Bramhope Tunnel
Encyclopedia
The Bramhope Tunnel is a railway tunnel
2.138 miles (3.4 km) long, owned by Network Rail
on a route currently operated mainly by Northern Rail
. It was constructed during 1845–1849 on the Harrogate Line
, carrying rural and commuter passengers between Horsforth
and Weeton in West Yorkshire
, England
. It is notable for its length, for its crenellated north portal, which is Grade II listed, and for the deaths of 24 men during its construction, commemorated in Otley
churchyard with a castellated replica of the north portal.
It was constructed by Thomas Grainger
, engineer and James Bray, overseer, who set up two sighting towers and then twenty shafts
along the line of the tunnel. Men dug horizontally from these shafts until the diggings joined up in 1848. Thousands of navvies
lived locally in bothies
with their families, and dug in dangerous and wet conditions to facilitate the grand opening in 1849.
was the engineer
and James Bray was the contracted overseer in 1845 for the construction of the Horsforth–Weeton tunnel under Bramhope
and the ridge between Airedale
and Wharfedale
. Bray was a Leeds
iron and brass founder
, and previously constructed the Thackley Tunnel
, Bradford.
Two sighting towers were built for the engineers to keep the line true, then from 20 October 1845 twenty shafts
were sunk to enable access for tunnelling. Tunnelling started after the foundation stone
was laid at the bottom of No. 1 airshaft in July 1846. The separate diggings first joined up into one long tunnel on 27 November 1848, and it was completed in summer 1849.
The southern entrance or portal
is usually described as plain, but is admired by some. The north portal is castellated, and after it was finished was lived in for a while by railway workers. The north portal was listed Grade II in 1988. The finished tunnel is 2 miles, 243 yd or 2.138 miles (3.4 km) long; 25.5 feet (7.8 m) wide by 25 feet (7.6 m) high. It is a double track
tunnel, with a gradient
of 1 in 94 (0.01%) down from Horsforth to Arthington
and at its deepest point, just to the north of Breary Lane, it is 290 feet (88.4 m) below the surface. The construction was for the Leeds Northern Railway and the East and West Yorkshire Junction Railway, which together later became the North Eastern Railway
. The grand opening was 9 July 1849, but the first train went through on 31 May in the same year, full of Leeds and Thirsk
railway officials, and pulled by Bray's locomotive
Stephenson.
plus their families, with 400 horses brought in for the work. That is said to include 188 quarry
men, 102 stonemasons
, 732 tunnel men, 738 labourers and 18 carpenters
. For four years they lived in 200 wooden bothies
with their families in a field opposite Bramhope
cemetery, alongside offices and workshops. There were 100 more bothies elsewhere along the line of the tunnel. Day– and night–shifters were said to take turns
to use the beds, as was normal for sailors of the time. However, sailors had their own bedding to unroll onto the bare bunk or hammock, whereas many navvies may have had little of their own. This tunnel was built at the height of the Hungry Years, and many poor Irish
refugees were working on the railways.
Many of the navvies were farm labourers from the Yorkshire Dales
, North East England
, East Anglia
and the Fenlands
as well as from Scotland
and Ireland
. Men were lowered by bucket down the airshafts to dig by candlelight
. They were paid £1.50 per week to shovel 20 tons (20.32 tonnes) of rock and earth per 12–hour shift, seven days a week. Conditions were constantly wet, with foul air and gunpowder
fumes plus the danger of roof–collapse. This was because the tunnel cuts through hard sandstone, shale and clay, and there are seven major faults in the rock near the centre point. Metal sheets had to be used to divert water inside the tunnel. A public waterworks
scheme with reservoir
s and aqueduct
was proposed but not implemented.
, and there was frequent flooding and subsidence
. It is suggested that up to 1,563,480,000 gallons (7,107,580,080 litres) of water were pumped out between 1845 and 1849. Five men died in 1846; 12 died in 1847; seven more had died by 1849, making 24 in total. In Otley churchyard is a monument
in the shape of the north portal, dedicated to the 24 men who lost their lives. Records of death and injury were kept from 1847 to 1849, and Leeds Infirmary
had a special spring cart
to ferry the injured to hospital from the site to Leeds.
