When the tunnel was in operation how did they make sure that two canal boats travelling in opposite directions didn’t meet. Were there passing places in the tunnel ?
That is a very good question David. The answer is as follows: This is from Humphrey Household's book: "Moreover, as barges could not pass in the tunnel, entry at either end was restricted to fixed times (say 8am-11am to go from Sapperton to Coates, and 1pm to 4pm from Coates to Sapperton direction). Also, no more than three passages in each direction were possible in each 24 hour period." Like today on the canals, travel at night time is not allowed (for reasons I never fully understand, but that is the convention, and the Canals & Rivers Trust strongly discourage night time narrowboat cruising). I will talk about this more, in terms of the tunnel's operation in Part 3. Thanks for a great question! Paul
@@thomasfilion9064 Hi, no, not to the tunnel portals. They both lie on PROWs. But, there is a large gate about 10 metres inside the canal tunnel itself, which is hard to see from photos and videos, because of the darkness inside the tunnel.
@@thomasfilion9064 That's true, although some now have traffic lights, still others you have to book in advance by ringing the CRT, and booking in a timed access transit slot.
Hi Paul, can’t wait for part two. Your channel has to be the premier site for anyone interested in the T&S.I still think it should be compulsory viewing in local schools. One of our family legends says my Great, Great grandfather was a labourer on the tunnel. They were allowed home on week ends and were transported by horse and flatbed cart in all weathers. Before returning to work on Monday Grannie would bind his hands with bandage because the sharp edges on the bricks would cut their hands to ribbons. So the story goes Take care Ron
Thank you Ron! Wow - a family connection to the Sapperton Tunnel too - brilliant! Yes, I can just imagine it must have been very hard on one's hands buiding this mighty tunnel. They didn't seem to have builders gloves then, indeed no health & safety whatsover, and many lives were lost, both during and after the tunnel's construction, as I will talk about in Part 2 in the New Year. Thank you for your kind words. Merry Christmas to you and your family. Paul
Another Amazing video Paul we found so fascinating you hold so much knowledge ,very interesting , we really enjoyed watching it thankyou again, We Wish You a Very Happy Christmas 🎄 regards Gary and Julie Smith.
Great video Paul. As a youngeter my brother and I used to cycle up from Gloucester to Coates where we had family living. As a treat we used to go to the Tunnel House for a drink - lemonade and a packet of crisp. We were under strict instruction to keep away from the canal! Haven't been there for ten years but the place hadn't changed a lot.
Thank you Frank. I wish I had known about this pub when I was younger; I only found out about it after it closed. I used to cycle around there when I was younger too, but never got as far as Coates, just Kemble and surrounding areas. I didn't know many people locally, so I didn't know anyone who went there. Hopefully, it will reopen one day. I am sure it could be popular even as a part time cafe during the summer months, until it could open fully as a pub again. There were quite a few walkers around there when I was filming (I know it doesn't look like it) and that was on a cold and damp mid week December day. Cheers! Paul
Another great video. Thank you. I have been fascinated by The Sapperton Tunnel for quite a while. It would be great to see it restored but unlikely in my lifetime. Really looking forward to part 2 and the next general update. Hopefully there is some good news with regards to work starting on the missing mile. 🤞
Thank you! Yes, things are progressing now that the access and planning has all (finally!) been given the green light. Lots of little projects have been happening too. Cheers, Paul
Thank you Roy! Wow, I would have loved to have gone through the Harecastle Tunnel. I have been in one of the Dudley Tunnels a couple of times (trip was part of Black Country Museum tour, I think) - that is amazing where it opens up into a cavern - I may do that as a future video. Hope you are having a good week. Take care, Paul
That was absolutely fascinating Paul, thank you so much. I've always been interested in the Sapperton Tunnel since i was a youngster {much longer ago than i care to think about}. Others have scratched the surface but your in depth history of the tunnel is by far the most comprehensive I've come across. Looking forward to the rest of this brilliant series. All the best for Christmas and the New Year.
