Railway Tunnel, On Belfast-Larne railway line, White Head, Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, BT38

This tunnel carries a curved single track line along the foot of the basaltic headland at White Head. It measures circa 4.75m wide (15ft 6in) by 191m (209yds) long. Its arched NE entrance has a parabolic profile and is embellished with rusticated limestone blocks which contrast with its black random rubble spandrel which faces the cliff end. A metal sign just beyond this end reads “Whitehead Tunnel; Distance 191m. Refuges at 20m intervals on both sides”. At the SW end, the first 20m of the tunnel is a 1920s extension. The original random rubble side walls with their limestone quoins survive but the original arch has been replaced with sloping pre-cast reinforced-concrete roof slabs set on mass concrete extensions to the wall heads. This concrete dates from the 1990s and replaced spalled concrete dating from the later 1920s. The original parabolic tunnel profile is visible beyond, the quoins and arch ring of which are both of brick. A metal sign at this end reads “Whitehead Tunnel”. The defunct single-track line survives inside and at both ends of the tunnel. A short distance beyond the north end of the tunnel, the track is carried over a re-entrant on a three-arch masonry viaduct (HB22/06/007B). The operational two-way line lies on the seaward side of the tunnel and runs through a deep rock cutting. It is protected from rock falls at its south end by a gabioned rubble masonry wall.