1. The History
This Victorian-era tunnel runs from Edlington near Doncaster towards Conisbrough and was apparently constructed by the mining conglomerates to house a water pipe that channelled drinking water to Conisbrough. In runs for 1290 yards (approximately 1.2km) underground before emerging in a small cutting that ran on to Conisbrough. It’s hard to pinpoint the exact age of construction but it first appears on O/S maps in 1892. There is, however, no trace on the 1854 version so hence was constructed at a point between these two dates.
It is less than 5ft tall and 3ft wide and switches between a red brick-lined arched tunnel and a natural rock-hewn channel, with some sections having a plate metal roof, depending on the terrain. It was also constructed with 4 air shafts along its length presumably for construction purposes. The pipe is metal and around 30cm in diameter in sections approximately 3m.
2. The Explore
An excellent archive report by @tarkovsky of this place recently popped-up again on 28DL with a respondent saying the tunnel was open again having previously been through a period of being sealed off, so thought it would be an interesting little explore. Having missed this place first time around and located the western entrance, myself and a non-forum member squeezed our way in and started to make our way down the tunnel. Progress was slow (due to the tunnel height and us taking pictures) and given we were pushed for time and our backs were starting to ache we decided to turn around at the first air-shaft. One for a revisit then when we traverse the whole tunnel.
3. The Pictures
Looking along the former water-pipe trench where the pipe has now been removed:
The western entrance:
And we’re in:
The initial brick-lined section:
Close-up of the pipe:
Starting to get interesting here:
Then arriving at the first air-shaft:
We were not alone. Arachnophobes look away now! One of many large spiders...
And our little friend here;
And back out again:
This Victorian-era tunnel runs from Edlington near Doncaster towards Conisbrough and was apparently constructed by the mining conglomerates to house a water pipe that channelled drinking water to Conisbrough. In runs for 1290 yards (approximately 1.2km) underground before emerging in a small cutting that ran on to Conisbrough. It’s hard to pinpoint the exact age of construction but it first appears on O/S maps in 1892. There is, however, no trace on the 1854 version so hence was constructed at a point between these two dates.
It is less than 5ft tall and 3ft wide and switches between a red brick-lined arched tunnel and a natural rock-hewn channel, with some sections having a plate metal roof, depending on the terrain. It was also constructed with 4 air shafts along its length presumably for construction purposes. The pipe is metal and around 30cm in diameter in sections approximately 3m.
2. The Explore
An excellent archive report by @tarkovsky of this place recently popped-up again on 28DL with a respondent saying the tunnel was open again having previously been through a period of being sealed off, so thought it would be an interesting little explore. Having missed this place first time around and located the western entrance, myself and a non-forum member squeezed our way in and started to make our way down the tunnel. Progress was slow (due to the tunnel height and us taking pictures) and given we were pushed for time and our backs were starting to ache we decided to turn around at the first air-shaft. One for a revisit then when we traverse the whole tunnel.
3. The Pictures
Looking along the former water-pipe trench where the pipe has now been removed:
The western entrance:
And we’re in:
The initial brick-lined section:
Close-up of the pipe:
Starting to get interesting here:
Then arriving at the first air-shaft:
We were not alone. Arachnophobes look away now! One of many large spiders...
And our little friend here;
And back out again:
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