Listed Building: NORDEN TUNNEL 2 (469052)

SY 98 SW CORFE CASTLE NORDEN 1071/2/10006 Norden Tunnel (2) GV II Plateway tunnel. Circa 1807; 1848 plaque, date of partial rebuilding. Coursed stone rubble with dressed stone arch rings. Round arch tunnel, about 23 metres long. The tunnel was built for Benjamin Fayle, a London based shipping agent and insurance broker, who leased the Norden clay pits from William Morton Pitt in 1804. By 1806 he had constructed a plateway from the clay pits to Middlebere Quay, on Poole Harbour. Clay was taken from the pits to the quay by horse drawn train. The tunnel became disused in 1845, and was rebuilt in 1848. The plateway remained in use as a horse drawn railway until about 1905, when a new line was built. Middlebere Plateway was one of the earliest railways in southern England. The tunnel now carries a watercourse. SOURCE: Wilmott, M. Unpublished research, based on documentary records in Dorset record Office and Wedgdood Archive, Keele. Listing NGR: SY9473882876

Record last edited

Jun 26 2009 4:02AM