Water was taken at first from Bramhope's town well, opposite St Giles Church, but the excessive demand diminished the supply and spoiled the quality. The tunnellers' water was then pumped from a site near the Dyneley Arms crossroads. But at the same time the tunnel itself was draining away the local farmers' natural irrigation
, and the source of Bramhope town well. Litigation on this subject continued for some years.
's school – however this was before the Elementary Education Act 1870
which provided for education for all, up to the age of 12 years. Poor children would have been educated at the parochial school
in Eastgate, where the memorial gardens are now. The workers and their families attended St Ronans Methodist chapel at Bramhope, and the Methodist
chapel at Pool-in-Wharfedale
. The Leeds Mission spread Bibles and tracts in the shanty–town.
s. These are: the first to the north of the Leeds–Otley A660 near the Scout hut
in Bramhope; the second behind Park House, Bramhope; the third opposite Camp House Farm and the fourth near Cookridge
and Horsforth. The ventilation shafts measure 40 feet (12.2 m) by 30 feet (9.1 m) – wider than the tunnel itself. One of the two sighting towers remains, in the field opposite Bramhope cemetery. The other one, now demolished, was behind Dyneley Hall. 250000 cubic yards (191,138.7 m³) of spoil
still lies along the line of the tunnel. One of a number of tips is in an area around the scout hut to the north of the Leeds–Otley road; a second is the Knoll near to Parklands and on to the field facing Bramhope cemetery; a third is on land adjacent to None–Go–Byes Farm.
. It is built of rock–faced sandstone
and has three side towers with turret
s, and a horseshoe–shaped archway. The keystone
features a portrait of a bearded man who is said to resemble the aforesaid landowner. There is a crenellated parapet with a carved cartouche
in the centre featuring a wheatsheaf, fleece
and fish. Both portals are on Network Rail
land with no public access.
drainage culvert
replaced, and the track lowered to allow larger passenger and freight stock, costing £10 million. The sixteen closed airshafts were deteriorating and had to be re-capped. In 2003 the excavated material from the works was recycled to shore up the railway embankment near Castley
. It is said that there are three more full-sized portals inside, each with a carved plaque
with the date of construction, that the rail workers' refuges become smaller as you go in, and that most of the tunnel is not brick–lined, but bare rock. There are still men around with hair–raising stories of working on repairs in the tunnel.
Tunnel
A tunnel is an underground passageway, completely enclosed except for openings for egress, commonly at each end.A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers...
2.138 miles (3.4 km) long, owned by Network Rail
Network Rail
Network Rail is the government-created owner and operator of most of the rail infrastructure in Great Britain .; it is not responsible for railway infrastructure in Northern Ireland...
on a route currently operated mainly by Northern Rail
Northern Rail
Northern Rail is a British train operating company that has operated local passenger services in Northern England since 2004. Northern Rail's owner, Serco-Abellio, is a consortium formed of Abellio and Serco, an international operator of public transport systems...
. It was constructed during 1845–1849 on the Harrogate Line
Harrogate Line
The Harrogate Line is the name given to a passenger rail service through parts of North Yorkshire and the West Yorkshire Metro area of northern England connecting Leeds to York by way of Harrogate and Knaresborough. The service is operated by Northern Rail, with a few additional workings by East...
, carrying rural and commuter passengers between Horsforth
Horsforth
Horsforth is a town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England, lying to the north west of Leeds. It has a population of 18,928....
and Weeton in West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is notable for its length, for its crenellated north portal, which is Grade II listed, and for the deaths of 24 men during its construction, commemorated in Otley
Otley
-Transport:The main roads through the town are the A660 to the south east, which connects Otley to Bramhope, Adel and Leeds city centre, and the A65 to the west, which goes to Ilkley and Skipton. The A6038 heads to Guiseley, Shipley and Bradford, connecting with the A65...
churchyard with a castellated replica of the north portal.
It was constructed by Thomas Grainger
Thomas Grainger
Thomas Grainger FRSE was a Scottish civil engineer and surveyor. He was born in Ratho, outside Edinburgh, to Hugh Grainger and Helen Marshall. Educated at Edinburgh University, at sixteen he got a job with John Leslie, a land surveyor.He started his own practice in 1816. In 1825 he formed a...
