Shrewley Tunnel

Shrewley Tunnel
Warwickshire
Froom the northern portal of the Shrewley Tunnel
Location
Type:	Canal tunnel
Carrying:	Grand Union Canal
Location
Grid reference:	SP213672
Location:	52°18’9"N, 1°41’15"W
Structure
Length:	433 yards
Type:	Canal tunnel
History
	Opened 1799
Information
Owned by:	Canal and River Trust

Shrewley Tunnel is a canal tunnel on the Grand Union Canal near Shrewley in Warwickshire. It opened in 1799 as part of the Warwick and Birmingham Canal. It became part of the Grand Union Canal in 1929.

History

The tunnel was originally one of three tunnels planned by the Warwick and Birmingham Canal Company authorised by an Act of Parliament in March 1793 to build a 22½ mile canal from the Digbeth Branch Canal of the Birmingham Canal Navigations to Warwick, where it would end at Saltisford Wharf. The plans showed three tunnels, at Shrewley, Rowington and Yardley, but as construction progressed, the last two became deep cuttings. At Shrewley however a tunnel was the only viable option, as the route passed under the village. The plans also specified that the tunnel would be suitable for boats but not barges, implying that it would have been suitable for 7-foot narrow boats, common on the Birmingham system, but need not take wider craft. However, construction of the Grand Junction Canal, which would provide a link to London, was started at a similar time, and the committee wisely took the decision in April 1794 to increase the width of the tunnel to 16 feet, allowing wide barges to pass through it. The width of the bridge holes was similarly increased to 21 feet in May.

Northern entrance to the canal and accompanying horse tunnel

The tunnel is 433 yards long, built of brick and is wide enough for two narrow boats to pass each other, but it has no towpath inside. The tunnel was officially opened on 19 December 1799 when the rest of the Warwick and Birmingham Canal was completed, although no trading took place until the following March.

The canal became part of the Grand Union Canal in 1929 following the amalgamation of the canal company with several others, including the Grand Junction.

There are actually two tunnels: at the northern portal, the towpath splits off and rises on a ramp and then enters a tunnel of its own, until it reaches the road which crosses the tunnel; having crossed this the path then descends on another ramp to reach the southern portal. The interior of the tunnel is unusually wet and this has led to the creation of flowstone formations.

Location

The tunnel runs from the south-east to the north-west. From the northern portal, the canal is level for six and a half miles to the bottom of a flight of five locks at Knowle, which raise the level of the canal by 41 feet 9 inches. Kingswood Junction, which connects to the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal is found about halfway along this stretch. To the south, the canal is level for around a mile and a half to Hatton Top Lock, the first of a flight of 21 locks which drop the level by 146 feet 6 inches to reach Warwick.

• North portal: 52°18’14"N, 1°41’22"W; SP211673
• Mid-point: 52°18’9"N, 1°41’15"W; SP213672
• South portal: 52°18’5"N, 1°41’8"W; SP214671

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Shrewley Tunnel)

Books

• Cumberlidge, Jane (2009). Inland Waterways of Great Britain (8th Ed.). Imray Laurie Norie and Wilson. ISBN 978-1-84623-010-3. 
• Hadfield, Charles (1970). The Canals of the East Midlands. David and Charles. ISBN 0-7153-4871-X. 
• Nicholson (2006). Nicholson Guides Vol 1: Grand Union, Oxford and the South East. Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-00-721109-8. 
• Pearson (1993). Pearson's Canal Companion: South Midlands and Warwickshire Ring. ISBN 0-907864-62-7.