West Portal

The West Portal of the Cadeby Conisbrough Tunnel is a railway tunnel portal built in 1849 for the South Yorkshire, Doncaster and Goole Railway Company, designed by engineer Charles Bartholomew of the River Don Company. It features gritstone voussoirs and ashlar sandstone walling, with a horseshoe arch that has a hollow-moulded hoodmould set in a raised panel, battered arrises, and rusticated quoins. A heavy cornice with a double roll mould completes the design. The railway line was opened on 10th November 1849, connecting the Midland and Great Northern networks. After 1864, it became part of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway, which was renamed the Great Central Railway in 1897. The portal is linked by a 200-meter brick-lined tunnel to the east portal. Details about the new line were discussed in the Doncaster, Nottingham and Lincoln Gazette on 9th November 1849, and further documented in P. L. Scowcroft's "Lines of Doncaster; a concise railway history" published in 1986.