, engineer and James Bray, overseer, who set up two sighting towers and then twenty shafts
Shaft mining
Shaft mining or shaft sinking refers to the method of excavating a vertical or near-vertical tunnel from the top down, where there is initially no access to the bottom....
along the line of the tunnel. Men dug horizontally from these shafts until the diggings joined up in 1848. Thousands of navvies
Navvy
Navvy is a shorter form of navigator or navigational engineer and is particularly applied to describe the manual labourers working on major civil engineering projects...
lived locally in bothies
Bothy
A bothy is a basic shelter, usually left unlocked and available for anyone to use free of charge. It was also a term for basic accommodation, usually for gardeners or other workers on an estate. Bothies are to be found in remote, mountainous areas of Scotland, northern England, Ireland, and Wales....
with their families, and dug in dangerous and wet conditions to facilitate the grand opening in 1849.
History
The tunnel was first proposed in 1843 with an estimate of £800,000 approved in 1845, though the final cost by 1849 was £2,150,313 and the lives of 24 men. Thomas GraingerThomas Grainger
Thomas Grainger FRSE was a Scottish civil engineer and surveyor. He was born in Ratho, outside Edinburgh, to Hugh Grainger and Helen Marshall. Educated at Edinburgh University, at sixteen he got a job with John Leslie, a land surveyor.He started his own practice in 1816. In 1825 he formed a...
was the engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
and James Bray was the contracted overseer in 1845 for the construction of the Horsforth–Weeton tunnel under Bramhope
Bramhope
Bramhope is a village and civil parish in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, West Yorkshire, England, north of Holt Park and north east of Cookridge....
and the ridge between Airedale
Airedale
Airedale is a geographic area in Yorkshire, England, corresponding to the river valley of the River Aire . The valley stretches from the river's origin in Malham which is in the Yorkshire Dales, down past Keighley and Bingley, through Leeds and Castleford and on to join the Humber...
and Wharfedale
Wharfedale
Wharfedale is one of the Yorkshire Dales in England. It is the valley of the River Wharfe. Towns and villages in Wharfedale include Buckden, Kettlewell, Conistone, Grassington, Hebden, Ilkley, Burley-in-Wharfedale, Otley, Pool-in-Wharfedale, Arthington, Collingham, and Wetherby...
. Bray was a Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
iron and brass founder
Foundry
A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal in a mold, and removing the mold material or casting after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals processed are aluminum and cast iron...
, and previously constructed the Thackley Tunnel
Thackley Tunnel
Thackley tunnel is a railway tunnel on the Airedale Line from Leeds to Shipley then on to Bradford or Skipton.Built in 1844/5, the tunnel is approximately long and cut through the prominent Thackley Hill to reduce travel time...
, Bradford.
Two sighting towers were built for the engineers to keep the line true, then from 20 October 1845 twenty shafts
Shaft mining
Shaft mining or shaft sinking refers to the method of excavating a vertical or near-vertical tunnel from the top down, where there is initially no access to the bottom....
were sunk to enable access for tunnelling. Tunnelling started after the foundation stone
Cornerstone
The cornerstone concept is derived from the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation, important since all other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure.Over time a cornerstone became a ceremonial masonry stone, or...
was laid at the bottom of No. 1 airshaft in July 1846. The separate diggings first joined up into one long tunnel on 27 November 1848, and it was completed in summer 1849.
The southern entrance or portal
Portal (architecture)
Portal is a general term describing an opening in the walls of a building, gate or fortification, and especially a grand entrance to an important structure. Doors, metal gates or portcullis in the opening can be used to control entry or exit. The surface surrounding the opening may be made of...
is usually described as plain, but is admired by some. The north portal is castellated, and after it was finished was lived in for a while by railway workers. The north portal was listed Grade II in 1988. The finished tunnel is 2 miles, 243 yd or 2.138 miles (3.4 km) long; 25.5 feet (7.8 m) wide by 25 feet (7.6 m) high. It is a double track
Double track
A double track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single track railway where trains in both directions share the same track.- Overview :...
