UK's longest canal tunnels 1 - Standedge

Mega Tunnels 1 - Standedge

March 2019

I recently had a two part article published in Waterways World (Feb and March 2019) under the title Super Tunnels.

The article contained a few images but not all the ones I found and I thought it would be interesting to feature a wider selection of images, along with a version of the text in a series of blog posts.

For the full article I would recommend you get a copy of the relevant months editions of the magazine in either hard or soft copy.

I will be posting a focus on the 14 tunnels which are over 2,000 yards in length starting with the mighty Standedge. Interestingly, I have very recently come across a quite amazing 30 minute YouTube vlog by Martin Zero of Manchester, in which he undertakes a perilous exploration of the two disused railway tunnels and the linked canal tunnel. The link is here:

Martin Zero : Almost the Longest & Deepest Canal & Railway Tunnels in Britain

Get a cup of tea, sit down and enjoy.

I would hasten to point out that this is not open for public access and I would not suggest anyone else tries to gain access to what is a very dangerous environment. But it does make compelling viewing!

1. Standedge Tunnel

The Standedge Tunnel on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal commands the top spot in terms of canal tunnels by just about every measure.

At 5,698 yards long, it burrows under the Pennine ridge for well over three miles and is a full mile longer than its nearest rival. Not only is it the longest but it is also the highest (643 ft above sea level) and the deepest (636 ft below the moors) and can therefore justifiably claim to be the king of the tunnels.

It was built over a period of 17 years and was finally completed by Thomas Telford in 1811, creating a direct connection between Manchester in the west and Huddersfield in the east. To fully appreciate this wonder of the waterways you really need to walk up to the Pennine Way which crosses the line of the tunnel, and from this lofty vantage point it is possible to look west to the Diggle end and then east to the hill which blocks the view to Marsden. I first climbed this hill about 10 years ago and every time I return I wonder at the audacity of the early engineers who stood on the wild moors in the 1700’s armed only with explosives, pickaxes and wheelbarrows and concluded that they could drive a navigable tunnel all the way through the stubborn Pennine rock.

To be honest, the tunnel took far longer to build than they expected and swallowed a hefty £160,000, making it also the most expensive tunnel in the country. Work progressed simultaneously from both ends and a central shaft but sadly claimed the lives of over 50 of its workers.

This was a narrow canal and navigating its massive summit tunnel was a slow business. There is no towpath and all boats had to be legged through, a trip taking 1hr 20 mins for an empty boat and up to three hours for one laden with goods. In the early years business was brisk and about 40 boats were worked through daily.

Whilst it was a narrow tunnel, two-way working was planned with passing places constructed. In practice this did not work out well and single way traffic became the norm, as it does today. The last commercial boat passed through in 1921 and it was closed to traffic in 1944, although Tom Rolt and Robert Aickman made a final and much celebrated passage in the Ailsa Craig in 1948. After being left to its own devices for over 50 years, save an occasional inspection, the tunnel was repaired and reopened for through passages in 2001 at a cost of £5m.

Today the canal tunnel is one of a set of four parallel tunnels, with the other three being railway tunnels, of which just one remains operational. The four tunnels are connected by cross adits which were used to move spoil during the construction of the railways, easing their construction.

Pennine Passage - book review

Pennine Passage
A History of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal
by Michael and Peter Fox

This was another of those speculative purchases, on this occasion trawled from the inland waterways box of the WRG's stall at the Chesterfield Canal Festival.

My search is always for the interesting and obscure, but anything covering the Huddersfield Narrow tends to catch my eye. You all know my fascination with this unique canal!

So I enthusiastically grabbed this 60 page Huddersfield Canal Society booklet published, I would guess, in about 1988 (I can't see a date).

Whilst  I have previously read a very comprehensive history of the canal, and its rebirth, this one is both shorter, different, and in many ways better. It is divided into four distinct sections:

1. The beginnings of the canal

2. The making of then canal

3. The working years

4. Revival and restoration

This author uses masses of original source material, which really bring the story to life. I was particularly gripped by the account of the tunnel which still stands as one of the Inland Waterway's greatest triumphs. There are accounts of the plans, the setbacks, bugdet problems, changes of engineer and somewhat sadly, a tally of the traffic carried in the later years as through traffic spluttered to a halt after which the bore stood silent and empty for decades. 

