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World's oldest railway tunnel awarded protected status
What is believed to be the world's oldest railway tunnel - dating from 1793 - has been given protected status.
Fritchley Tunnel was built as part of the Butterley Gangroad, a horse-operated railway linking the Cromford Canal with quarries at Crich. The Derbyshire tunnel has been scheduled as an ancient monument. Crawshaw Woods Bridge, near Leeds, one of the earliest cast iron bridges still in situ over a working railway, has also been given protected status.
Fritchley, which was sealed up in the 1980s, was excavated by archaeologists in 2013. It was engineered by Benjamin Outram, and was modernised in the 1840s to accommodate a narrow gauge railway. The line continued to be used by steam engines until 1933.
