Shropshire Union Canal South West Entrance To Berwick Tunnel

SJ 51 SW UPTON MAGNA C.P. SHROPSHIRE UNION CANAL, SJ 5377 1120 Shrewsbury Branch

3/92 South-west entrance to - Berwick Tunnel

• II

Canal tunnel entrance. Dated 1797, possibly by Josiah Clowes or Thomas Telford. Dressed red sandstone with ashlar dressings. Parabolic arch with chamfered voussoirs and triple keystone; curved retaining walls, string course, central square datestone, coped parapet raised to centre, and coped square end piers. Arch bricked up in late C20. Berwick Tunnel (970 yards) was the first canal tunnel to have a towpath incorporated from the start; added at the suggestion of William Reynolds it was wooden, about 3 feet wide and rested on bearers set in the wall allowing the full width of the tunnel to be filled with water and reducing the resistance of boats. The Shrewsbury branch of the Shropshire Union Canal was begun in 1793 with Josiah Clowes as the engineer under William Reynolds, the latter replaced after his death in February 1795 by Thomas Telford, and opened in February 1797. Charles Hadfield, The Canals of the West Midlands, David and Charles (1969), Pp.160 and 163.

Listing NGR: SJ5382611453