Perhaps the best bit about the booklet is the lovely collection of black and white photos it contains. My favourite is a moody shot of the Marsden portal at the turn of the century, set in the context of the three railway tunnels it helped create. This is just a sample image - its well worth getting a  copy for the rest.

Everyone's a winner!

Photographic success for the Captain

January 2012

I like to set myself a few objectives each year and one for 2011 was to get a photo onto the winners rostrum of the Huddersfield Canal Society's annual photographic competition.

This target was assisted by a planned trip along the canal in the summer, so I set off from Aspley Wharf with camera in hand.

The competition has seven winning slots in two categories and I was  delighted to learn that I had succeeded with not one, not two, not three but four photo's in winning positions.

One winner was the runner up in the non Huddersfield Canal section, an image of Hillmorton Locks taken last Easter:

Hillmorton Sunset

But the other three winning photos occupied the winner, runner up and highly commended sections of the Huddersfield Canal category. My question to you is which one won first place? See if you agree with the judges.

31 East

10 East

39 East

Answers in the comments section.

Huddersfield Ring 2011 - Uppermill to Marple Aqueduct

Huddersfield Ring

Uppermill to Marple Aqueduct

11th August 2011

14 miles - 23 locks - 10 hours

That's 24 hours of solid rain we have endured. Not misting rain or showers but a steady drumming on the roof as big juicy raindrops fall from heaven and leave the towpath awash, the rivers running in spate and the by washes a heaving torrent of foam. This isn't the shallow HNC, or the drought stricken canal system we have come to know and love.

Uppermill Lock

We skulked in our beds for a while, hoping that the worst would pass and finally starting at 10.00am when the rain eased off.  It was a short lived reprieve and soon we were cowering under brollies as the rain beat down. But we were undeterred and ploughed on. As they say at Outward Bound - its not he wrong sort of weather, its just the wrong sort of clothes. The trouble is that it was just too warm for working locks in over trousers, so we opted for keeping our tops dry and letting our trousers get soaked.

Scout Tunnel

I felt a bit bad at lock 18W - we rounded a corner and found a boat sitting in the chamber with the skipper inside making a brew and getting out of the rain. I would have done the same, have done the same, but we needed to move on so we tooted him out and he good naturedly moved his boat on, whistling a tuneless song to himself, the rain driving into his unprotected fleece. Sorry mate. 

Rain enhanced stonework

We passed a further two boats at Woodend, one of the few moorings in the area. This section of the restoration effort was undertaken on the 80's when BW was going through its "hydraulic phase". As a result the paddles and slow and heavy, with at least one paddle not working in every lock. All this rain was weighing down the tree branches, making navigation difficult with everything on the roof being swept off, coolie hat, chimney, boat hook and fishing rods. It was slow progress down to Stalybridge.

Boaters view of the Millbrook Pylon

Knocking Stalybridge is a bit like kicking a dog when its down. However, apart from a very convenient Tesco's I can find very little positive to say about it. 

Neglected Lock Surround in Stalybridge

Whereas the restored canal has enhanced Uppermill and Slaithwaite, the fortunes of Stalybridge have not improved since the canal was reopened. Not that it's the canals fault, it's just that the town seems to be in terminal decline and the current economic paralysis isn't helping. The canal lock surrounds are knee deep in weeds, the burned out buildings from two and a half years ago still stand black, charred and gaunt. Even on a Thursday afternoon most of the shop shutters were firmly closed. 

Its all burnt or boarded in Stalybridge

A sad sight indeed. Even the doughnuts from Tesco's were stale - a fact which seemed to encapsulate the state of the place.

Even the church is behind steel fences...

Just below Stalybridge Jeff had a near miss. He misguidedly decided to take a short cut across the top gate and slipped, straddling the gate and bruising his knee in the process. It could have been so much worse so it goes down as a lucky escape.

