It's still possible to walk part of the Glenfield Tunnel
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It has been disused, locked up and largely forgotten for decades. But now a mile-long railway tunnel deep beneath the streets of Leicester has been temporarily reopened for visitors.
The Glenfield Tunnel, built in 1829, was one of the world’s first underground rail routes used by steam trains to carry coal from North West Leicestershire’s pits to the city.
It shut in the 1960s when British Rail sold it to Leicester City Council for £5.
Now, the council has arranged for it to be reopened for visits guided by the Leicestershire Industrial History Society. The first took place yesterday for a 20-strong group who were able to tour 100 metres of the tunnel from its entrance off Stephenson Court, Glenfield.
The brick-lined structure re-emerges near Gilroes Cemetery but its other entrance has been bricked up.
Society secretary David Lyne led the group along the unlit stretch. He said: “We are very grateful to the council for letting us see this amazing piece of the city’s industrial heritage. Most people have no idea it even exists.
“Coal is the reason this is here. In the early 19th century, Leicester tended to buy its coal from Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, despite there being coalfields in the county.
“That was because Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire had access to the canal network and north west Leicestershire didn’t.
“Pack horses brought the coal in from Whitwick but that was slow and more expensive.
“The railway was built to address that and the price of coal in Leicester plummeted and the city’s industry started to massively expand. This tunnel was very important for the city’s industrial development.â€
The construction of the tunnel took three years and cost more than £17,000 – well over its original £10,000 budget – because of complications and because it was a relatively untested process. Renowned railway engineer George Stephenson was brought in to do the job.
Mr Lyne said: “There are 14 air vents along the tunnel, some of which come up in people’s gardens. We spoke to one woman who has one in her garden and warned her there might be some strange voices drifting up through it while we were down here.
“The vents are closed off but when we were down there before we found the remains of a motorcycle.â€
The tours have proved popular and those planned for today, tomorrow and Saturday have all been booked up.
City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby, who joined the first group into the tunnel, said: “I must thank the Leicestershire Industrial History Society for doing these tours. Only in Leicester would we lock up and hide away such a wonderful feature.â€
Sir Peter said it might be possible to reopen the closed off end of the tunnel and have it as a cycle path.
After 2000, a structural survey showed there was a danger of collapse because the tunnel was not designed to take the weight of the homes subsequently built above it. The city council spent £500,000 putting in concrete reinforcements.