Thank you Nigel. Glad you found it interesting. I do try to go 'down the mine' (tunnel!) on the detail on these sorts of videos - I find it fascinating - good to know others do too. Hopefully, Part Two will arrive early in the New Year. Merry Christmas to you too. Paul
Absolutely brilliant Paul. Really interesting and really looking forward to part 2. I’m always amazed at how the engineers achieved such wonderful projects without the sort of technology we have today. Regards David 📷👍
Hi David! Great to hear from you. Glad you enjoyed it. It is incredible that this tunnel was ever completed, as we'll discover in Part Two in the New Year. Hope is all well with you. I do hope to do another one in my photography series videos again soon - as you know, I'm sure, there is never enough time to do everything one wants to! Hope you have a great Christmas! Paul
Hello Paul. We take for granted just how dangerous the construction of these canals were. I wonder if there are any statistics on how many poor souls actually lost their lives? A very sobering thought. Looking forward to part 2. Thank you.👍
Thank you Daryl! Glad you enjoyed it. I talk more about the construction and lives lost during it in Part Two. There were also many lives lost when the canal was in use too because of the legging technique to transport the Thames Barges through the tunnel. I don't think there is an exact total number though. Take care, Paul
As a canal resoration volunteer I really appreciate all the work the navvies did when they built the canals. I'd actually never heard of this tunnel. Enjoyed by Millionaire Paul 👋
Thank you Paul. It is amazing what those navvies achieved with a shovel (and some dynamite, as was the case here!) in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries. Hope you have a really great Christmas! Paul.
An extraordinary achievement against enormous odds - not least unstable ground conditions and unstable contractors! I have visited both portals and traversed the tunnel length - though only by road as far as was possible. Thank you for a really interesting account. Looking forward to part 2.
Greetings from Poland. What an incredible story. A tale of intrigue, dishonesty and downright lies. I'm really looking forward to the next part of this story
Thank you Michael! It really is a truly incredible tale - and somewhat hard to believe in places, were it not for the fact that the T&S Canal archives are complete. Hope you are having a good week. Take care, Paul
Thank you Malcolm! Yes, it is incredible that this ever got built to completion. A true testament to human determination and endeavour. I hope to bring Part Two early in the New Year. Merry Christmas! Paul
Love the canal vlogs. You attack it ata difficult angle🎉 than anyone else I've seen . I watch canal vlogs a LOT! I want to sell my stuff and move into a narrowboat. Going to be hard right from the beginning. Think no car, utensils, no friends in a different place. I'll manage if I can figure out a way to become either dual citizen, US, UK. Funny fact. The town's names here all over must have come from the people that came here. So many are the same. B
Yes, many places that exist here as human settlements transveresed the Atlantic Ocean. I am aware of Plymouth, Truro, Falmouth & Gloucester in the Westcountry, in the USA too, among many others. I think many are in New England, where the early English European white immigrants settted.
Glad you are enjoying the canal vlogs. Living on a narrowboat and being a continuous cruiser is hard though in the UK, and many have now given up on the idea. The canal network is littered with abandoned craft, often by people with sadly insufficient independent means to sustain the expensive canal lifestyle.
Hi Paul. thanks for this film. Tunnel house pub used to be the local for Cirencester agricultural college so you had to be careful when you drove round the area as they drove very fast and reclassly. had great meals in their with my late mum. Caroline.
Thank you Caroline! I never got the chance to buy a drink here - I only became aware of this pub when researching the history of the T&S Canal in 2021 - I had never heard of it before. I do hope it can be reopened again at some point. I would think it would still be popular. The Canal Navvies used it when building the tunnel as accomodation, and there was a temporarily tented village near there for the very many years when they were digging in the area - I'll talk about that more in Part Two. Take care, Paul
Hi Paul, what a story this is, absolutely fascinating. Perefctly narrated from the portal and shafts, well done. This one counts as a one swan video!! It seems amazing that the railway runs so close to one of those shafts. I am wondering what the plan here is, is it proposed to reopen the canal? It sounds like a major undertaking but from what I can see not impossible, Looking forward to part 2. All the best!!