Lock 1W is a complete swine. The bridge configuration meant that the gates and paddles had to be built with a bespoke hydraulic arrangement, which once again is horribly stiff and left me aching and panting for breath - a final twist to the Huddersfield Narrow Canal's tale.

The Wooden Boat Society's latest project

So our crossing of the HNC has been one of two halves - beautiful sunshine on the east but pouring rain on the west. If I am being honest the last couple of days have been far from the most enjoyable boating I have done, even this is my favourite canal. Finally, as we approached Portland Basin the rain eased and we were treated to a glorious overcast sky! Well, it was an improvement! 

We turned onto the familiar waters of the Lower Peak Forest Canal and freed of the rain we just kept chugging along, eating up the miles. With no locks to interrupt out progress we pressesed on without even a map, sipping our G&T's and dropping a trail of Pestachio nut shells in our wake. Then, as the clock passed 8.00pm, we saw Marple Aqueduct approaching in the distance so we moored in the wide section to the north of the  aqueduct, which was a quiet spot with just the occasional train on the adjacent viaduct to remind us that civilisation was not far away.


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Huddersfield Ring 2011 - Marsden to Uppermill

Huddersfield Ring

Marsden to Uppermill

10th August 2011

5 miles - 11 locks - 6 hours (half underground)

A curious feature on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal is that its longest pound is at the summit, of which the vast majority is underground. 

Standedge Tunnel - Diggle Portal

We found ourselves in pole position for the run through the tunnel, ready for our 8.30am departure which we had booked way back in Easter. Our chaperone for the morning was Fred Cater, the undisputed subject matter expert on the Standedge Tunnel. Fred is a great guy and has the amazing ability of mantaining a nearly uninterrupted 1.5 hour commentary on the life and times of this huge hole in the ground, with no repetitions and certainly never boring. We have had the ten bob tour in the past, but this was the whole works.

Fred Carter

For the 1st half of the journey we were shadowed by a BW Land Rover and then we were on our own, calling back to the Marsden control room as we paused in selected adits. They have a nifty little system which tracks boat progress through he tunnel, with positions logged by motion sensors and supplemented by calls - take a look in the office next time you are passing. 

There is a particular narrow section about half way through which provides skippers with a real navigation test. The threshold for a good passage is 2 bumps but with a lot of attention I was able to keep a clean sheet.

Standedge Moor

Our passage time was about 15 mins faster than in 2009, but well short of the 1hr 16 record, not that we were in any hurry. It was raining as we entered and was still bucketing down as we emerged at Diggle, dropping Fred off along with the hard hats and fire extinguishers before making a very squelchy descent down the locks to the Transhipment Warehouse at Dobcross.

Warth Mill - Dobcross

With water streaming down our necks we decided to take a break at Dobcross, a pause which allowed for lunch and a visit to see Bob Gough in the Huddersfield Canal Society's office. Dr Bob is the author of the brilliant Huddersfield Narrow Canal - A Towpath Guide which is a far superior cruising guide to my Nicholson, which just can't provide the detail needed on a canal with an average of four locks a mile. We picked up a 74 club plaque which will sit alongside the BCN Marathon plaque as a memento of a truly remarkable canal. 

Uppermill Cottages

With the rain sluicing down we lost heart at Uppermill, mooring in the winding hole and settling down to watch the rain turn the towpath into a quagmire. Even the ducks looked fed up.

Uppermill is a great little town which seems to have picked itself up by its boot straps when the mills closed, reinvented itself and now remains a bustling and progressive centre. Its no surprise that the HNC renaissance started here. The mills have become desirable apartments and the high street is all spick and span with most shops occupied.

Not nice weather - even the ducks looked miserable...

I spent the afternoon dozing and reading Pennine Dreams, the official account of the restoration of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. It felt very appropriate to immerse myself in this detailed account whilst actually making our way along the waterway.


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Huddersfield Ring 2011 - Marsden

Huddersfield Ring

Marsden

9th August 2011

I like to take a look at the surrounding towns when I get a chance. 

Marsden town centre

Our arrival at the Marsden Portal of the Standedge Tunnel at 3.30pm offered such an opportunity and with Marsden sitting back from the canal it was an opportunity not to be missed.

