Brownqueen Tunnel, also called Brown Queen Tunnel, is a railway tunnel on the

Cornish Main Line The Cornish Main Line ( kw, Penn-hyns-horn Kernow) is a railway line in Cornwall and Devon in the United Kingdom. It runs from Penzance to Plymouth, crossing from Cornwall into Devon over the famous Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash. It directly ...

between and stations in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, England.

Location

The tunnel is aligned approximately north-south and is on a left-hand curve and a falling gradient when travelling in the down direction. The tunnel itself is long although one source gives the length as and the up portal is 278 miles 16 chains from London according to the mileposts. Situated just above the

River Fowey The River Fowey ( ; kw, Fowi) is a river in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It rises at Fowey Well (originally kw, Fenten Fowi, meaning ''spring of the river Fowey'') about north-west of Brown Willy on Bodmin Moor, not far from one of i ...

, Brownqueen Tunnel is in the same area as "Brownqueen Wood", a small forested area of about . South of the tunnel, trains pass

Restormel Castle Restormel Castle ( kw, Kastel Rostorrmel) lies by the River Fowey near Lostwithiel in Cornwall, England, UK. It is one of the four chief Norman castles of Cornwall, the others being Launceston, Tintagel and Trematon. The castle is notable for ...

, one of the four chief

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

castles of Cornwall. To the north of the tunnel are the historic

Glynn House Glynn House is a Grade II* listed country estate near Cardinham in the county of Cornwall. It was once the seat of the Glynn family and later the seat of Sir Hussey Vivian. History There has been a property in this location next to the River Fowe ...

and Bodmin Parkway station."Cornwall—History of the Company", ''Railway Times''

Volume 22, pp. 561-562 (14 March 1859).

Construction

The tunnel opened on 4 May 1859, when the

Cornwall Railway The Cornwall Railway was a broad gauge railway from Plymouth in Devon to Falmouth in Cornwall, England, built in the second half of the nineteenth century. It was constantly beset with shortage of capital for the construction, and was eventu ...

opened between and , and is still in use today. This is one of five tunnels on the Cornwall Railway, all of which are lined with masonry and topped by brickwork at the crown of the arch. This tunnel passes through of hard greenstone which the builders were able to drill and blast through using nine tons of

powder A powder is a dry, bulk solid composed of many very fine particles that may flow freely when shaken or tilted. Powders are a special sub-class of granular materials, although the terms ''powder'' and ''granular'' are sometimes used to distin ...

(because

dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germa ...

had not yet been invented).

Suicide of Silvanus Trevail

On 7 November 1903, the architect

Silvanus Trevail Silvanus Trevail (11 November 1851 – 7 November 1903) was a British architect, and the most prominent Cornish architect of the 19th century. Early life Trevail was born at Carne Farm, Trethurgy in the parish of Luxulyan, Cornwall on 11 Nove ...

committed suicide in the

toilet A toilet is a piece of sanitary hardware that collects human urine and feces, and sometimes toilet paper, usually for disposal. Flush toilets use water, while dry or non-flush toilets do not. They can be designed for a sitting position popu ...

of a train in the tunnel. Trevail caught the 11.40 up train from

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its ...

, having purchased a third class ticket, a peculiar event as he typically travelled first class. At

Par railway station Par railway station serves the villages of Par, Tywardreath and St Blazey, Cornwall, England. The station is from via . It is the junction for the Atlantic Coast Line to . The station is managed by Great Western Railway, which operates the ...

he was witnessed leaving his seat and going to the toilet. As the train entered the Brownqueen tunnel, Trevail shot himself; when the train stopped at Bodmin Road, a porter was called, and Trevail’s body was found lying across the toilet.

Etymology

The name "Brownqueen", which applies to both the tunnel and the forest around it, is a modern corruption of the old Cornish term "Brow Gwyn", meaning "white mound". It is also spelled "brownquin", and can be translated as "white hill".
A Glossary of Cornish Names, Ancient and Modern, Local, Family, Personal, &c: 20,000 Celtic and Other Names, Now Or Formerly in Use in Cornwall
', p. 17 (Williams & Nargate, 1871).

External links

{{GeoGroupTemplate
View from the tunnel top

References

Tunnels in Cornwall Rail transport in Cornwall Railway tunnels in England Tunnels completed in 1859 Great Western Railway Cornish words and phrases