6.9 Exploring the abandoned Lapal Tunnel
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- Опубликовано: 29 авг 2024
- 6.9 Canal Hunter devotes a whole episode to the Lapal Tunnel. At over two miles long this was the fourth longest canal tunnel built in the UK, suffered a terminal collapse in 1917 and was last explored inside in 1961.
#narrowboats #canalhistory #Lapaltunnel
I now at the age of 76 have a hobby called geocaching. I went the other day to find my 18,890 cache on a path very close to the Halesowen end of the tunnel. That made me recall my youth in about 1955. When we came down to the tunnel from Quinton along Lapal Lane. We made a raft from pallets and spent hours down here.
In later years, I became the owner of the boat yard at Hopwood and entered wasthills tunnel in a rowing boat to try and rescue workers killed in the tunnel collapse. After one of the workers had run back to the boatyard to try and get help. How things have changed. Only this week did I come across not my first electric boat but the first electric boat I have seen that was powered only by solar panels.
Regards Peter Stanton "Pedro"
An excellent video of the Lapal tunnel Andy. Most enjoyable.
I can't believe that although thirty shafts were sunk in order to construct the tunnel, only one was ever left open as an air shaft. By comparison, the Wast Hill tunnel on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal which is shorter than Lapal by over a 1000 yards has three air shafts over its length.
I read somewhere that the structure over the air shaft for the Lapal tunnel was demolished in 1978 and the shaft was covered over.
There may have been more which were lost between the collapse and the final one being filled in - but thats the only one I can see on the old maps.
I’ve been looking forward to this episode and I wasn’t disappointed. Thx Andy another great video
Glad you enjoyed it Don.
How interesting. Such a shame that the tunnel is lost forever. Best of luck to those who are working to bring the Lapal Link back into service - it will be such a useful connection when re-established - good to see some recent progress has been made!
I can see the arm into Selly Oak Park being open quite soon, and the line to California later but the route over the hill is a long way off.
A very interesting video that has explained a few things that I first became aware of some 15 to 20 years ago. At that time I was working for Royal Mail, and for some of that time I was based at the Selly Oak office, and often delivered mail in the area around the eastern portal to the tunnel.
I was rather intrigued by the fact that Bottetourte Road had a gap in it (not far from the remains of Weoley Castle), which just seemed to be now used as a footpath. It did occur to me that it looked like either a filled in canal, or possibly an abandoned railway. A bit of research revealed that it was indeed the line of a canal.
When I asked about the posts along the side of Stonehouse Lane, that appeared to be some form of ventilation, by the side of the grassy area where you ended your video, I was told that the tunnel had been filled in with household rubbish, and the poles were to vent the methane gas that was being given off.
I was later told that rather than it being the filled in tunnel, it was where the cutting leading into the tunnel had been filled in, that was giving off the gas. This ties in with the photo that you have of the eastern portal of the tunnel, and explains how you were standing above it.
I've just completed my second year living aboard a narrowboat, and only recently discovered your channel - I look forward to watching the rest of your videos.
Lots of the old rubbish filled canals have vent pipes to release any gasses - and there were lots around this area.
Hugely enjoyable, thank you very much! I can see these videos being an educational resource in the near future!
Glad it was of interest Drew.
Loved the video. Me and a friend of mine tried the same trip at the end of the seventies. There was a little more evidence then but not much more. We did find the ventilation shaft though
Trying to make a video about a tunnel with no visible bits was an interesting challenge!
Wonderful bit of detection Andy. Thank you All the Best for 2022.
Thanks Christine - you too.
Brilliant, I've wanted to visit his area for a while. Well done.
Glad you enjoyed it
another brilliant video Andy, look forward to the next..!
Thanks Mal - just one to go!
Amazing finding 3 of the 250 year old tunnel shafts.. the first one was quite obvious the big ring of debri and sunken ground.. I wonder if the owner of the property had any clue what was in his garden? Another fantastic video Andy.. Happy New Year from Missouri USA!
I rather enjoyed the hunt. Have a great New Year Dennis.
Went up that tunnel loads of times 50s @ early 60s as a kid with my mates .Lived in Alwold Rd Weoley Castle .Great cut to play on ,great place to grow up.
Glad it brought back some good memories James - even if I cant say Weoley the right way!
You might try asking Nonsuch Primary School on Wood Leasow, there is a spoil heap in the school grounds.
I will bear that in mind!
Been looking forward to this one...
