Drewton Tunnel - 1 Mile 354yards
History - Drewton Tunnel is a disused railway tunnel on the now closed Hull & Barnsley Railway line. The tunnel is cut through chalk and the lining is a mix of bare chalk walls and brick. The first rail traffic used the tunnel in 1885. Drewton Tunnel is one of the longest disused tunnels in the United Kingdom at a length of 1 mile 354 yards, and lies to the east of the shorter Sugar Loaf Tunnel and Weedley Tunnel. The western portal of Drewton Tunnel is almost entirely buried with landfill and is situated in a chalk quarry operated by Stoneledge. This end of the tunnel has considerable deposits of mud on the former trackbed washed in by rainfall as a result of local quarrying operations. The eastern portal remains open although is protected with a security fence. The tunnel regularly experiences chalkfalls as the lining inside deteriorates in the damp conditions. The tunnel has five airshafts, the middle airshaft situated adjacent to Riplingham crossroads being the deepest. The area around this airshaft was used a temporary camp for navvies building the tunnel. Drewton Tunnel was closed to rail traffic in 1958. Since closure landfill has threatened the eastern approaches to the tunnel. The 83 foot deep Little Weighton Cutting has been completely filled in, as have other areas of open space around the eastern portal. Despite its continual decay Drewton Tunnel is now home to a large number of bats.
Explore - So having researched Drewton, Sugarloaf & Weedley we made plans to visit all 3 in one which isn’t be any means impossible, We decided to start with Drewton as being the longest wanted to ensure the torch & camera batteries lasted! We parked just outside the village of South Cave and followed part of the Yorkshire Wolds Way public footpath before walking the trackbed east passing through Sugarloaf and continuing round the outside perimeter of the Quarry site making sure we wasn’t seen as there were several pieces of plant equipment larking about at the right time we moved down the steep incline into the western portal, after getting kitted up having heard the slurry was almost impassable we made our was through at some points it was waist deep! But we continued and made it through, walking all the way through the the gated eastern end we set about working out way back doing some light painting and general exploring, See images below for further information/ details...
History - Drewton Tunnel is a disused railway tunnel on the now closed Hull & Barnsley Railway line. The tunnel is cut through chalk and the lining is a mix of bare chalk walls and brick. The first rail traffic used the tunnel in 1885. Drewton Tunnel is one of the longest disused tunnels in the United Kingdom at a length of 1 mile 354 yards, and lies to the east of the shorter Sugar Loaf Tunnel and Weedley Tunnel. The western portal of Drewton Tunnel is almost entirely buried with landfill and is situated in a chalk quarry operated by Stoneledge. This end of the tunnel has considerable deposits of mud on the former trackbed washed in by rainfall as a result of local quarrying operations. The eastern portal remains open although is protected with a security fence. The tunnel regularly experiences chalkfalls as the lining inside deteriorates in the damp conditions. The tunnel has five airshafts, the middle airshaft situated adjacent to Riplingham crossroads being the deepest. The area around this airshaft was used a temporary camp for navvies building the tunnel. Drewton Tunnel was closed to rail traffic in 1958. Since closure landfill has threatened the eastern approaches to the tunnel. The 83 foot deep Little Weighton Cutting has been completely filled in, as have other areas of open space around the eastern portal. Despite its continual decay Drewton Tunnel is now home to a large number of bats.
Explore - So having researched Drewton, Sugarloaf & Weedley we made plans to visit all 3 in one which isn’t be any means impossible, We decided to start with Drewton as being the longest wanted to ensure the torch & camera batteries lasted! We parked just outside the village of South Cave and followed part of the Yorkshire Wolds Way public footpath before walking the trackbed east passing through Sugarloaf and continuing round the outside perimeter of the Quarry site making sure we wasn’t seen as there were several pieces of plant equipment larking about at the right time we moved down the steep incline into the western portal, after getting kitted up having heard the slurry was almost impassable we made our was through at some points it was waist deep! But we continued and made it through, walking all the way through the the gated eastern end we set about working out way back doing some light painting and general exploring, See images below for further information/ details...
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