The Wast Hills Tunnel is a canal tunnel on the

Worcester and Birmingham Canal The Worcester and Birmingham Canal is a canal linking Birmingham and Worcester in England. It starts in Worcester, as an 'offshoot' of the River Severn (just after the river lock) and ends in Gas Street Basin in Birmingham. It is long. There ar ...

. Its northern portal is in

Hawkesley Hawkesley is an area of Birmingham, England. It is part of 'The Three Estates', the housing estates Hawkesley, Pool Farm, and Primrose. These are to the south of (and effectively sub-areas of) Kings Norton. The Ordnance Survey grid reference is S ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. Its southern portal is in fields just outside the city's boundaries, in

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

Construction and measurements

The Wast Hills Tunnel was built in 1796 and is 2726 yards long, making it one of the longest in the country. There are several

ventilation shaft In subterranean civil engineering, ventilation shafts, also known as airshafts or vent shafts, are vertical passages used in mines and tunnels to move fresh air underground, and to remove stale air. In architecture, an airshaft is a small, ...

s along its length which were initially used for the tunnel's construction. The central airshaft once had a steam driven fan for smoke clearance. It is wide enough to accommodate two

narrow boat A narrowboat is a particular type of canal boat, built to fit the narrow locks of the United Kingdom. The UK's canal system provided a nationwide transport network during the Industrial Revolution, but with the advent of the railways, commer ...

s but 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 ...

References

{{Commons category, Wast Hill Tunnel Buildings and structures in Birmingham, West Midlands Buildings and structures in Worcestershire Canal tunnels in England Canals in the West Midlands (county) Canals in Worcestershire Transport in Birmingham, West Midlands Transport in Worcestershire Tunnels in Birmingham, West Midlands Worcester and Birmingham Canal