Thank you David! Glad you enjoyed it. Yes, I hope to do Part Two in the early New Year - as you can imagine there is a fair bit of work in these with research, script writing and lines to learn, so I only have time to a couple like this each month. There may even be a fourth part as there is so much history associated with this amazing tunnel - we'll see how it goes. I have been meaning to tackle this for a while! I wrote the script on a couple of long distance train journeys recently. The tunnel comes under Restoration Phase 3 (i.e. after Stroud has been connected to the network, which is priority at the moment (that's Phase 1b) and after the Thames is connected to The Cotswold Water Park (Phase 2)) - so a long way down the track, but is definitely in the plans to reopen it - after all the longer Standage Tunnel (which came after Sapperton) was restored and reopened in 2001. Yes! I never knew that the shaft was so close to that track! - I have travelled on that line 100s, if not 1000s of times. Hope you are having a good week! Paul
@westcountrywanderings Take your time Paul, it's a huge task. I've seen bits of the Standedge tunnel from the neighbouring rail tunnels, well on video anyway!! Just shows you what can be done!!
Really Fascinating Paul, it always makes me wonder how they constructed these amazing tunnels both railway and canal! it is such a feat of engineering considering what equipment they had back then, i mean with modern technology i can understand but wow just using a simple line over such a distance is just amazing isn't it? anyway a great watch as always both informative and very well narrated! great Watch, Best Wishes Darren 👌👍👍👍
Thank you so much Darren. Yes, it really is an incredible feat of engineering, and I have more amazing stories to bring out about this tunnel in Part Two. Thanks so much for watching and commenting - I really appreciate it. Take care & Merry Christmas, Paul
Needless to say I watched this twice! So much engineering detail. That transit telescope resembled a type of theodolite. Perhaps they may have had a more primitive instrument to judge the correct route- sailors had been using sextants for years to judge angles? That experimental shaft did not appear to be fenced off like the main ones - hopefully it had been filled in but still was showing a depression!! I always thought that tunnel was a very old word- nice to see it is relatively new to the English language. Thanks Paul!
Thank you Paul another great video, can't wait until the next one. I have wandered along there many times and even went in on the trip boat at the sapperton end. Have a good Christmas.
Thank you Geoff! Yes, I think up until fairly recently the CCT ran short trips into the tunnel - I would have loved to have gone on one. Hope you have a good Christmas too! Paul
Hi Dawn, I was aware that Tarlton Bridge (my favourite bridge on the T&S) was rebuilt in 1823, but I have never seen a reference to the earlier bridge being a wooden one. It may have been though. Humphrey Household, David Viney and Michael Handford don't mention that it was wooden in the books that I have. I don't know if Westfield Bridge on the Stroudwater Canal near Eastington was wooden either before that one was rebuilt in the 1800s. Paul
I forgot to add that the metal fence/gate, which runs from the tunnel roof to the canal bed is on the Coates Portal end of the tunnel - the reason for this is that the air quality, due to blocked air shafts above is very poor and dangerous. The Sapperton Portal is enterable, but only for the very brave. You soon come to many collapses. Further, the sides of the tunnel are bulging in an alarming manner inside, by all accounts.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
When the tunnel was in operation how did they make sure that two canal boats travelling in opposite directions didn’t meet. Were there passing places in the tunnel ?
That is a very good question David.
The answer is as follows:
This is from Humphrey Household's book: "Moreover, as barges could not pass in the tunnel, entry at either end was restricted to fixed times (say 8am-11am to go from Sapperton to Coates, and 1pm to 4pm from Coates to Sapperton direction). Also, no more than three passages in each direction were possible in each 24 hour period." Like today on the canals, travel at night time is not allowed (for reasons I never fully understand, but that is the convention, and the Canals & Rivers Trust strongly discourage night time narrowboat cruising).
I will talk about this more, in terms of the tunnel's operation in Part 3.