tunnel, with a gradient
Slope
In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a line describes its steepness, incline, or grade. A higher slope value indicates a steeper incline....
of 1 in 94 (0.01%) down from Horsforth to Arthington
Arthington
Arthington is a small village in Wharfedale, in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. It is a civil parish which, according to the 2001 census, had a population of 561 and is in the LS21 postcode district with Otley as its post town...
and at its deepest point, just to the north of Breary Lane, it is 290 feet (88.4 m) below the surface. The construction was for the Leeds Northern Railway and the East and West Yorkshire Junction Railway, which together later became the North Eastern Railway
North Eastern Railway (UK)
The North Eastern Railway , was an English railway company. It was incorporated in 1854, when four existing companies were combined, and was absorbed into the London and North Eastern Railway at the Grouping in 1923...
. The grand opening was 9 July 1849, but the first train went through on 31 May in the same year, full of Leeds and Thirsk
Leeds-Northallerton Railway
The Leeds-Northallerton railway is a partly disused railway line between West and North Yorkshire, in northern England.-History:The line was opened by the Leeds Northern Railway, in the 1850s.The Leeds and Thirsk Railway via Starbeck opened on 9 July 1848....
railway officials, and pulled by Bray's locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
Stephenson.
Working conditions
There were possibly up to 2,300 navviesNavvy
Navvy is a shorter form of navigator or navigational engineer and is particularly applied to describe the manual labourers working on major civil engineering projects...
plus their families, with 400 horses brought in for the work. That is said to include 188 quarry
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
men, 102 stonemasons
Stonemasonry
The craft of stonemasonry has existed since the dawn of civilization - creating buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone from the earth. These materials have been used to construct many of the long-lasting, ancient monuments, artifacts, cathedrals, and cities in a wide variety of cultures...
, 732 tunnel men, 738 labourers and 18 carpenters
Carpentry
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
. For four years they lived in 200 wooden bothies
Bothy
A bothy is a basic shelter, usually left unlocked and available for anyone to use free of charge. It was also a term for basic accommodation, usually for gardeners or other workers on an estate. Bothies are to be found in remote, mountainous areas of Scotland, northern England, Ireland, and Wales....
with their families in a field opposite Bramhope
Bramhope
Bramhope is a village and civil parish in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, West Yorkshire, England, north of Holt Park and north east of Cookridge....
cemetery, alongside offices and workshops. There were 100 more bothies elsewhere along the line of the tunnel. Day– and night–shifters were said to take turns
Hot Racking
Hot racking is the sanctioned practice within military organizations of assigning more than one crew member to a bed or "rack" to reduce berthing space. The practice dates back at least to the sixteenth century, and today is particularly applied aboard submarines, where maximization of space is...
to use the beds, as was normal for sailors of the time. However, sailors had their own bedding to unroll onto the bare bunk or hammock, whereas many navvies may have had little of their own. This tunnel was built at the height of the Hungry Years, and many poor Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
refugees were working on the railways.
Many of the navvies were farm labourers from the Yorkshire Dales
Yorkshire Dales
The Yorkshire Dales is the name given to an upland area in Northern England.The area lies within the historic county boundaries of Yorkshire, though it spans the ceremonial counties of North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and Cumbria...
, North East England
North East England
North East England is one of the nine official regions of England. It covers Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Teesside . The only cities in the region are Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland...
, East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
and the Fenlands
The Fens
The Fens, also known as the , are a naturally marshy region in eastern England. Most of the fens were drained several centuries ago, resulting in a flat, damp, low-lying agricultural region....
as well as from Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. Men were lowered by bucket down the airshafts to dig by candlelight
Lantern
A lantern is a portable lighting device or mounted light fixture used to illuminate broad areas. Lanterns may also be used for signaling, as 'torches', or as general light sources outdoors . Low light level varieties are used for decoration. The term "lantern" is also used more generically to...
