The Hincaster Tunnel is a canal

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 ...

on the

Lancaster Canal The Lancaster Canal is a canal in North West England, originally planned to run from Westhoughton in Lancashire to Kendal in south Cumbria (historically in Westmorland). The section around the crossing of the River Ribble was never completed, a ...

Hincaster Hincaster is a small hamlet and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England, located between Kendal and Milnthorpe. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 195, increasing at the 2011 census to 209. "Caster" oft ...

, a hamlet in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

, England.

History

Work to extend the Lancaster Canal north from Tewitfield to

Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England, south-east of Windermere and north of Lancaster. Historically in Westmorland, it lies within the dale of th ...

began formally in 1813. This section, which includes the tunnel, opened in 1819. The building of the

through Hincaster Hill brought the canal close to existing gunpowder works at Sedgwick (an 18th-century gunpowder works there was replaced in the 19th century). The tunnel closed to traffic in the 20th century along with the northern section of the canal.

Structure

The tunnel is long. The tunnel's entrances, the east and west portals, are faced with

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

and are

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. The tunnel itself is lined with something like four million

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

s. There is no

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 ...

through the tunnel. Horses were led over the hill via a horse path which is a scheduled monument.

References

{{coord, 54.2593, -2.7523, format=dms, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Canal tunnels in England Scheduled monuments in Cumbria Tunnels in Cumbria