Monday, June 22, 2020

Sapperton Tunnel on the Thames and Severn Canal


The most substantial engineering work on the Thames and Severn Canal was Sapperton Tunnel, which is 2.17 miles (3.49km) in length.

This video examines the tunnel and its rather perilous remains. The unfenced shafts remind me of the remains of the lead mining industry in Shropshire when I first explored them more than 30 years ago.

Cotswold Canals in Pictures has an informative page on the tunnel, which says the last commercial traffic to use the tunnel did so in May 1911.

It also says:
The restoration of Sapperton Tunnel is entirely feasible from an engineering standpoint. As might be expected though, this will be the most complex and expensive single element of the Thames and Severn Canal restoration.

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