Milford Tunnel

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North portal of Milford Tunnel

Milford Tunnel in Derbyshire is a twin track railway tunnel on the Midland Main Line which runs under a hill called the Chevin between Duffield and Belper. It was built in 1840 by the Stephensons for the North Midland Railway.

When finished, it was 855 yards (782 m) ^[1] long. To check the alignment, a tower, which still exists, was built at the summit, equipped with a rotating telescope.

The west side of the Derwent valley has a number of gritstone outcrops, one being Burley Hill to the south of Duffield, another being Castle Hill in Duffield itself. The valley here however was too narrow, and already occupied by the village of Milford from which the tunnel gets its name, and one of Jedediah Strutt's cotton mills.

The name Chevin has Celtic origins, but the hill is often called Firestone Hill, for the spot on which the beacon fires were lighted to rouse the country when peril of invasion or other dangers were imminent.

When the Midland Railway upgraded the line to four tracks south of the tunnel, a signal box was installed to control the junction of the goods and passenger lines, also providing warning distant signals at the north entrance.

For some reason the North Midland built very ornate portals at the northern ends of their tunnels, in this case a Saxon-inspired arch, while the southern ends were relatively plain. Both of these are grade 2 listed, being part of the Derwent Valley World Heritage site.

[edit] References

^ Jacobs, G., (Ed) (2005 2Rev) Midlands and North West: Bk.4 (Railway Track Diagrams) Bradford on Avon:TRACKmaps.

Pixton, B., (2000) North Midland: Portrait of a Famous Route, Cheltenham: Runpast Publishing
Naylor,P. (Ed) (2000) An Illustrated History of Belper and its Environs Belper: M.G.Morris