Thanks for a great question!
Paul
Like today, boats can only enter at written times on different signage on each side. So they could have waited for nobody even in the tunnel.
Was it hard to get to the tunnel? The reason for asking is I don't see it being gated off.
@@thomasfilion9064 Hi, no, not to the tunnel portals. They both lie on PROWs. But, there is a large gate about 10 metres inside the canal tunnel itself, which is hard to see from photos and videos, because of the darkness inside the tunnel.
@@thomasfilion9064 That's true, although some now have traffic lights, still others you have to book in advance by ringing the CRT, and booking in a timed access transit slot.
Hi Paul, can’t wait for part two. Your channel has to be the premier site for anyone interested in the T&S.I still think it should be compulsory viewing in local schools.
One of our family legends says my Great, Great grandfather was a labourer on the tunnel. They were allowed home on week ends and were transported by horse and flatbed cart in all weathers. Before returning to work on Monday Grannie would bind his hands with bandage because the sharp edges on the bricks would cut their hands to ribbons.
So the story goes
Take care
Ron
Thank you Ron!
Wow - a family connection to the Sapperton Tunnel too - brilliant! Yes, I can just imagine it must have been very hard on one's hands buiding this mighty tunnel. They didn't seem to have builders gloves then, indeed no health & safety whatsover, and many lives were lost, both during and after the tunnel's construction, as I will talk about in Part 2 in the New Year.
Thank you for your kind words.
Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Paul
Such a brilliant video, presented so well. Thanks for all the maps, plans & photos old & new.
Another Amazing video Paul we found so fascinating you hold so much knowledge ,very interesting , we really enjoyed watching it thankyou again, We Wish You a Very Happy Christmas 🎄 regards Gary and Julie Smith.
Thank you Gary & Julie!
Glad you enjoyed it.
Merry Christmas to you both too!
Paul
Great video Paul. As a youngeter my brother and I used to cycle up from Gloucester to Coates where we had family living. As a treat we used to go to the Tunnel House for a drink - lemonade and a packet of crisp. We were under strict instruction to keep away from the canal! Haven't been
there for ten years but the place hadn't changed a lot.
Thank you Frank.
I wish I had known about this pub when I was younger; I only found out about it after it closed. I used to cycle around there when I was younger too, but never got as far as Coates, just Kemble and surrounding areas. I didn't know many people locally, so I didn't know anyone who went there. Hopefully, it will reopen one day. I am sure it could be popular even as a part time cafe during the summer months, until it could open fully as a pub again. There were quite a few walkers around there when I was filming (I know it doesn't look like it) and that was on a cold and damp mid week December day.
Cheers!
Paul
Another great video! So much history! Thanks!
Thanks so much!
Hope to do Part 2 early in the New Year.
Cheers,
Paul
Another great video. Thank you. I have been fascinated by The Sapperton Tunnel for quite a while. It would be great to see it restored but unlikely in my lifetime. Really looking forward to part 2 and the next general update. Hopefully there is some good news with regards to work starting on the missing mile. 🤞
Thank you!
Yes, things are progressing now that the access and planning has all (finally!) been given the green light. Lots of little projects have been happening too.
Cheers,
Paul
Hi Paul nice video and info , ive been through the Harecastle tunnel 18 years ago when i had a narrow boat 🛥
Thank you Roy!
Wow, I would have loved to have gone through the Harecastle Tunnel.
I have been in one of the Dudley Tunnels a couple of times (trip was part of Black Country Museum tour, I think) - that is amazing where it opens up into a cavern - I may do that as a future video.
Hope you are having a good week.
Take care,
Paul
What a story, Amazing.
Thank you!
Yes, it is an incredible piece of engineering - and testiment to human's determination against all odds.
Paul
Another interesting video so much research too, thank you Paul. Jan
Thank you Jan! Glad you found it interesting too.
