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Report - - Hardham Canal Tunnel, Pulborough, West Sussex – May 2017 | Underground Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Hardham Canal Tunnel, Pulborough, West Sussex – May 2017

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Bertie Bollockbrains

There is no pain
Regular User
Next on my list of disused canal tunnels, and the last one for me in the south of the country. Will have to travel much further from now on.

Anyways it took me 2 attempts to tick this one off. The first time, I entered the seemingly shallow water to swim it, which is preferred way of doing these tunnels, and immediately sunk up to my chest in sticky mud. It was a bit of a struggle to get out.

Fast forward a month, and I was back in the area, and this time with HMS Boaty McBoatface loaded into the car.

The tunnel looks exactly the same as it did in @the126 2010 report. Even the exact same stick is in the water at the portal in the exactly the same spot.

HISTORY

The River Arun was used in an unimproved condition for centuries, but work was carried out on the river itself and the port of Arundel in the 16th century, which allowed boats to reach Pallingham Quay near Pulborough by 1575. An Act of Parliament received the Royal Assent on 13 May 1785, entitled "An Act for amending and improving the Navigation of the River Arun, from Houghton Bridge, in the parish of Houghton, in the county of Sussex, to Pallenham Wharf, in the parish of Wisborough Green, in the said county; and for continuing and extending the Navigation of the said River Arun, from the said Wharf, called Pallenhara Wharf, to a certain Bridge, called New Bridge, situate in the parishes of Pulborough and Wisborough Green, in the said county of Sussex".

As its name describes, this Act authorised works to improve the Arun upstream from Houghton Bridge (the tidal limit). The route involved a new artificial cut of 4.5 miles from Newbridge along the river to Pallingham, crossing the river by an aqueduct on three strong brick arches. This was completed in 1787. A second artificial cut was added in 1790 from Coldwaltham to Stopham, including a 375-yard (343 m) tunnel under Hardham Hill, which avoided a large bend in the river near Pulborough, saving 5 miles.

The route of the Navigation from Newbridge to Houghton was 13 miles with six locks. The river continues a further 15.5 miles to the sea at Littlehampton.

The last barge to travel on the section between Pallingham and Newbridge was recorded in 1888, and Hardham tunnel was closed in 1889.

A railway line runs over the Hardham Tunnel and some time after the canal closed, the railway company decided to shore up the tracks by filling the tunnel with clay down a shaft. Thus the tunnel is blocked roughly halfway along.


THE EXPLORE

First view looking in. The water looks shallow but is deep silty mud.
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HMS Boaty McBoatface ready for launch
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Distances from the portal are marked on the walls, measured in yards
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After about 200yds we see where the railway people dug their shaft and poured in the clay
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It was easy to moor here and have a wander
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The shaft wasn't that deep
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The silt is to within about a foot from the roof. It would had been possible to crawl through, but wifey was waiting impatiently for me outside.
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Anyways time to return...
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Thanks for reading
 

the126

Reckless & irresponsible
28DL Full Member
Awesome! Well done dude
That silt is very deceiving, and very deep!

Ive been meaning to go back for ages and go over the dam in the middle but never got round to it
 
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