Butterley Tunnel

Infobox tunnel
name = Butterley Tunnel


caption =
route = Cromford Canal
location = Peak District, Derbyshire
coordinates =
system =
status = Fair Condition
start =
end =
stations =
open = 1794
close = 1900
owner = Cromford Canal Company
operator =
character =
linelength = 3083 yards (2819m)
tracklength =
notrack =
gauge =
el =
speed =
hielevation =
lowelevation=
height = convert|8|ft|m|abbr=on
grade = |

Butterley Tunnel is a one and three quarter mile long canal tunnel on the Cromford Canal below Ripley, in Derbyshire, England, opened to traffic in 1794.cite web|url=http://www.cromfordcanal.org.uk/tunnel.html|date=2002-10-07|title=Butterley Tunnel - The Illustrated Report|author=Robin Witter|work=the Web Site for The Friends of the Cromford Canal] .

Origins

The tunnel was 2,966 yard (2712m) long, convert|9|ft|m|abbr=on wide at water level, and convert|8|ft|m|abbr=on from water to soffit (depending on the water level). At the time of building it was the third longest canal tunnel in the World after Sapperton and Dudley.cite web|url=http://www.jim-shead.com/waterways/History7.html|title=Cromford Canal|work=Canals & Rivers: History by Waterways|author=Jim Shead|publisher=Easynet] cite web|url=http://home.no.net/lotsberg/data/canal.html|title=The World's Longest Navigation Canal Tunnels|work=The World's Longest Tunnel Page] Thirty-three shafts were sunk during construction with the workings dewatered using a Woodhouse steam engine. Water was provided for the Cromford Canal from the 50 acre Butterley Reservoir situated on the hill above the tunnel. The Butterley Reservoir is itself crossed by a stone railway embankment currently used by the locomotives of the Midland Railway Centre's preserved steam railway. [cite web|url=http://www.midlandrailwaycentre.co.uk/English/trainride.html|title=Stone Railway Embankment|author=Midland Railway Centre|work=the Web Site for Midland Railway Centre] Water flowed from the reservoir directly into the tunnel via an adit convert|600|yd along the tunnel from the Western Portal. Above the Eastern portal the Butterley Park Reservoir once provided water to the canal. This Reservoir was filled in during 1935. Both the tunnel and reservoirs were constructed by the Butterley Company, formed in 1790 by Benjamin Outram (1764-1805) and Francis Beresford (died 1801) with William Jessop (1745-1814) and John Wright (1758-1840) joining by 1793.cite web|title=Benjamin Outram (1764 – 1805): A tribute to the life of Benjamin Outram of Alfreton, Derbyshire — Civil Engineer and Industrialist|url=http://www.brocross.com/iwps/pages/outram/bn-outram.htm|author=The Inland Waterways Protection Society Limited|date=2006-07-22|publisher=David Kitching]

There is no towpath within the tunnel, therefore narrow boats were propelled through the tunnel using the muscle power of the narrow boat's crew. This process is called Legging. The external link listed below shows men Legging It through Butterley Tunnel.

Underground wharf

had an interest. Initially the boxes were lowered with the aid of a large water bucket descending or ascending a parallel shaft to act as a counter balance. This system was later replaced by a steam engine winding the boxes up and down the shafts. Reputable sources cited here consider the presence and mode of use of this underground wharf to be if not unique, extremely rare within the United Kingdom.cite web|title=Butterley Tunnel Underground Wharf|author=Roger Cragg|work=Newsletter Number 103|date=September 2004|url=http://www.ice.org.uk/downloads//Phew%20Sept%2004%20Newsletter.pdf|format=PDF|publisher= Institution of Civil Engineers] .

In the mid 1980s, demolition of the Butterley Company's old foundry buildings exposed the original blast furnace, dating to 1790. In front of the furnace is at least one vertical shaft, now capped off, which leads down to a short tunnel which connects with the canal tunnel close to the wharf area. Additionally, a number of deep drains below these buildings probably link to the canal tunnel. The site is now occupied by Butterley Engineering, one of the successors to the Butterley Company, and noted for its involvement in the construction of the Falkirk Wheel.