Paul
That was absolutely fascinating Paul, thank you so much. I've always been interested in the Sapperton Tunnel since i was a youngster {much longer ago than i care to think about}. Others have scratched the surface but your in depth history of the tunnel is by far the most comprehensive I've come across. Looking forward to the rest of this brilliant series. All the best for Christmas and the New Year.
Thank you Nigel.
Glad you found it interesting.
I do try to go 'down the mine' (tunnel!) on the detail on these sorts of videos - I find it fascinating - good to know others do too.
Hopefully, Part Two will arrive early in the New Year.
Merry Christmas to you too.
Paul
Absolutely brilliant Paul. Really interesting and really looking forward to part 2. I’m always amazed at how the engineers achieved such wonderful projects without the sort of technology we have today. Regards David 📷👍
Hi David!
Great to hear from you.
Glad you enjoyed it.
It is incredible that this tunnel was ever completed, as we'll discover in Part Two in the New Year.
Hope is all well with you.
I do hope to do another one in my photography series videos again soon - as you know, I'm sure, there is never enough time to do everything one wants to!
Hope you have a great Christmas!
Paul
Hello Paul. We take for granted just how dangerous the construction of these canals were. I wonder if there are any statistics on how many poor souls actually lost their lives? A very sobering thought. Looking forward to part 2. Thank you.👍
Thank you Daryl!
Glad you enjoyed it. I talk more about the construction and lives lost during it in Part Two. There were also many lives lost when the canal was in use too because of the legging technique to transport the Thames Barges through the tunnel. I don't think there is an exact total number though.
Take care,
Paul
As a canal resoration volunteer I really appreciate all the work the navvies did when they built the canals. I'd actually never heard of this tunnel. Enjoyed by Millionaire Paul 👋
Thank you Paul.
It is amazing what those navvies achieved with a shovel (and some dynamite, as was the case here!) in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries.
Hope you have a really great Christmas!
Paul.
An extraordinary achievement against enormous odds - not least unstable ground conditions and unstable contractors! I have visited both portals and traversed the tunnel length - though only by road as far as was possible. Thank you for a really interesting account. Looking forward to part 2.
Greetings from Poland.
What an incredible story. A tale of intrigue, dishonesty and downright lies. I'm really looking forward to the next part of this story
Thank you Michael!
It really is a truly incredible tale - and somewhat hard to believe in places, were it not for the fact that the T&S Canal archives are complete.
Hope you are having a good week.
Take care,
Paul
Thank you Malcolm!
Yes, it is incredible that this ever got built to completion. A true testament to human determination and endeavour.
I hope to bring Part Two early in the New Year.
Merry Christmas!
Paul
Love the canal vlogs. You attack it ata difficult angle🎉 than anyone else I've seen . I watch canal vlogs a LOT! I want to sell my stuff and move into a narrowboat. Going to be hard right from the beginning. Think no car, utensils, no friends in a different place. I'll manage if I can figure out a way to become either dual citizen, US, UK. Funny fact. The town's names here all over must have come from the people that came here. So many are the same. B
Yes, many places that exist here as human settlements transveresed the Atlantic Ocean. I am aware of Plymouth, Truro, Falmouth & Gloucester in the Westcountry, in the USA too, among many others. I think many are in New England, where the early English European white immigrants settted.
Glad you are enjoying the canal vlogs. Living on a narrowboat and being a continuous cruiser is hard though in the UK, and many have now given up on the idea. The canal network is littered with abandoned craft, often by people with sadly insufficient independent means to sustain the expensive canal lifestyle.
Hi Paul. thanks for this film. Tunnel house pub used to be the local for Cirencester agricultural college so you had to be careful when you drove round the area as they drove very fast and reclassly. had great meals in their with my late mum. Caroline.
Thank you Caroline!
I never got the chance to buy a drink here - I only became aware of this pub when researching the history of the T&S Canal in 2021 - I had never heard of it before.
I do hope it can be reopened again at some point. I would think it would still be popular.
The Canal Navvies used it when building the tunnel as accomodation, and there was a temporarily tented village near there for the very many years when they were digging in the area - I'll talk about that more in Part Two.
