Victoria Tunnel

1833/0/10227 Victoria Tunnel 11-MAY-04

GV II Underground tramway tunnel, later used as air-raid shelter. Constructed for the Leazes Main Colliery 1839-42, converted 1939. Brick and rubble stone. This tunnel is two miles long, dropping a total of 222feet from the Colliery to the coal staithes on the River Tyne. The original round arched tunnel is approxiamately two meters high with the lower walls mainly constructed of rubble stone, the upper sections of the walling and the barrel vault are brick. Sections of the tunnel have been adapted as airraid shelters. This has meant the opening of various new entrances, the widening of some small sections and the insertion of blast walls at various intervals. Toilets, washrooms, bunk beds and electricity were introduced into the tunnel at this time but most evidence of these features has now been lost. The engineer was Mr Gilleslpie, the leading miner John Cherry and the builder David Nixon. The colliery closed in 1860. Certain sections of the tunnel were coverted for use as air-raid shelters from 1939. This is a very rare and unusual tramway tunnel built to provide a direct route for the coal from the colliery to its shipping point on the banks of the Tyne.