Belsize tunnel is a railway

tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

Belsize Park Belsize Park is a residential area of Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden, in the Inner London, inner North West London, north-west of London, England. The residential streets are lined with Georgian and Victorian villas and mews houses. ...

on the

Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line (MML), sometimes also spelt Midland Mainline, is a major Rail transport in Great Britain, railway line from London to Sheffield in Yorkshire via the East Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras railway ...

between

Kentish Town Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England, in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town, close to Hampstead Heath. Kentish Town likely derives its name from Ken-ditch or Caen-ditch, meaning the "bed of a waterw ...

and West Hampstead Thameslink. It was built between 1865 and 1867 for the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 in rail transport, 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had ...

extension from Bedford to London St Pancras. The ceremony of laying the first brick was performed on 27 January 1865 by Mr. Price, the chairman of the company, at Barham Road, Haverstock Hill. The contract price for the tunnel was £250,000 (). The last brick was laid on 20 June 1867 by the chairman when the directors of the railway travelled along the line between Bedford and London. The construction of the line out of St Pancras consisted of four tracks for the first , with the exception of the Belsize Tunnel which only had two tracks. This was remedied in 1884 by the completion of another tunnel running parallel, to allow the full route of 6 miles to expand to four running lines. It was built under the Midland Railway (Additional Powers) Act, 1881. The additional tunnel was designed by W.H. Barlow, with James Campbell as reference engineer. It comprises two tunnels long plus

strainer arch A strainer arch (also straining arch) is an internal structural arch built to relieve the inward pressure off the spanned vertical supports (providing a "buttress", thus also called buttressing arches), usually as an afterthought to prevent the s ...

es and buttressed cuttings in the east arch.

References

1867 establishments in England Tunnels completed in 1867 Railway tunnels in London Railway tunnels in England Midland Railway Tunnels in London Belsize Park {{England-rail-transport-stub