Decline in use

In 1889 subsidence caused the tunnel to be closed for a period of four years with the tunnel reopening after repairs in 1893. This closure resulted in the permanent loss of some of the canal's customers to competing railway companies. A partial collapse of the Butterley Tunnel in 1900 due to mining related subsidence split the Cromford Canal into two. The tunnel has not yet been repaired. Rudolph de Salis undertook a government funded survey of the tunnel in 1904 but his report was not favourable. Rudolph de Salis was a director of Fellows, Morton and Clayton, a prominent canal freight company. A third tunnel collapse in 1907 and a government report by Sir William Matthews KCMG in June 1907 ended hopes of repairing the tunnel at this time and the tunnel was pronounced beyond economical repair in 1909. Commercial traffic on the canal ceased in 1944.

After closure

"The Friends of Cromford Canal" is a group of volunteers whose aim is to fully restore the Cromford Canal and the Butterley Tunnel. A horse drawn narrowboat is brought into service by "The Friends of Cromford Canal" occasionally on the only navigable section of the Cromford Canal near to the Derbyshire village of Cromford itself. [cite web|url=http://www.cromfordcanal.org.uk/ss04.html|date=2004-02-04|title=Horsedrawn Narrowboat|author=Brian L Dominic|work=the Web Site for The Friends of the Cromford Canal]

The tunnel has been extended twice since it was originally built. The Midland Railway's Ripley to Heanor branch was built across the front of the Western portal with a new section of tunnel passing underneath bringing the total length at this time to 3063 yards (2801m). After the tunnels closure the A38 road was built over the old railway track. The extra width required by the road brought about the introduction of an extra convert|6|ft|8|in|m|sing=on wide, convert|20|yd|sing=on long cylindrical culvert to the Western end of the tunnel bringing the new length to about 3083 yards (2819m)..

The Golden Valley Light Railway (GVLR) passes less than convert|30|yd North of the tunnel's Eastern Portal. This convert|24|in|mm|sing=on narrow gauge railway terminates at a station behind Newlands Inn approximately convert|100|yd East of the Butterley Tunnel's Eastern Portal. This section of the GVLR's track crosses the site of the Butterley Park Reservoir. The GVLR operates for the benefit of tourists and is part of the Midland Railway Centre. The Newlands Inn served the Cromford Canal as a place where the narrow boat horses were changed and probably where the narrow boat crews were refreshed prior to or after legging it through the tunnel.cite web|url=http://www.gvlr.org.uk/|title = Golden Valley Light Railway]

References

Further reading

*cite book |last= Christian|first= R.|title= Butterley Brick|origdate= |edition= First|date= 1990|publisher= Henry Melland Publishing|isbn= 0-9079-2919-2
*cite book |last= Farey|first= John|title= General View of the Agriculture and Minerals of Derbyshire|origdate= |edition= |date= 1811|publisher= |isbn=
*cite book |last= Greenwood|first= Des|title= Portal to Portal, A Short History of the Butterley Tunnel|origdate= |edition= |date= 2003|publisher= The Friends of Cromford Canal|isbn=
*cite book |last= Hadfield, Charles and |first= Skempton, A.W.|title= William Jessop, Engineer|origdate= |edition= |date= 1979|publisher= David & Charles|isbn= 0-7153-7603-9
*cite book|last= Potter|first= Hugh|title= The Cromford Canal|origdate= |edition= |date= 2003|publisher=NPI Media Group|isbn=0-7524-2802-0
*cite book|last= Schofield|first= Reginald Bryan|title= Promotion of the Cromford Canal Act of 1789 : A Study in Canal Engineering|origdate= |edition= |date= 1981|publisher=J.Rylands Univ.Lib of Manchester|isbn= 0-9055-7887-2
*cite book|last= Schofield|first= Reginald Bryan|title= Benjamin Outram, 1764-1805: An Engineering Biography|origdate= |edition= |date= 2000|publisher=Cardiff: Merton Priory Press|isbn= 1-8989-3742-7

External links

* — a photograph (oscoor|SK421512|Ordnance Survey grid reference
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*cite web|url=http://www.engineering-timelines.com/scripts/engineeringItem.asp?id=416|title=Butterley Reservoir|author=Engineering Timelines|work=the Engineering Timelines Map of the British Isles Web Site

See also

* List of canal tunnels in Great Britain
* Butterley
* Worsley Navigable Levels
* Speedwell Cavern
* Wet Earth Colliery