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Monument record MDR9544 - Stodhart Tunnel, Peak Forest Tramway, Chapel-en-le-Frith

Type and Period (4)

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Full Description

Tramway tunnel approximately two metres high and four metres wide. The tunnel has large curving, flanking retaining walls, approximately two metres either side of the tunnel and approximately one metre above. The flanking walls are interlaced with a continuation of retaining/boundary walls of drystone gritstone construction. The tunnel is constructed of roughly dressed and tooled gritstone blocks. There are larger, more carefully dressed, blocks at the entrance. The north portal is completely destroyed/covered over by the widening of Hayfield Road and the construction of the new A6 by-pass. The tunnel is blocked up some way in. (1) Just past the projected terminus at Chapel Milton of the original scheme was a high shoulder of ground. Outram was required to dig the tunnel approximately 100 yards in length with a long cutting at the northern end to continue the tramway. The south entrance was the only visible remains of the tunnel in 1965. (8) The tunnel at Chapel Milton is approximately 100 metres long. The south portal is in the grounds of Stodhart House, which is owned by Ferodo Ltd. The north end of the tunnel has been destroyed by the widening of the A624 road. (9) Single-bore railway tunnel, following a canal tunnel form with elliptical sidewalls and shallow arched roof. Built 1795 to 1796 of dressed gritstone blocks, with stone setted surfaces surviving further in from entrance. Portals and tunnel ends newer than central core, as tunnel lengthened soon after building to give Stodhard Lodge residents increased privacy. Used as part of the Ferodo test track, apparently separate from the westerly section, at an earlier date. Possibly the second oldest tunnel on such a railway, as opposed to a mine adit, in the UK. Site of north portal and approach cutting now hidden by infill for widened A624 Hayfield Road. Portal and cutting at south end survive; cutting widened 1803. (14) Listed building description: Tramway tunnel entrance. 1796 designed by Benjamin Outram, the engineer to the Peak Forest Tramway. Coursed squared and rockfaced gritstone. Concave walling with ashlar coping, four metres high having segment headed archway two metres high in the centre. Archway has rockfaced jambs and voussoirs. The tunnel itself is lined with rock-faced gritstone and it extends some 200 yards into the hillside. The tunnel at the other end has been filled in and the tunnel portal demolished. (15) Just inside the grounds of Stoddart House. Carried the Tramway under the main road. Opened in 1795, making it a very early example of a tramway tunnel. The tramway was built to carry lime and limestone for transhipment onto narrow boats on the Peak Forest Canal at Buxworth. (16)

Sources/Archives (16)

  • <1> Archive: Jessop, O. 2003. Cromford & High Peak Railway and Peak Forest Tramway Survey. ARCUS 738b. Feature no. 20.
  • <2> Photograph: ARCUS. 2003. Cromford & High Peak Railway and Peak Forest Tramway Survey, Project 738b. Digital photograph. pp 41-43.
  • <3> Bibliographic reference: Lamb, B. 1968. 'The canal, Bugsworth complex and tramway: a discourse in maps', The Peak Forest Canal and Tramway.
  • <4> Unpublished document: Findlow, A (Inland Waterways Preservation Society). 2001. An Assessment of the Archaeological and Historical Significance of Bugsworth Basin.
  • <5> Map: Ordnance Survey (OS). 1882. OS County Series, 1st edition, scale 1:2500 (c. 25" to one mile). Derbyshire IX.9.
  • <6> Article in serial: Clowes, P. 1963. 'The Peak Forest Limestone Trackway'. The Railway Magazine 109. 109. p 617.
  • <7> Bibliographic reference: Baxter, B. 1966. Stone Blocks and Iron Rails.
  • <8> Bibliographic reference: Nicholson, C P & Barnes, P. 1975. Railways in the Peak District. p 13.
  • <9> Bibliographic reference: Fowkes, D. 1984. Derbyshire Industrial Archaeology - A Gazetteer of Sites. Part I. Borough of High Peak. p 14.
  • <10> Bibliographic reference: Ripley, D. 1989. The Peak Forest Tramway (1794-1936). p 4.
  • <11> *Internet Web Site: Whitehead, P. 2002. The Peak Forest Tramway, High Peak Derbyshire (including a walking guide to the Limestone Way). http//www.brocross.com/iwps/pages/pft.htm. p 4.
  • <12> Bibliographic reference: Morris, R. 2003. The Archaeology of Railways. p 99.
  • <13> Index: Council for British Archaeology (CBA). CBA Industrial Archaeology Report Card. Stodhart Tunnel, 1965.
  • <14> Unpublished document: Duckworth, S, Jessop, O and A Badcock (ARCUS). 2006. Conservation Management Plan, Peak Forest Tramway, Derbyshire. Feature Nos 20, 20a, 20b.
  • <15> Listed Building File: Historic England. 2011. The National Heritage List for England.
  • <16> Bibliographic reference: Fowkes, D (ed.). 2004. Derbyshire Industrial Archaeology: A Gazetteer of Sites, Part I, Borough of High Peak (second edition). pp. 16.

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Grid reference Centred SK 05866 81531 (34m by 81m) Approximate
Civil Parish CHAPEL EN LE FRITH, HIGH PEAK, DERBYSHIRE

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Events/Activities (2)

  • EDR2263
  • EDR1790

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Record last edited

Nov 29 2023 3:23PM

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