Stodhart Tunnel is a tunnel on the

Peak Forest Tramway The Peak Forest Tramway was an early horse- and gravity-powered industrial railway (or tramway) system in Derbyshire, England. Opened for trade on 31 August 1796, it remained in operation until the 1920s. Much of the route and the structures ...

at Chapel Milton,

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the no ...

. The tunnel stretches under the Chapel-en-le-Firth to Glossop Road. Although one side has been blocked up, it remains one of the oldest rail-related tunnels in the world and was also the site of one of the earliest rail-related accidents, when a laden carriage rolled into two horses, killing them.

History

The tunnel was built in 1796 for the

. Designed by

Benjamin Outram Benjamin Outram (1 April 1764 – 22 May 1805) was an English civil engineer, surveyor and industrialist. He was a pioneer in the building of canals and tramways. Life Born at Alfreton in Derbyshire, he began his career assisting his father ...

, it was built out of

gritstone Gritstone or grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for ...

with

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitr ...

coping Coping refers to conscious strategies used to reduce unpleasant emotions. Coping strategies can be cognitions or behaviours and can be individual or social. Theories of coping Hundreds of coping strategies have been proposed in an attempt to ...

. Originally considered as an open cutting, it was designed in the style of canal tunnels, so as to not disturb the owners of the nearby Stodhart Lodge. It ran for about under the road between

Chapel-en-le-Frith Chapel-en-le-Frith () is a town and civil parish in the Borough of High Peak in Derbyshire, England. It has been dubbed the "Capital of the Peak", in reference to the Peak District, historically the upperland areas between the Saxon lands (bel ...

and Glossop, as a single track route. It remained a single-track route when the rest of the tramway was doubled, becoming a bottleneck on the line. The tunnel is also the site of one of the earliest railway accidents: six laden wagons broke free from their horses and rolled back into a following team, killing both horses and injuring an apprentice. One side of the tunnel was filled in during road realignment in 1949, so it is only accessible from the other side. The tunnel was designated a grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

on 3 September 1985 and is on the Buildings at Risk Register. From the 1950s part of the tunnel and about of track was tar sealed and used to test Ferodo brakes. The tunnel was used to test the effect of humidity on brakes. Until May 2013, it was considered to be the earliest rail-related tunnel in the world, but is now believed to be pre-dated by Fritchley Tunnel on the Butterley Gangroad at Fritchley, also in Derbyshire.

References

{{coord, 53.332, N, 1.917, W, type:landmark, display=title Transport in Derbyshire Early British railway companies Grade II* listed buildings in Derbyshire Structures in Derbyshire Tunnels in Derbyshire