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The Beaminster Tunnel or Horn Hill Tunnel is a 345-foot (105 m) long road tunnel between Beaminster and Mosterton in Dorset, in the United Kingdom. The tunnel was constructed between 1830–1832; it is notable for being one of the first road tunnels built in Britain and the only pre-railway road tunnel in the country still in use.

Construction

The tunnel is constructed from brick with walls 3 feet 6 inches (1.07 m) thick. It runs for 345 feet (105 m) under Horn Hill, a 650 feet (200 m) high promontory to the north of Beaminster. The hill presented a major barrier to travellers passing from the newly enlarged harbour at West Bay on the Dorset coast to the hinterland. The main road passed over the hill, climbing almost 500 feet (150 m) in only a mile and a half (2 km). The steep gradient of 1 in 6 made passage difficult for horse-drawn transport. In the late 1820s, a Beaminster solicitor named Giles Russell proposed that the owners of the toll road over the hill, the Bridport 2nd District Turnpike Trust, should seek to build a tunnel under it to shorten and flatten the road. Russell played a key role in getting the project underway and managed to raise the £13,000 required through loans and contributions from many of Beaminster's artisans and traders.

In March 1830 Parliament approved a bill authorising construction of the tunnel, which began the following month. The engineer Michael Lane, a colleague of Marc Brunel who had worked on the pioneering Thames Tunnel in London, was in charge of the project, which took just over two years to complete. Only one fatality was sustained, a worker named William Aplin who died only three days before the tunnel opened when he was struck by a landslide outside one of the tunnel entrances. He was memorialised with a stone marked with a white cross which can still be seen in situ.

Opening

The tunnel was formally opened on 29 June 1832 with enthusiastic celebrations including firing a 21-gun salute from the top of the hill, a firework display and the launching of a hot air balloon. A procession of dignitaries, local people and the tunnel workers paraded through the tunnel, with a celebratory dinner being held afterwards in the White Hart inn in Beaminster where Giles Russell was the guest of honour. A celebratory song was written for the occasion which included the lyrics:

The yielding soil, through able hands,
A tunnel wide displays;
And Lane’s efficient aid demands
Our warm, admiring praise
In swelling streams may cheering wealth
To Beaminster descend:
And ever joy-inspiring health
Her social sons attend.

Commemorations of the opening of the tunnel became an annual tradition in Beaminster with "Tunnel Fairs" being held every Good Friday on Horn Hill until about the 1880s. In 1881, the tunnel became free to use when the tollgates were removed and the toll house at the north end was converted into a dwelling for the tunnel's lamplighter. The house was later demolished to allow the road to be widened.

Incidents

At 22:10 on 7 July 2012, two people died in a landslip caused by heavy rain. The A3066 road through the tunnel had been closed, so the crushed vehicle containing the bodies was not found until nine days later. The case was later referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

References

1. ^ Headley, Andrew (November 2010). "'A tunnel wide'". Dorset Life. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
2. Otter, R.A. (1994). Civil Engineering Heritage: Southern England. Thomas Telford. ISBN 9780727719713.
3. Morris, Steven (19 July 2012). "Beaminster tunnel landslip deaths: police force refers itself to IPCC". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 July 2012.

50°49′34″N 2°45′25″W / 50.826°N 2.757°W / 50.826; -2.757

• Road tunnels in England
• Buildings and structures in Dorset
• Transport in Dorset
• Tunnels completed in 1832