HBS legging Standedge Tunnel

One of The Seven Wonders of the Waterways, Standedge Tunnel is Britain’s longest canal tunnel and it was always intended to be legged.

When Standedge Tunnel opened in 1811, canal boats were either pulled by horses or men. However with no towpath in the tunnel, boat crew had the strenuous task of legging the boats for up to four hours through the tunnel.

Marking the 20th anniversary of the abolition of the Towpath Act in 1988 which allowed boats to use the canal once again, from when it closed in the 1940s, members of the HBS will work in pairs to take turns to leg the walls of the three and a quarter miles of tunnel, which joins Diggle to Marsden in West Yorkshire.

On board the horseboat as it enters the tunnel will be Ronnie Barnes, age 89, the Horse Boating Society’s very own hero. Ronnie is believed to be the last man alive who legged the tunnel prior to its closure. He was a canal maintenance worker in a team of six men who regularly legged the tunnel and then pulled the boat as they had no horse or engine.

Visitors on May 4 will first be able to watch Maria, Britain’s oldest surviving wooden narrowboat (built 1854), ascend the Diggle flight of locks towards Standedge Tunnel under the horsepower of Bilbo Baggins. Phil Woolas, MP for Saddleworth will accompany the boat up the flight of locks to Diggle Fields.

At Diggle Fields, there will be the chance to see the traditional craft of ropeworking, practiced as it would have been hundreds of years ago. Stalls, boatman’s games and canalboat horses will keep the family entertained.

David Heyes, MP for Ashton-under-Lyne, will join the boat at Diggle Fields for the 3 hour journey through the tunnel. He is a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Waterways Group and has steered horseboat Maria already. He will help to leg the boat into the tunnel to give the Horse Boating Society a good send-off.

As the leggers get underway, members of the public will be able to join the boat horse on a guided walk of about five miles over the tunnel top along Boat Lane from Diggle to Marsden. For details on the guided walk, call 0161 3386555.

The horse-drawn boat will make a journey to Huddersfield and back over the following days.

Find out more about the Standedge Tunnel Canal Festival

Find out more about the Horse Boating Society