Misplaced Pages

#853146

14-567: The Foulridge Tunnel ( / ˈ f oʊ l r ɪ dʒ / ) is a canal tunnel on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in Foulridge , Lancashire . Also known as the Mile Tunnel , Foulridge is 1,630 yards (1,490 metres) long and was built by Samuel Fletcher , following Robert Whitworth 's 1789 survey. The tunnel is the longest in the country to allow passage of canoes and kayaks . The building of

28-473: A much larger bore, and hence cost more to build. Prior to the introduction of motorised boats, legging was one of the few options for getting a boat through such a tunnel. Two people were required. They would lie on a plank across the bows of the boat, and holding the plank with their hands, would propel the boat with their feet against the tunnel wall. This was quite a dangerous activity and resulted in many deaths. In later years 'wing' boards were hooked on to

42-468: A requirement for passage. At Morwellham , boatmen were said to have pushed against the tunnel roof. This tunnel has a considerable flow of water through it, and progress was very slow in one direction. Berwick Tunnel on the Shrewsbury Canal , opened in 1797 was the first tunnel to be built with a towpath, negating the need for legging. Legging was also the main form of propulsion used in

56-485: Is more commonly used. Canal tunnels were made in the Kingdom of Travancore as early as 1876. Legging (canals) Legging is a method of moving a boat through a canal tunnel or adit containing water. This method of navigating through canal tunnels and adits was commonly used in canal tunnels during the 18th and early 19th centuries. Early canal tunnels were built without a towpath as this would require

70-595: Is no towpath. The horse would be led over the hill and the boat would be propelled by legging . The term "canal tunnel" is not commonly applied to tunnels used to conduct water (for irrigation, water supply, etc.), such as the 48-kilometre-long Arpa - Sevan tunnel in Armenia (see List of longest tunnels ), or a number of tunnels on the Irtysh–Karamay–Ürümqi Canal in China. For those, the term water tunnel

84-491: The Leeds and Liverpool Canal began in 1770, but work on the over-budget project was suspended during the American Revolutionary War . Under the original plan, the canal's route would not have required a tunnel at Foulridge, and instead additional locks would have created a 1-mile-long (1.6 km) summit level, thirty feet (nine metres) higher, with the line passing through a reservoir. Before work on

98-403: The 3 mile long Standedge Tunnel expert leggers could get an empty boat through in 1 hour 20 minutes, taking 3 hours with a full load, for which they were paid 1s 6d. At Blisworth the boatmen were often terrorised into employing leggers, so in 1827 the leggers were registered and issued with brass armlets for identification. At Standedge Tunnel , the use of official leggers eventually became

112-415: The boat to make the operation safer. At Crimson Hill tunnel , alternate stones in the walls were recessed to provide better tread for the leggers. While the boat was being legged through the tunnel, the horse would be led over the hill. On short tunnels the legging was done by the boat owner and crew. At long tunnels, professional leggers were available, such as at Blisworth Tunnel and Dudley Tunnel . At

126-713: The canal opened to Colne Road in Burnley in 1796, where it would take another five years to complete the large embankment needed to cross the valley there. After the tunnel's opening in May 1796, the Leeds Intelligencer described the tunnel as "the most complete work of the kind in England, if not in Europe". A local story purports that on 24 September 1912, a cow fell into the canal at Blue Slate Farm, Colne , near

140-506: The canal resumed with Robert Whitworth as engineer, he re-surveyed the route and recommended changes to improve the available water supply. Construction of the tunnel began in December 1792, following Whitworth's 1789 survey. The project lasted almost five years; the final three years saw construction of the final 1,400 yards (1,300 metres) of tunnel. Only 700 yards (650 metres) of the tunnel's length—approximately two fifths—was built by

154-722: The proposed Stad Ship Tunnel in Norway , a proposed tunnel for sea going vessels, Standedge Tunnel , the longest, deepest and highest in the United Kingdom and Harecastle Tunnel , another noteworthy tunnel in the UK. The oldest canal tunnel in the world is the Malpas Tunnel also in France, built in 1679. In some canal tunnels the towpath continues through the tunnel. In other cases, especially on English narrow canals, there

SECTION 10

#1732801539854

168-650: The southern portal. She then swam the length of the tunnel before being helped out and revived with brandy (or rum ) at the Hole in the Wall pub in Foulridge. Having no towpath, vessels traditionally navigated the tunnel by legging while the horses traversed above the tunnel. This practice ended at Foulridge in 1886 after the drowning of a legger; a double-ended steam tug was introduced in 1880 to haul vessels through and return without winding . A diesel tug later replaced

182-408: The standard method of sinking shafts and boring horizontally. The majority of the tunnel was made using the cut and cover method, where the hill was excavated and the tunnel lining constructed before the hill excavation was infilled. This was a result of loose earth in the hillside that was not sufficiently stable to allow tunnelling 69 feet (21 metres) below the hilltop. Once the tunnel was complete

196-641: The steam boat; this service ended in 1937. To ensure that boats would not meet head-on in the tunnel, a telephone system was installed to control passage. In 1963, this was superseded by traffic lights . In 2017, the Canal & River Trust allowed unpowered craft such as canoes and kayaks to use the tunnel. Canal tunnel The longest canal tunnel in the world is the Rove Tunnel in France , currently disused. Other notable examples of canal tunnels include

#853146