Crossgates tunnel may be the minimum amount of tunnel to qualify as a tunnel. The Eastern portal was filled in when the area was a council tip in the 1970s, the western portal has been robbed out for stone for garden walls and the whole thing is single track and so short that daylight reaches the far end.
History:
The Butts tramway was built as a narrow gauge line about 1849 to conect Joseph Rawlinson's mines at Crossgates with an ore depot at Crooklands, then the terminus of the Furness Railway. The tunnel would be part of the extension of the tramway to Old Hills in 1855. Steam locomotives replaced the horses in 1857 and the tramway was extended to reach Rawlinson's mines at Poaka and Carkettle.
Rawlinson sold his mines to the Furness Iron & Steel Co in 1871 and that company was taken over by the Askam and Mouzel company in 1881. They built a new standard gauge line from Crooklands to Askam in 1882 but the narrow gague line remained in use. It was the closure of this line in 1899 which prompted the widening of the tunnel to allow ore to be loaded near Tytup Farm. The mines closed before the first world war and most of the track of the Askam and Mouzel tramway was lifted in 1915.
The line of the tramway aproaching the tunnel.
Western portal
Eastern portal
Looking out
The only feature of the tunnel is this drainage gully on either side, now growing calcite.
1889 OS map showing the tunnel.
While I explored the tunnel, the dog found a toy to play with.
Engine house at Water balance pit.
Thanks for looking.
History:
The Butts tramway was built as a narrow gauge line about 1849 to conect Joseph Rawlinson's mines at Crossgates with an ore depot at Crooklands, then the terminus of the Furness Railway. The tunnel would be part of the extension of the tramway to Old Hills in 1855. Steam locomotives replaced the horses in 1857 and the tramway was extended to reach Rawlinson's mines at Poaka and Carkettle.
Rawlinson sold his mines to the Furness Iron & Steel Co in 1871 and that company was taken over by the Askam and Mouzel company in 1881. They built a new standard gauge line from Crooklands to Askam in 1882 but the narrow gague line remained in use. It was the closure of this line in 1899 which prompted the widening of the tunnel to allow ore to be loaded near Tytup Farm. The mines closed before the first world war and most of the track of the Askam and Mouzel tramway was lifted in 1915.
The line of the tramway aproaching the tunnel.
Western portal
Eastern portal
Looking out
The only feature of the tunnel is this drainage gully on either side, now growing calcite.
1889 OS map showing the tunnel.
While I explored the tunnel, the dog found a toy to play with.
Engine house at Water balance pit.
Thanks for looking.