Bridge over the River Colne

We set off back along the towpath to the lock beside the station and then down the hill path towards the parish church. Its a steep path put well worth the effort. Actually its no big effort to get to the town - the effort comes on the way back when you puff and pant and your calf muscles start to hurt.

Here is a selection of photo's takes from around Marsden.

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Huddersfield Ring 2011 - Slaithwaite to Marsden

Huddersfield Ring

Slaithwaite to Marsden

9th August 2011

3.5 miles - 21 locks - 5 hours

I took a series of photos of Slaithwaite last night and then accidentally deleted them before they were downloaded to my laptop, so a repeat exhibition was undertaken this morning - der!

23E Slaithwaite

Actually, the morning light was much better so the cloud did have a silver lining, but at the expense of a boat setting off ahead of us and setting all 21 locks against us. We passed under the towns low bridges and noted that the warning chevron is still missing the chunk we knocked off two years ago! The locals like the canal and they like to see boats moving along it, with many coming over to watch our progress and reflect on the last 10 years. 

Slaithwaite Guillotine Lock

The first lock is easy but then you hit the guillotine at 24E - a beast of a contraption which was installed in place of traditional gates as the adjacent access bridge had been widened. This massive sheet of steel has to be raised with 137 stiff turns of the lock key and then another 137 on the way back down again. A tough way to start the day. To be honest, the 3.5 miles up from Slaithwaite are one long flight of locks with only the shortest of breaks below 32E. 

Below 31E

This upper half of the eastern side was dogged by a lack of water. It wasn't the supply that was the trouble, it was the fact that we were the second boat up and each short pound was depleted by two lockfulls before we entered. We dragged the bottom most of the way but the slowness didn't matter much - we had less than 4 miles to travel. The River Colne kept us company, throwing up the occasional ruined mill and adding a bit of built landscape to the general panorama.

34E and 35E

The Sparth Reservoir marks a boundary of sorts. Till here it is free cruising but lock 32E represents part of the controlled section right up to the tunnel. The flight is unlocked at 10.00am on the day before a passage and you have to be out of the top at 4.00pm.

32E - start of the summit climb

This last climb is accompanied by an increase in the leakiness of the locks. The water pours out of the shored up gates as well as through the loose fitting masonry lock sides. Perhaps the most spectacular is 38E, sitting above a pretty circular pound with cascades of water erupting as the boat ahead tries to make a level. These leaks are so bad that if you shut one top ground paddle the lock actually starts to empty!

Leaks at 38E

The lock gates were installed in the early days of the restoration, back in the 1980's and were made to minimum sepc by Job Creation schemes so I guess its no surprise that they are now approaching the end of their working lives. BW is doing a mass gate replacement this winter which should improve things somewhat, not that there is a lot to be done about the chambers themselves. In contract to the finely worked limestone of the Marple Flight, these are made of rugged blocks or rough hewn stone and have been prone to leakage since the day they were built.

Below 42E

On the foraging front I did spy a small clump of Bilberries on the offside, but much to Belle's disappointment they turned out to be isolated and insufficient to deliver a useful quantity. Maybe if we had time to explore the heathland up above we could find more.... but not today.

Standedge Tunnel - Marsden Portal

With the bottom scraping on the bottom we finally hauled ourselves through 42E and into the summit pound and the tunnel visitor complex. You need to top up with water before the tunnel passage to maximise headroom and there are two options: 1. use the tap beside the visitor centre (very slow) or 2. wait till the trip boats have stopped and use the fixed hose next to the BW control room. The latter was quicker and more convenient so we went with that, spending the night with our bows almost in the tunnel portal.

We had a prowl around the complex, spending money in the gift shop and viewing the art exhibition before taking a stroll down the hill into Marsden town centre. The woodland path was filled with wild rasberry canes but sadly the season was long gone and only a few stragglers remained.

The Marsden mooring is quiet from a boat perspective, not that you get a lot of passing traffic, but you the passing trains do rumble by at frequent intervals and the bunting flaps away above out heads, celebrating the canals bicentenary.

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