Foulridge tunnel
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Foulridge tunnel by Kate Jewell as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Foulridge tunnel
Image: © Kate Jewell Taken: 21 Mar 2010
The eastern portal of the mile long Foulridge tunnel is over looked by houses on the appropriately named Mile End Close. The tunnel was designed by Robert Whitworth, canal engineer and took 5 years to complete costing over £20,000. It is “one way working,” as there is not room for two narrowboats and as there is no towpath the boats had to be “legged” through. The men lay on the bows and walked the boats through, meeting the horses, that had been walked over the top, at the other end. In 1880 a Legger died putting an end to the practice here and a steam tug was introduced which was replaced by diesel boats in 1937. The tunnel was then controlled by tunnel keepers using a telephone and the traffic lights were introduced in 1963 on a time switch. See Image
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Image Location
Latitude
53.878123
Longitude
-2.172606