List of canal tunnels in the United Kingdom

This is a list of canal tunnels in the United Kingdom.

Listed by name
Tunnel Canal Length Designer Coordinates Notes Image
Ashford Tunnel Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal 375 yards (343 m)[1] Thomas Dadford 51°53.195′N 3°16.525′W Brecknockshire/Powys Tunnel narrows considerably between northern and southern portals due to repairs to its fabric but is nevertheless navigable by a narrowboat with relative ease.
Ashford Tunnel, northern portal
Blisworth Tunnel Grand Union Canal 3,056 yards (2,794 m)[2] Northamptonshire
Blisworth Tunnel, southern portal
Branwood Tunnel Stratford-upon-Avon Canal 352 yards (322 m)[3]
Brandwood Tunnel, eastern portal
Braunston Tunnel Grand Union Canal 2,042 yards (1,867 m)[2] Jessop & Barnes 52°16.976′N 1°10.041′W Northamptonshire
Narrowboat leaving Braunston Tunnel
Bruce Tunnel Kennet and Avon Canal 502 yards (459 m)[4]
Bruce Tunnel's Eastern Portal (in 1992)
Butterley Tunnel Cromford Canal 3,063 yards (2,801 m)[5] 53°3.3841′N 1°22.3994′W Derbyshire
The Butterley Reservoir Adit where it enters the Butterley Tunnel, in 2006
Chirk Tunnel Llangollen Canal 459 yards (420 m)[6] 52°55′46.91″N 3°3′46.77″W Near Chirk
View taken from the Chirk Aqueduct
Cookley Tunnel Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal 65 yards (59 m)[7]
Cookly Tunnel, western portal
Drakeholes Tunnel Chesterfield Canal 154 yards (141 m)[8]
Dudley Tunnel Birmingham Canal Navigations 3,172 yards (2,900 m)[9] 52.52173°N 2.07840°W / 52.52173; -2.07840 Part of Dudley Canal Line No 1
The southern portal of the Dudley Tunnel
Dursley Tunnel Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal 25 yards (23 m)[10]
Dunsley Tunnel, west portal, near Kinver
Gosty Hill Tunnel Birmingham Canal Navigations 557 yards (509 m)[11] Part of Dudley Canal Line No 2
Gosty Hill Tunnel, northern portal
Greywell Tunnel Basingstoke Canal 1,200 yards (1,100 m)[12] Closed to traffic following cave-in. Now home to Europe's largest bat colony.
The eastern portal of Greywell Tunnel on the Basingstoke Canal
Hardham Tunnel Arun Navigation 375 yards (343 m) 50°56′56″N 0°31′23″W Closed since 1888; blocked in 1895 by LBSCR under Mid Sussex Line and Midhurst-Pulborough Line.
Southern Portal, Hardham Tunnel.
Harecastle Tunnel Trent & Mersey Canal 2,926 yards (2,676 m)[13] James Brindley/Thomas Telford 53°4′27″N 2°14′11″W Staffordshire. Comprises parallel "Brindley" and "Telford" tunnels. (The length stated is for the Telford tunnel.)
Northern end of Harecastle Tunnel. Telford's tunnel on the left, Brindley's the right.
Lapal Tunnel Birmingham Canal Navigations 3,795 yards (3,470 m)[14] 52.4450°N 2.0017°W / 52.4450; -2.0017 Part of Dudley Canal Line No 2 (disused—closed 1907)
1955 Ordnance Survey map of the east portal of Lapal Tunnel
Lord Ward's Tunnel Birmingham Canal Navigations 196 yards (179 m)[15] In the Dudley Tunnel complex
Netherton Tunnel Birmingham Canal Navigations 3,027 yards (2,768 m)[9] 52.50697°N 2.05708°W / 52.50697; -2.05708
The dual towpaths inside the northan portal of Netherton Tunnel
Newbold Tunnel Oxford Canal 250 yards (230 m)[16]
Illuminated Newbold Tunnel
Norwood Tunnel Chesterfield Canal 2,884 yards (2,637 m)[17] 53.33501°N 1.26971°W / 53.33501; -1.26971 Located in Derbyshire. Closed with plans for restoration.
Norwood Tunnel western portal
Sapperton Canal Tunnel Thames and Severn Canal 3,817 yards (3,490 m)[18] 53.591283°N 1.95996°W / 53.591283; -1.95996 Gloucestershire
The Coates Portal at the south-eastern end of the Sapperton Canal Tunnel.
Scout Tunnel Huddersfield Narrow Canal 220 yards (200 m)[19] Unlined, rock tunnel
Scout Tunnel
Standedge Tunnels Huddersfield Narrow Canal 5,698 yards (5,210 m)[19] 53.591283°N 1.95996°W / 53.591283; -1.95996 West Yorkshire to Greater Manchester
Standedge Tunnel entrance at Marsden
Wast Hills Tunnel Worcester and Birmingham Canal 2,726 yards (2,493 m)[20] 52.3902°N 1.9400°W / 52.3902; -1.9400 West Midlands (county) to Worcestershire
Wast Hills Tunnel, southern portal

An adits is a horizontal entrance to a mine:

Tunnel Canal Length Designer Coordinates Notes Image
Hollingwood Common Tunnel Chesterfield Canal
Worsley Navigable Levels Bridgewater Canal 53°30′2.2″N 2°22′52.2″W Greater Manchester
Starvationer at Ellesmere Port Canal Museum with a demonstration of the process of legging to push the boat through the tunnels

Listed by canal

Grand Union Canal

Peak Forest Canal
  • Hyde Bank Tunnel
  • Woodley Tunnel

Regent's Canal

Union Canal (Scotland)
  • Falkirk Tunnel, Falkirk
  • Roughcastle Tunnel, Falkirk. Part of the Falkirk Wheel complex; leads to Locks 1 & 2 and South Basin

See also

References
  1. Cumberlidge 2009, p. 366.
  2. Cumberlidge 2009, p. 128.
  3. Mosse 2018, p. 142.
  4. Cumberlidge 2009, p. 161.
  5. Cumberlidge 2009, p. 105.
  6. Cumberlidge 2009, p. 363.
  7. Mosse 2018, p. 113.
  8. Cumberlidge 2009, p. 99.
  9. Cumberlidge 2009, p. 76.
  10. Mosse 2018, p. 117.
  11. Mosse 2018, p. 138.
  12. Cumberlidge 2009, p. 72.
  13. Cumberlidge 2009, p. 319.
  14. The Dudley Canal and Tunnel Trust.
  15. information – CanalPlanAC 2020.
  16. Cumberlidge 2009, p. 246.
  17. Skempton 2002, p. 736.
  18. Cumberlidge 2009, p. 310.
  19. Cumberlidge 2009, p. 152.
  20. Cumberlidge 2009, p. 339.

Bibliography
  • "Lord Ward's Tunnel". information – CanalPlanAC. 5 January 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  • Cumberlidge, Jane (2009). Inland Waterways of Great Britain (8th Ed.). Imray Laurie Norie and Wilson. ISBN 978-1-84623-010-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • "History of the tunnels". The Dudley Canal and Tunnel Trust. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  • Mosse, Jonathan (2018) [1969]. Waterways Guide 2: Severn, Avon & Birmingham. Nicholson. ISBN 978-0-00-825801-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Skempton, Sir Alec; et al. (2002). A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland: Vol 1: 1500 to 1830. Thomas Telford. ISBN 978-0-7277-2939-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)


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