Tunnel Portal in the John Smith Playing Field is a Grade II listed building in the Ribble Valley local planning authority area, England. First listed on 11 April 1986. Infrastructure.
Tunnel Portal in the John Smith Playing Field
- WRENN ID
- muffled-tin-hawk
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Ribble Valley
- Constituency
- Ribble Valley MP: Maya Ellis (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 11 April 1986
- Type
- Infrastructure
- Address
- Tunnel Portal in the John Smith Playing Field, Chaigley Road, Longridge
- OS grid reference
- SD 611 378
- Coordinates
- 53.83519, -2.59174
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The tunnel portal in the John Smith Playing Field is the west entrance of a tunnel, which is currently blocked at the other end, and dates back to 1839. It is constructed from sandstone. The central part of the portal is flat and slightly projects between abutments that curve forward. The masonry is rusticated and rock-faced throughout. The tunnel itself appears to be an elliptical tube made of coursed stone, with the voussoirs of the entrance being individually rusticated and rock-faced beneath a projecting string course. The taller keystone features a panel incised with the letters P & L R 1839 FHP CT. Above this, there is a smoother-faced blocking course made of single stones over the central section and three shallow courses over the abutments, topped with a flat coping. Many of the stones display masons' marks.
Historically, this portal was built for the Preston and Longridge Railway Company's line from Tootle Height Quarry, which opened in 1840. The chairman at the time was Sir Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood, to whom the initials FHP are believed to refer.
Local climate
Tunnel Portal in the John Smith Playing Field sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,290 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 94% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 90% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 40 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 78% of listed buildings. Of these, 21 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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- 4 Railway tunnel portals MVL3/40, east end of Standedge Tunnel
- 5 Lancaster Canal, East Portal of Whittle Hills Tunnel of Former Lancaster Canal
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