henry went to greater fame with Hampshire . Horse racing took place at Colwall Park Racecourse from 1900 to 1939, and

496-530: The Downs school estate. Colwall Stone has numerous local shops and service businesses, including a convenience store , a small fruit and vegetable shop, a butcher 's shop, a pharmacy, an estate agent, a hairdressers and a specialist garden centre. There is also a library, a doctors' surgery and a post office. In Upper Colwall, near The Wyche Cutting, is the Malvern Hills GeoCentre, located in

527-557: The Wyche Innovation Centre (occupying the former Skot Transformers building) along with a cafe and many small businesses. The village has several church buildings , most notably the historic Church of England parish church of St James the Great, located in the small medieval core to the west of Colwall Stone. The 'Colwall Community Church' is situated on Walwyn Road in Colwall Stone. On Jubilee Drive in Upper Colwall

558-400: The course also staged pony racing in 1949 and point-to-point from 1960 to 1963. Legend has it that the Colwall Stone (which gave its name to the settlement of Colwall Stone that has grown around it) was rolled down from the Malvern Hills by a giant whose footprint can be seen to this day on the slopes of the British Camp. The stone was replaced at some point; it took a horse and cart to take

589-499: The disused tunnel was appropriated for military use as a munitions storage facility on behalf of the Admiralty . It was refurbished with repairs made to the lining of the tunnel. Both a concrete floor and a narrow-gauge railway was laid along its length, enabling stores to be transported to either end of the bore. By July 1941, this new railway was operational; its locomotives were stored engine sheds built just outside either end of

620-421: The existing bore. Construction work commenced in 1924, it was completed only two years later, significantly faster than work had proceeded on the first tunnel. The greater speed of work was credited to the advance in tunnelling techniques and the availability of new pneumatically -powered tools. The new tunnel had a contract price of £196,080. The second Colwall Tunnel was opened to traffic on 2 August 1926, while

651-400: The first Colwall Tunnel was opened to traffic. During 1907, the tunnel suffered a partial collapse around one of the ventilation shafts, resulting in the line being temporarily blocked until engineers could implement repairs to the tunnel. The problematic original bore was closed on 2 August 1926, having been replaced by a newer, wider bore that was opened to traffic that same day. During 1939,

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682-482: The historic village core (at the parish church ) being 1 mile (1.6 km) to the west of Colwall Stone. A feature of Colwall is the view of the Iron Age British Camp ( Herefordshire Beacon ), which largely falls within the southeast corner of the parish. The towns of Ledbury and Malvern are 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest and 3 miles (4.8 km) northeast respectively from Colwall Stone, via

713-444: The old bore was closed on that same day. Like the original Colwall Tunnel, the new bore carries a single track throughout. There have been petitions and studies conducted for the whole line, including the tunnel, to be double-tracked throughout; it has been observed that any reengineering or replacement programme would incur considerable expense. Irrespective, the newer tunnel remains active to the present day. Colwall Colwall

744-563: The older bore as a cycle route. The origins of the Colwall Tunnels are directly connected to the development of a railway between Worcester and Hereford , which was first mooted during the early 1850s. The original intended route for the railway was actually a much straighter route running directly between the coalfields of South Wales and the industries surrounding Birmingham and the Black Country , roughly parallel to

775-422: The present day A4103 . As a result of considerable lobbying by the citizens in the towns of Malvern and Ledbury , who sought the new line to serve their locations as well, it was decided to change the railway's route to include them; this new route necessitated construction of two tunnels (along with two viaducts and a bridge), one of the former being the first Colwall Tunnel. During 1856, work on constructing

806-476: The tunnel's dimensions. The completed bore has a maximum depth below the surface of roughly 600 ft; airflow in the tunnel is augmented by a pair of ventilation shafts. The tunnel had to be bored through relatively hard rock only using the manual methods available at the time. Local engineer Stephen Ballard was appointed to complete the work. Being bored by navvies from either end of the tunnel, work progressed at an average rate of ten feet per week. However, once

837-535: The tunnel. Shortly following the end of the Second World War , the facility was deemed to be surplus to requirements, thus the narrow-gauge railway was dismantled and it fell back into disuse once more. It was around this time that both of the tunnel mouths were sealed with steel sheeting to make them inaccessible. In the present day, the original bore forms a part of the Malvern Hills Site of Special Scientific Interest, and has been reportedly inhabited by

868-630: The world. It was mentioned in 1622 in Bannister's Breviary of the Eyes: A little more I'll of their curing tell. How they helped sore eyes with a new found well. Great speech of Malvern Hills was late reported Unto which spring people in troops resorted. ..."The Malvern water says Dr John Wall is famous for containing just nothing at all"...! It was first bottled on a commercial scale in 1851 and sold as Malvern Soda and then as Malvern Seltzer Water from 1856. In 1890, Schweppes entered into

899-514: Was closed in the 1920s when it was in danger of collapse, but served the nation during the Second World War when used as a torpedo store; it is now a roost for a colony of lesser horseshoe bats . Near to the station is the mock Tudor country house style Colwall Park Hotel, purpose built in 1905 to serve the now defunct Colwall Park Racecourse . South of the village is the Grade II listed Barton Court, built circa 1785 for Henry Lambert. From

930-416: Was one of the railway's greatest engineering challenges, after several years of work, it was opened to traffic on 17 September 1861. Its limited cross-section and single track configuration were often felt to be inadequate, contributing to pressure for a second tunnel to be constructed. A partial collapse of the first tunnel during 1907, temporarily blocking the railway, was another contributing factor. During

961-571: Was priced out of the market, with a market share of just 1%. Colwall has a parish council . The parishes of Bosbury , Coddington , Colwall, and Mathon together form the ward of Hope End, which returns one elected councillor to Herefordshire Council . The most recent election was in May 2015, in which the Conservative candidate, Tony Johnson, was elected. Councillor Johnson is the Leader of

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