|
|
Old Wynd Tunnel |
||||||
 |
Towards the end of 1995 several visits were made to the Old Wynd, Coalbrookdale (now part of Telford, Shropshire), following the discovery of a void in a well. The land owner Mr. Boyce was of the opinion that the well held more water than it should, given its depth and diameter, and wondered if the Club was interested in investigating the anomaly!
Historical
Background |
|
MineCam Visit A further visit was made with the MineCam on 12th November. This was lowered through the narrow slot (about 6 inches or 15 cm wide) at the bottom of the well to reveal a brick lined tunnel at least 2m wide and 2m high. Ben 'Dyno-rod' Shaw, managed to wriggle down the hole to perform an initial survey. During this visit permission was also obtained to excavate the potential entrance to the tramway tunnel at the foot of the hill. We thought at this stage that the tunnel may have some connection to the famous canal shaft and tunnel system built in the 1790's by William Reynolds to take raw materials down the hill to the Coalbrookdale Ironworks. On 7th January 1996, Club Members reassembled at the Old Wynd, armed with the electronic underground location device. This time Eileen Bowen managed to get into the tunnel to place the loop and perform a more accurate survey. The loop allowed us to locate the ends of the tunnel on the surface - in the middle of the fuchia's! Luckily by adding a couple of metres we were able to move the 'dig' out of the garden under the apple tree.
The discrepancy in the compass readings (see plan) was then revealed as a slight curve in the tunnel near the excavated end. It would seem that this was a tramway tunnel - possibly 18th Century, certainly very similar to many tramway and canal tunnels built in the area during that period. Whether it connected with the shaft system or the incline plane is hard to say, but the one end of the tunnel does head towards the top of the canal incline plane site.
Pictures |
||
|
|||
|
Credits - Thanks to: Everyone involved in the various 'digs', in particular to Mr. & Mrs. Boyce for letting us dig holes in their garden (and providing gallons of tea) and Tony & his wife (at the foot of the hill) for letting us demolish their garden wall (and providing more tea). Report and sketches: Kelvin Lake Pictures: Peter Eggleston/I.A.Recordings |
The Well and excavated entrance are on private land and are not visible or accessible from public footpaths. Warning
|
|
|
|
At this point one of Mr. Boyce's neighbours excavated a large crater about
2m deep with the aid of a mechanical digger. At the guesstimated depth
and position, the top of the tunnel brick arching was hit. By digging
down the side of the collapsed arch a route into the tunnel was opened
up.
Note
...