I hope it lived up to expectations!
@@lifeat2.3milesanhour57 Yes indeed, very interesting as always.
You are a master of your craft. Well done.
Thank you Bryn - I try my best!
Well done Andy. I live in this area. I will share it on the local history groups for you and on the Lapal Canal trust page too.
Thanks Rob.
This is really cool! Thanks Andy and Happy New Year.
Glad you enjoyed it Ruth.
"The line of the old Lapal Tunnel runs underneath the bungalow just behind me." fade, which causes said bungalow to distinctly move downwards. That was quite spoooky.
I would hope that there will be no more surface subsidence....
Interesting, I live in Tipton alongside the Birmingham main canal but I didn`t kow about the canal or tunnel in this marvelous video, well done.
Thanks
I lived opposite the Stonehouse pub for many years. Where you stood in the last seen is the top of the clay pit for the California brickwork. Next to the ASDA carpark entrance is the wall that over looked the cut before the tunnel entrance.
The remains are very indistinct in this area.....
Nice one Andy, pity there's not much left to see. I suppose we'll have to wait until they build the new route above ground before we can walk along the rest of the route.
Its going to be a tricky build I think.
Enjoyed that Andy & happy new year to you 😊
Thanks Nigel - you too!
Fascinating! I stayed for a couple of nights in Reservoir Rd near the Eastern portal around 2006, specifically to explore the BCN by bicycle. Many properties in this road were flooded in 1958, due to the canal breaking through its embankment. I tried, like you, to follow the route of the tunnel over the hill through the park, but it was confusing without proper maps and research. I found the Western branch ok.
If they ever manage to create a link over the hill, it will be fantastic, and much more attractive for boaters than the claustrophobic original tunnel.
Thanks for that insight Hugh - glad you enjoyed it!
I've only just found your channel, so forgive my ignorance, but is that a Bolinder semi-diesel we hear at the start? Pure music!!
@@hughbarwell6020 Yes - well identified! Not authentic to our boat but very much in keeping with the material I produce.
Nice one Andy, the other long tunnels are; the mighty Standedge on the Huddersfield narrow canal which was and is the longest in England at 5698 yards, the Sapperton tunnel on the Thames and Severn canal (which I just happened to be next to today), Sapperton is 3817 yards and finally the Dudley tunnel at 3154 yards which I have been through in one of the Trusts boats.
Spot on!
The Higham and Strood tunnel on the Thames and Medway canal in Kent was longer than Dudley, at 2.2 miles in length. When the railway between Gravesend and Strood was first built in 1845 it shared the tunnel with the canal for a very short while until the canal closed the following year.
@@1happyhenry Yes just checked and the Thames and Medway tunnel at Strood was 3946 yards long, according to the records I have it was opened in 1824 and for a short time it was shared by boats and trains before it eventually became solely a railway tunnel.
Funny to think there are people in those new houses with no idea their house is directly over a sealed up tunnel.
Very true!
I'm wondering if the reason for the tunnel collapses was due to the many construction shafts that were dug out. Back then I doubt that the infill was compacted well and allowed water seepage which liquefied the ground and resulted in it becoming unstable. The photographs from the 1960s seem to me to support this theory.
I think the land is inherently unstable. The partial collapse certainly looked like a construction shaft falling in.
Brill i know exactly where you are standing at california end ive heard of it but never knew where it went to and from thanks Andy ... happy new year ,Neil
Thanks Neil - I couldn't work out the exact spot till the advent of the side by side mapping service was released.
Happy NewYear from this unseasonal warm Walsall.
And from a mild Aldridge!
what a shame it is partially filled with concrete because apart from the tunnel itself and the battery retail park at the junction the rest of the whole line of the canal still looks in place. would be a wonderful restore. in the days of construction of the canals, brick manufacturing works were small enterprises and local so if they didn't have good materials to make the bricks with . . . . well! leominster canal suffered the same problems.
Sadly its a very unstable hill geology wise. The plans to restore it involve an up and over approach.
Surely it is mainly cost that is the barrier. Tunnel machines (incredibly expensive) build concrete rings as they go - even underwater which can hardly be stable substrate.
@@lifeat2.3milesanhour57 😏 - not the same really.
Great episode will there be one to Shelly oak
Thanks John - the series ends with the section in Selly Oak next week.
Is the tunnel really plugged with concrete under the M5? I have heard this much disputed by different people
Its what I have been told, and makes sense as the tunnel isnt far below the road deck.