. They were paid £1.50 per week to shovel 20 tons (20.32 tonnes) of rock and earth per 12–hour shift, seven days a week. Conditions were constantly wet, with foul air and gunpowder
Gunpowder
Gunpowder, also known since in the late 19th century as black powder, was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the mid 1800s. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the saltpeter works as an oxidizer...
fumes plus the danger of roof–collapse. This was because the tunnel cuts through hard sandstone, shale and clay, and there are seven major faults in the rock near the centre point. Metal sheets had to be used to divert water inside the tunnel. A public waterworks
Water supply
Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavours or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes...
scheme with reservoir
Reservoir
A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...
s and aqueduct
Aqueduct
An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....
was proposed but not implemented.
Human cost
The work was dangerous because the rock at the Horsforth end was difficult to blastRock blasting
Rock blasting is the controlled use of explosives to excavate, break down or remove rock. It is practised most often in mining, quarrying and civil engineering such as dam or road construction...
, and there was frequent flooding and subsidence
Subsidence
Subsidence is the motion of a surface as it shifts downward relative to a datum such as sea-level. The opposite of subsidence is uplift, which results in an increase in elevation...
. It is suggested that up to 1,563,480,000 gallons (7,107,580,080 litres) of water were pumped out between 1845 and 1849. Five men died in 1846; 12 died in 1847; seven more had died by 1849, making 24 in total. In Otley churchyard is a monument
Headstone
A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. In most cases they have the deceased's name, date of birth, and date of death inscribed on them, along with a personal message, or prayer.- Use :...
in the shape of the north portal, dedicated to the 24 men who lost their lives. Records of death and injury were kept from 1847 to 1849, and Leeds Infirmary
Leeds General Infirmary
Leeds General Infirmary, also known as the LGI or, more correctly, The General Infirmary at Leeds, is a large teaching hospital based in the centre of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England and is part of the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust....
had a special spring cart
Sprung cart
A sprung cart was a light, one-horse , two-wheeled vehicle with road springs, for the carriage of passengers on informal occasions. Its name varied according to the body mounted on it....
to ferry the injured to hospital from the site to Leeds.
The sadness of the harsh conditions of those days is captured by the simple epitaph on the gravestone of James Myers who is buried in the Methodist Cemetery at Yeadon behind the Town Hall. James was a married man just 22 years old who 'died by an accident in the Bramhope Tunnel on the 14th day of April, 1848'. Next to him lies the body of his 3 years old daughter who died two weeks later of some unspecified illness. Cllr Philip Sunderland
Alcohol and water
Drunkenness and fighting was such that Jos Midgeley, a railway police inspector, was hired for £1.25 per week to keep order. At one time he was attacked by a group of men, and at another there was a riot at Wescoe Hill in which a man died, all because the contractors tried to cut off the beer supply.Water was taken at first from Bramhope's town well, opposite St Giles Church, but the excessive demand diminished the supply and spoiled the quality. The tunnellers' water was then pumped from a site near the Dyneley Arms crossroads. But at the same time the tunnel itself was draining away the local farmers' natural irrigation
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
, and the source of Bramhope town well. Litigation on this subject continued for some years.
Education and religion
The number of workers' children overwhelmed that of the local children in BramhopeBramhope
Bramhope is a village and civil parish in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, West Yorkshire, England, north of Holt Park and north east of Cookridge....
's school – however this was before the Elementary Education Act 1870
Elementary Education Act 1870
The Elementary Education Act 1870, commonly known as Forster's Education Act, set the framework for schooling of all children between ages 5 and 12 in England and Wales...
which provided for education for all, up to the age of 12 years. Poor children would have been educated at the parochial school
Parochial school
A parochial school is a school that provides religious education in addition to conventional education. In a narrower sense, a parochial school is a Christian grammar school or high school which is part of, and run by, a parish.-United Kingdom:...
in Eastgate, where the memorial gardens are now. The workers and their families attended St Ronans Methodist chapel at Bramhope, and the Methodist
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
chapel at Pool-in-Wharfedale
Pool-in-Wharfedale
Pool in Wharfedale is a village and civil parish in the Lower Wharfedale area, 10 miles north of Leeds city centre and 2 miles east of Otley. It is in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, West Yorkshire and within the historic boundaries of the West Riding of Yorkshire. It is in the LS21 ...
. The Leeds Mission spread Bibles and tracts in the shanty–town.
