Patcham Tunnel (or Compulsory Tunnel) is a railway

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

Brighton Main Line The Brighton Main Line (also known as the South Central Main Line) is a major railway line in the United Kingdom that links Brighton, on the south coast of England, with central London. In London the line has two branches, out of and station ...

through the

South Downs The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the eas ...

between Preston Park and Hassocks in

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East ...

, England. It is 446 metres (488 yards) long. Its construction was neither necessitated by the local geography nor originally intended but, following the objections of a local landowner, the tunnel's creation was specifically stipulated by

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

in the authorising Act. Accordingly, the London and Brighton Railway had their line directed through a purpose-built tunnel instead of a cutting. Patcham Tunnel was constructed between 1840 and 1841; the work was beset by a collapse part-way through. Entering service as intended, the tunnel has demonstrated a tendency to flood and has been repeatedly attributed for causing sporadic cancellations of services on the Brighton Main Line.

History

Patcham Tunnel was constructed by the London and Brighton Railway as one element of the first line between

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

. The original plans for the railway did not involve a tunnel at this location, but engineers had not predicted that the owner of Patcham Place, a Major Paine, would refuse permission for a cutting to be constructed through land that he owned. Thus, it was decided to construct a tunnel running underneath Coney Wood. In reference to the origins of the tunnel, said to have been unnecessary save for a clause inserted into the

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of parliame ...

authorising the line's construction, it was sometimes referred to as the ''Compulsory Tunnel''. Construction of Patcham Tunnel took place between 1840 and 1841. The engineer for the line was John Urpeth Rastrick, but the contractor responsible for the brick lined tunnel is not known. It features a single ventilation shaft along its bore. Partway through construction, the tunnel suffered a collapse, although no fatalities were attributed to the incident. Between October 2018 and February 2019, Patcham Tunnel was subject to a series of scheduled repairs as part of a £300m improvement programme on the Brighton Main Line; work was undertaken to reduce the ingress of water and re-lay the tracks during temporary closures. However, occasional closures of the line due to flooding of Patcham tunnel have persisted even after these remedial works were completed.

References

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External links

Patcham Tunnel via routeyou.com

Patcham Tunnel, north end via geograph.org.uk
Railway tunnels in England Tunnels completed in 1841 Tunnels in East Sussex