Shows a longer, single-topic issue built around the tunnel series already in the family archive.

by Owen Njos

Ecclesiastes 3:11 — "He has made everything beautiful in its time."

Some things take a long time to finish right. This week's feature is about a tunnel that took three years to dig by hand. Worth sitting with that a minute.

Short week on the ranch side — most of the crew's attention this week went to the corrals ahead of shipping season, getting gates and alleyways sound before cattle start moving through in numbers.

Part — The Netherton Tunnel

The Netherton tunnel is a historic 1.7-mile-long tunnel that opened August 20th, 1858. This tunnel was built to help relieve the traffic that was backing up via the Dudley tunnel. The tunnel is one of the last major canal tunnels to be built. It was uniquely built with two paths which allowed horse-drawn boats to pass in either direction.

In 1855 the first side was turned by William Ward the 1st Earl of Dudley, with a crowd of 300 or 1,858 Gentry, iron masters, and any other dignitaries that could get in on the act. The contract was given to George McCann of Birkenhead. Construction started on December 31st, 1855. During the build 27 million bricks and 53,000 cubic yards of puddling clay were used which supported the space left by the ½ of a million tons of rock that was dug out. 27,000,000 handmade bricks were used during its construction, all made locally.

Part 3b next week: the cost of the build, and why it ran over budget by more than £300,000 in the money of the day.