Berwick Tunnel is a

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

located on the

Shrewsbury Canal The Shrewsbury Canal (or Shrewsbury and Newport Canal) was a canal in Shropshire, England. Authorised in 1793, the main line from Trench to Shrewsbury was fully open by 1797, but it remained isolated from the rest of the canal network until 183 ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, UK.

History

The Shrewsbury Canal connected

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

to the

Wombridge Canal The Wombridge Canal was a tub-boat canal in Shropshire, England, built to carry coal and iron ore from mines in the area to the furnaces where the iron was extracted. It opened in 1788, and parts of it were taken over by the Shrewsbury Canal Com ...

, and provided a way to supply the people of Shrewsbury with coal at reasonable prices. The route between Shrewsbury and Wappenshall was relatively flat, although beyond Wappenshall, nine locks and a large

inclined plane An inclined plane, also known as a ramp, is a flat supporting surface tilted at an angle from the vertical direction, with one end higher than the other, used as an aid for raising or lowering a load. The inclined plane is one of the six clas ...

were needed to reach the Wombridge Canal. There were two more locks before Wappenshall. The valleys of the River Tern and the River Roden were crossed by aqueducts,

Longdon-on-Tern Aqueduct The Longdon-on-Tern Aqueduct, near Longdon-on-Tern in Shropshire, was one of the first two canal aqueducts to be built from cast iron. History The cast iron canal aqueduct was re-engineered by Thomas Telford after the first construction desig ...

being, in

Thomas Telford Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE, (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scotla ...

's opinion, the first aqueduct made of

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

, although

Benjamin Outram Benjamin Outram (1 April 1764 – 22 May 1805) was an English civil engineer, surveyor and industrialist. He was a pioneer in the building of canals and tramways. Life Born at Alfreton in Derbyshire, he began his career assisting his father ...

's iron aqueduct on the

Derby Canal The Derby Canal ran from the Trent and Mersey Canal at Swarkestone to Derby and Little Eaton, and to the Erewash Canal at Sandiacre, in Derbyshire, England. The canal was authorised by an Act of Parliament in 1793 and was fully completed in 179 ...

actually opened a month earlier. The other major obstacle to a level canal was a bluff of land near a large bend in the

River Severn , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ...

just to the east of Shrewsbury. A route closer to the river might have been possible and would have avoided a tunnel if a large landscaped park at Attingham Hall had not been created there in 1786, to the design of

Humphry Repton Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818) was the last great English landscape designer of the eighteenth century, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown; he also sowed the seeds of the more intricate and eclectic styles of ...

Josiah Clowes Josiah Clowes (1735–1794) was a noted English civil engineer and canal builder. His early years were spent running a canal carrying company with Hugh Henshall, and although he worked on some canal projects before 1783, that year marked his switc ...

was the engineer for the canal from the start of its construction until his death in 1795, and the tunnel was his design. However, William Reynolds, the

iron founder An iron founder (also iron-founder or ironfounder) in its more general sense is a worker in molten ferrous metal, generally working within an iron foundry. However, the term 'iron founder' is usually reserved for the owner or manager of an iron foun ...

responsible for the manufacture of the iron aqueduct, suggested that a

towpath A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge. This mode of transport ...

should be provided throughout its length. The tunnel was around wide, and the wooden towpath was fixed to bearers built into the wall. It was wide, but because the entire width of the tunnel was filled with water, including the bit below the towpath, the resistance to boats passing through the tunnel was reduced. The structure was long, and was the first tunnel to be constructed with a towpath. Tunnels without a towpath were arduous for the crews, as the boats had to be legged through them. The tunnel runs in a south-easterly direction away from Shrewsbury, and passes under fields and a wood. The ground above it is fairly shallow, and there is a ventilation shaft near the middle. Most of the tunnel is lined with bricks, but both portals are faced with stone, and the south-east portal carries the date 1797 on the keystone. The towpath lasted until 1819, when it was removed. Because the tunnel was not straight, it was not possible to see if someone had entered the tunnel from the other end. To overcome this, a

byelaw A by-law (bye-law, by(e)law, by(e) law), or as it is most commonly known in the United States bylaws, is a set of rules or law established by an organization or community so as to regulate itself, as allowed or provided for by some higher authorit ...

was introduced which stated that whoever reached the centre first should continue, whilst the other boat would have to turn back. Today the canal is disused, and the tunnel remains, though the ends have been bricked up.

Bibliography

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References

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External links

BBC Shropshire: Berwick Tunnel
Canal tunnels in England Tunnels in Shropshire Tunnels completed in 1797 Shrewsbury Canal

History

See also

Bibliography

References

External links