Blisworth Tunnel

Blisworth Tunnel is one of the longest in Britain. 3076 yards long and broad throughout - so that two narrowboats can pass - it is surpassed only by Standedge Tunnel (on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal) and Dudley Tunnel in the Black Country.

This made it the most troublesome part of the Grand Junction Canal's construction. When work began, in 1793, the building of a 3km tunnel was a major feat of engineering with no mechanical aids beyond the basic picks, shovels and wheelbarrows being available. Unfortunately, just three years into the project, the navvies hit quicksand. All work had to be abandoned and a new course begun.

The Grand Junction Canal canal was up and running by 1800, but for first five years all cargoes had to be laboriously 'transhipped' into carts for a horse-drawn journey over Blisworth Hill. It was only in 1805 that the tunnel opened and through transit by water became possible.

Transport artery

The opening of Blisworth Tunnel in March 1805 represented the final link in a chain of communications linking London with the industrial midlands and the north. The Grand Junction Canal quickly became one of the main transport arteries of Georgian England, carrying supplies for Nelson's ships and Wellington's army in the war against Napoleonic France.

Since then, the tunnel has given almost 200 years of service, aided by major rebuilding work in the 1980s. But one sorry tale from its construction has since come back to haunt today's boaters...

Ghostly goings-on

Just over a decade ago a couple set off on a narrowboat tour on the Grand Union Canal from a base north of Blisworth Tunnel. They were new to boating and had been through various safety checks and demonstrations on the use of their craft. They also had full details of the route ahead of them and were looking forward to the trip.

One of the highlights of their cruise was to be the journey through Blisworth Tunnel, at that time the longest open canal tunnel. As they would enter the tunnel soon after setting off, they were naturally both excited... and a little nervous.

There is no towpath, so in the days of horse-drawn freight boats, men and women would have had to 'leg' their narrowboats through it while the horse was led over the hill above. Alternatively, professional leggers could be paid to leg the boat through the tunnel - today, you can still see the leggers' hut adjacent to the Boat Inn at Stoke Bruerne, just south of the tunnel. The couple taking the boat out had no particular knowledge of the tunnel's history.

After setting off it was only a short time before they chugged into the darkness of the tunnel entrance. When they emerged some 40 minutes later on the south side at Stoke Bruerne, they visited the Canal Museum where they started talking to a member of the museum staff. They recall their conversation here:

"The chap said to me, 'That tunnel's a weird place. I didn't know which way to go.'

"A bit confused, I answered: 'Sorry, what do you mean?'

"The man replied: 'Well, for a split second I didn't know whether to go straight ahead or turn left where the lights are.'

There's certainly no left or right turn in that tunnel, it just goes straight through the hill. So, by question and answer I worked out exactly where they were in the tunnel when they saw the lights and the fork - and that's when I felt my spine tingle.

"Because the odd thing was... the man was absolutely right. There actually are two canal tunnels through Blisworth Hill."

From the man's description, the worker was able to work out where the couple had seen the phantom lights. It was exactly at the spot where the first attempt at a tunnel - which collapsed due to quicksand - would have intersected with the main canal tunnel.

Fourteen men died in the collapse of the original tunnel. They had been working in candlelight.