Entrance to the tunnel of the Liverpool & Manchester rail-way, Edge-Hill

Entrance to the tunnel of the Liverpool & Manchester rail-way, Edge-Hill

Illustration of the construction of the Edge Hill tunnel, also known as Wapping Tunnel

Wapping or Edge Hill Tunnel was constructed to enable goods services to operate between Liverpool docks and Manchester, as part of the planned Liverpool and Manchester Railway. It is said to be the first tunnel in the world to be bored under a city. The tunnel is 2,030 metres (1.26 mi) long, running downhill from Edge Hill cutting, near the former Crown Street Station goods yard in the east of the city, to Park Lane Goods Station near Wapping Dock. It now passes beneath the Merseyrail Northern Line approximately a quarter of a mile south of Liverpool Central Station underground.The tunnel opened in 1830 and closed on 15 May 1972.

C. & G. Pyne, engraved on steel by John Davies

Lancashire Illustrated, from original drawings by S. Austin, J. Harwood & G. & C. Pyne, published 1831

Lancaster University

1831

Dr Michael Winstanley

Out of copyright

Extensive commentary at Subterranea Britannica: http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/l/liverpool_edge_hill_cutting/index.shtml

Aquatint (1833) of a watercolour by T.T. Bury, now in the National Railway Museum, of the tunnel in use, apparently lit by naked flames, is available on Wikimedia: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Tunnel,_from_Bury%27s_Liverpool_and_Manchester_Railway,_1831_-_artfinder_267574.jpg

Nineteenth century

Engraving of drawing