Standedge Tunnel, Marsden

Huddersfield Narrow Canal

This is a bit of departure for me.  My blogposts are usually about what I've been making, the exhibitions I've seen or the workshops I've attended or given.  However, apart from mixed media, textiles and art more generally, I also have a penchant for civil engineering projects.  I particularly like bridges but recently I have visited a tunnel.  And not just any tunnel, but the Standedge Tunnel on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal at Marsden, which is near Huddersfield.  The tunnel is the longest, highest, deepest tunnel in Britain.  It is 3.5 miles long (5.2km) at a height of 645 feet (196.6m) above sea level and 638 feet (194.5 m) below ground.  

View of the Standedge Tunnel at Marsden

In 1794 there was an Act or Parliament authorising the construction of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal.  The canal is a little less than 20 miles long and runs from Huddersfield to the Ashton Canal in Ashton-under-Lyne.  It was completed in 1799 apart from the Standedge Tunnel and the flight of locks at Diggle, which is at the other end of the tunnel from Marsden.  

Standedge Tunnel Entrance

The Standedge Tunnel, which goes under the Pennines, wasn't completed until 1811. It took 16 years to complete.  The original engineer on the project was Benjamin Outram but he resigned after 5 years when the tunnel wasn't finished.  Thomas Telford took over and established that the two tunnels (the tunnel was being dug from both the Marsden and Diggle ends) were not going to meet in the middle.  He designed a gradual S-bend in the middle to get the two sides to join up.  That's also why you can't see light at the end of the tunnel.  It took 2500 navvies (short for navigators), who were manual labourers, to build the tunnel.  More than 50 died in the process.

Standedge Tunnel showing the supporting brickwork put in after the railway tunnel was built

It's a very narrow tunnel and there is no towpath so the barges had to be legged through the tunnel. A legger is someone who legs a canal boat through a tunnel by propelling it along by walking their legs along the tunnel walls whilst lying on a board on the barge.  To get through the Standedge Tunnel in this way could take upto 4 hours depending on the cargo and the weight of the boat.  Even today, with motors, it takes 1.5-2 hours to get a barge through.  Today, the boats have to be measured by the Canal & River Trust to make sure they will fit and a chaperone travels with them to make sure they get through safely. Barges can't be more than 6 feet 10 inches wide, 6 feet 2 inches in height above water with a draught below the water of no more than 3 feet 3 inches. You have to make an appointment to travel through the tunnel.  It's a one way system as there are no passing places.  In the past upto 40 boats a day might go through.

The tunnel is very narrow.
The barge takes up almost all the space

When the lights aren't on it's pitch black in the tunnel

There are also 3 adjacent railway tunnels.  Two to the left of the canal tunnel which are no longer in rail use, and the current two track mainline tunnel on the right.  The ventilation shafts for the canal also serve the railway tunnels and all the tunnels are connected by adits (horizontal passages) so that you can get between the tunnels.  The tracks have been removed in the middle railway tunnel and emergency vehicles can be driven through it, should the need arise.  When the mainline tunnel was being blasted this destabilised the canal tunnel and brick supports had to be built in parts of the tunnel to shore it up.  The rest of the canal tunnel is bare rock.

One of the Tunnel Adits

Regular traffic through the tunnel ceased in 1913 and the canal was abandoned in 1944 by an Act of Parliament. Restoration began in the 1980s and the Canal reopened in 2001.  You can now book a short trip into the tunnel.  It's fascinating and if you sit at the front of the boat, prepare to take a shower as you pass under one of the 7 ventilation shafts which are pouring with water! 

There's an interesting video about the tunnel and travelling through it by Foxes Afloat on YouTube here.

You can get to Marsden by train, although there are lots of steps to get out of the station and there is a boat that will take you to the Standedge Tunnel if you don't want to, or can't walk, along the tow path. There is also a Visitor Centre in the old canal warehouse near the mouth of the tunnel. Marsden itself is an attractive small town with several cafes and restaurants.  Definitely worth a visit!