Clifton Hall Tunnel, also called the Black Harry Tunnel, was a railway

Rail transport

Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...

 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...

 passing beneath much of Swinton and Pendlebury

Swinton and Pendlebury

Swinton and Pendlebury was a local government district of the administrative county of Lancashire, England. It was created in 1894 as an urban district and enlarged in 1934, gaining the status of municipal borough.-Constituent civil parishes:...

, in Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...

, 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...

 which partly collapsed on 28 April 1953 killing five occupants of houses in Temple Drive, Swinton which had been built above the tunnel many years earlier.

The tunnel was on the Patricroft

Patricroft

Patricroft is a district of Eccles, England, within the historic county boundaries of Lancashire.-History:Patricroft may derive its name from 'Pear-tree croft', or more likely, 'Patrick's Croft'. In 1836, James Nasmyth, in partnership with Holbrook Gaskell, built the Bridgewater Foundry in...

 and Clifton branch of the London and North Western Railway

London and North Western Railway

The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway...

 line linking Patricroft

Patricroft railway station

Patricroft railway station serves the Patricroft district of Eccles, England. The station is located on Green Lane, Patricroft just north of the junction with Cromwell Road...

 with Molyneux Junction. The line provided a strategically important link to Radcliffe

Radcliffe, Greater Manchester

Radcliffe is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on undulating ground in the Irwell Valley, along the course of the River Irwell, south-west of Bury and north-northwest of Manchester. Radcliffe is contiguous with the town of Whitefield to the...

 via the Clifton Viaduct

Clifton Viaduct

Clifton Viaduct is a Grade II listed stone structure crossing the River Irwell in Clifton, Greater Manchester, and also the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal. It is known locally as 'The 13 arches'...

 (known locally as "the 13 arches"), which has since been granted Listed status and therefore still stands across the Irwell Valley

Irwell Valley

The Irwell Valley extends from the Forest of Rossendale in North West England, through to the cities of Salford and Manchester. The River Irwell runs through the valley, along with the River Croal.-Geology:...

 next to the M60 motorway

M60 motorway

The M60 motorway, or Manchester Orbital, is an orbital motorway circling Greater Manchester, a metropolitan county in North West England. It passes through all Greater Manchester's metropolitan boroughs except for Wigan and Bolton...

.

The tunnel collapsed at a point directly beneath an old brick

Brick

A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...

-lined construction shaft, the contents of which fell into the space below. The surrounding soil

Soil

Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...

, which was a loose mixture of sand

Sand

Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...

 and clay

Clay

Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...

, poured into the hole and formed a large cavity underneath the foundations of two houses on Temple Drive. The houses, (numbers 22 and 24) suddenly collapsed into the ground killing five occupants and the end wall of another (number 26) fell outwards though the occupants of this house were rescued.