What is visible today
Four of the twenty shafts remain as ventilation shaftVentilation shaft
In subterranean civil engineering, ventilation shafts, also known as airshafts or vent shafts, are vertical passages used in mines and tunnels to move fresh air underground, and to remove stale air....
s. These are: the first to the north of the Leeds–Otley A660 near the Scout hut
Scouting
Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement with the stated aim of supporting young people in their physical, mental and spiritual development, that they may play constructive roles in society....
in Bramhope; the second behind Park House, Bramhope; the third opposite Camp House Farm and the fourth near Cookridge
Cookridge
Cookridge is a suburb of north-west Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is a mixture of suburban, twentieth-century private housing and a very small amount of council housing bordering Tinshill. It is in the Adel and Wharfedale ward of City of Leeds metropolitan district, and the Leeds North West...
and Horsforth. The ventilation shafts measure 40 feet (12.2 m) by 30 feet (9.1 m) – wider than the tunnel itself. One of the two sighting towers remains, in the field opposite Bramhope cemetery. The other one, now demolished, was behind Dyneley Hall. 250000 cubic yards (191,138.7 m³) of spoil
Earthworks (engineering)
Earthworks are engineering works created through the moving or processing of quantities of soil or unformed rock.- Civil engineering use :Typical earthworks include roads, railway beds, causeways, dams, levees, canals, and berms...
still lies along the line of the tunnel. One of a number of tips is in an area around the scout hut to the north of the Leeds–Otley road; a second is the Knoll near to Parklands and on to the field facing Bramhope cemetery; a third is on land adjacent to None–Go–Byes Farm.
North and south portals
The Gothic north portal was said to have been built to please the landowner William Rhodes, who wanted to use one of the towers as a belvedereBelvedere (structure)
Belvedere is an architectural term adopted from Italian , which refers to any architectural structure sited to take advantage of such a view. A belvedere may be built in the upper part of a building so as to command a fine view...
. It is built of rock–faced sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
and has three side towers with turret
Turret
In architecture, a turret is a small tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building such as a medieval castle. Turrets were used to provide a projecting defensive position allowing covering fire to the adjacent wall in the days of military fortification...
s, and a horseshoe–shaped archway. The keystone
Keystone (architecture)
A keystone is the wedge-shaped stone piece at the apex of a masonry vault or arch, which is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allowing the arch to bear weight. This makes a keystone very important structurally...
features a portrait of a bearded man who is said to resemble the aforesaid landowner. There is a crenellated parapet with a carved cartouche
Cartouche
In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an ellipse with a horizontal line at one end, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name, coming into use during the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty under Pharaoh Sneferu, replacing the earlier serekh...
in the centre featuring a wheatsheaf, fleece
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
and fish. Both portals are on Network Rail
Network Rail
Network Rail is the government-created owner and operator of most of the rail infrastructure in Great Britain .; it is not responsible for railway infrastructure in Northern Ireland...
land with no public access.
Recent repairs
Trains have been cancelled or delayed frequently in recent years, due to flooding in the Bramhope Tunnel. Water still runs fast into the tunnel, and in the 1960s a train was derailed by a 3-ton (3.3 tonne) icicle. Major repair work was done in 2003 and 2006, with the VictorianVictorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
drainage culvert
Culvert
A culvert is a device used to channel water. It may be used to allow water to pass underneath a road, railway, or embankment. Culverts can be made of many different materials; steel, polyvinyl chloride and concrete are the most common...
replaced, and the track lowered to allow larger passenger and freight stock, costing £10 million. The sixteen closed airshafts were deteriorating and had to be re-capped. In 2003 the excavated material from the works was recycled to shore up the railway embankment near Castley
Castley
Castley is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England, It is on the River Wharfe and about 10 miles from the centre of Leeds.-External links:...
. It is said that there are three more full-sized portals inside, each with a carved plaque
Commemorative plaque
A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other vertical surface, and bearing text in memory of an important figure or event...
with the date of construction, that the rail workers' refuges become smaller as you go in, and that most of the tunnel is not brick–lined, but bare rock. There are still men around with hair–raising stories of working on repairs in the tunnel.