Take care,
Paul
@@westcountrywanderings The Tunnel House was originally Called The New Inn.
Hi Paul, what a story this is, absolutely fascinating. Perefctly narrated from the portal and shafts, well done. This one counts as a one swan video!!
It seems amazing that the railway runs so close to one of those shafts.
I am wondering what the plan here is, is it proposed to reopen the canal? It sounds like a major undertaking but from what I can see not impossible,
Looking forward to part 2.
All the best!!
Thank you David!
Glad you enjoyed it.
Yes, I hope to do Part Two in the early New Year - as you can imagine there is a fair bit of work in these with research, script writing and lines to learn, so I only have time to a couple like this each month. There may even be a fourth part as there is so much history associated with this amazing tunnel - we'll see how it goes. I have been meaning to tackle this for a while! I wrote the script on a couple of long distance train journeys recently.
The tunnel comes under Restoration Phase 3 (i.e. after Stroud has been connected to the network, which is priority at the moment (that's Phase 1b) and after the Thames is connected to The Cotswold Water Park (Phase 2)) - so a long way down the track, but is definitely in the plans to reopen it - after all the longer Standage Tunnel (which came after Sapperton) was restored and reopened in 2001.
Yes! I never knew that the shaft was so close to that track! - I have travelled on that line 100s, if not 1000s of times.
Hope you are having a good week!
Paul
@westcountrywanderings Take your time Paul, it's a huge task. I've seen bits of the Standedge tunnel from the neighbouring rail tunnels, well on video anyway!! Just shows you what can be done!!
Really Fascinating Paul, it always makes me wonder how they constructed these amazing tunnels both railway and canal! it is such a feat of engineering considering what equipment they had back then, i mean with modern technology i can understand but wow just using a simple line over such a distance is just amazing isn't it? anyway a great watch as always both informative and very well narrated! great Watch, Best Wishes Darren 👌👍👍👍
Thank you so much Darren.
Yes, it really is an incredible feat of engineering, and I have more amazing stories to bring out about this tunnel in Part Two.
Thanks so much for watching and commenting - I really appreciate it.
Take care & Merry Christmas,
Paul
Tough people with no options to choose from maybe.
@@thomasfilion9064 Possibly.
Needless to say I watched this twice! So much engineering detail. That transit telescope resembled a type of theodolite. Perhaps they may have had a more primitive instrument to judge the correct route- sailors had been using sextants for years to judge angles?
That experimental shaft did not appear to be fenced off like the main ones - hopefully it had been filled in but still was showing a depression!!
I always thought that tunnel was a very old word- nice to see it is relatively new to the English language. Thanks Paul!
Thank you Paul another great video, can't wait until the next one. I have wandered along there many times and even went in on the trip boat at the sapperton end. Have a good Christmas.
Thank you Geoff!
Yes, I think up until fairly recently the CCT ran short trips into the tunnel - I would have loved to have gone on one.
Hope you have a good Christmas too!
Paul
I believe Tarlton Road Bridge was originally A Wooden Bridge until 1823 .
Hi Dawn,
I was aware that Tarlton Bridge (my favourite bridge on the T&S) was rebuilt in 1823, but I have never seen a reference to the earlier bridge being a wooden one. It may have been though.
Humphrey Household, David Viney and Michael Handford don't mention that it was wooden in the books that I have.
I don't know if Westfield Bridge on the Stroudwater Canal near Eastington was wooden either before that one was rebuilt in the 1800s.
Paul
Watched 2 times because I have ADD saw that you said hasva fence. 😅
It does. It is inside the canal tunnel.
I forgot to add that the metal fence/gate, which runs from the tunnel roof to the canal bed is on the Coates Portal end of the tunnel - the reason for this is that the air quality, due to blocked air shafts above is very poor and dangerous. The Sapperton Portal is enterable, but only for the very brave. You soon come to many collapses. Further, the sides of the tunnel are bulging in an alarming manner inside, by all accounts.