East Tunnel, Tunnel Brae, Castlerock, Co Londonderry, BT51

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

One of a pair of railway tunnels located between Coleraine and Limavady Junction, built c.1853. The East Tunnel runs through a headland in a straight line for 614 metres (672 yards) from the west end of Castlerock to the east side of Portvantage Glen.

East portal
The portal at the east end of the tunnel comprises a semicircular-headed arch with rusticated and margined abutments quoins and voussoirs. The latter step into the spandrels and have a plain keystone. The spandrels and parapets are of roughly-dressed and coursed basalt blocks. A dressed horizontal string course runs along the base of the parapet. The top of the parapet is sloped to follow the line of the road which crosses the road at this point. It is coped with irregular stones but has been heightened with mass concrete which also follows the gradient of the road.
A small enamel plaque at the left end of the string course notes that this is bridge number 196. A modern metal sign in front of the portal notes the tunnel as 614.05m long, with refuges every 50m along it on its seaward side. Galvanised metal poles runs up each side of the portal; they were probably for electric cables, but now appear to be redundant.

West portal
The western portal, at the Portvantage Glen end of the tunnel, differs only slightly from its eastern counterpart. Its spandrel is of random basalt blocks and the string course over is chamfered along its top edge. There is a low parapet over, of coursed basalt blocks, with projecting basalt coping blocks. Sections of the parapet and coping have been repaired with mass concrete.
The cliff directly above the portal has been gunited (sprayed concrete) and steel wire netting has also been affixed to its face to prevent rocks falling on to the line.
From the west portal, the railway line continues along a 120m long embankment just above the rocky shore to the east portal of the West Tunnel (HB03/12/031B).

Air shaft
The 25-inch OS maps show an air shaft approximately 280m in from the eastern end of the tunnel. Its top end was originally on open ground but is now subsumed into a caravan park. It would have vented the smoke from the steam trains originally. It is now redundant and has been capped over with reinforced-concrete, with a small manhole for access should the need arise.

Setting
The tunnel runs through a high sea-washed headland to the east of Castlerock and emerges at the tranquil Portvantage Glen. The eastern part of the headland under which the tunnel cuts through is occupied by a caravan park.

Schedule:
Basalt abutments and linings
Brick soffits

Historical information

This section of the railway, between Coleraine and Limavady Junction, was opened in 1853 by the Londonderry & Coleraine Railway Co. Its opening completed the line between Coleraine and Londonderry, but it was not until the opening of a bridge over the River Bann at Coleraine in 1860 that there was through running between Belfast and Londonderry.
From 1861, the line was operated by the Belfast & Northern Counties Railway. The BNCR was taken over by the Midland Railway (Northern Counties Committee) in 1903; this company was renamed as the London, Midland & Scottish Railway (Northern Counties Committee) in 1923. After nationalised in 1949, the line was operated by the Ulster Transport Authority and, from 1967, by Northern Ireland Railways. Translink, the NIR’s successor, continues to operate the line today.
Work started on the tunnels at Downhill in October 1845, the contractor being Marshall Brothers. They brought over English navvies experience in tunnel blasting using explosives. The first blasting operation was ceremoniously performed by Lady Bruce, wife of the landowner: “the explosion which followed was hailed on all sides with loud lasts of enthusiastic applause”.
The blasting away of some 30,000 tons of rock to create a passage through a headland just beyond the west end of the West Tunnel, on 6 June 1846 attracted even more attention, having been widely advertised as ‘The Great Blast’. Steamers were chartered to enable spectators to witness the scene, of which one remarked that it was “second only in importance to the great explosion of the chalk cliffs at the Shakespeare Tunnel on the Dover railway …”.
The tunnels were eventually blasted through in July 1847. In this respect they are said to be the first railway tunnels in Ireland, but both still had to be lined with brick (which was made at Articlave, near Castlerock). The two tunnels and the rest of the line finally opened in July 1853. They are both explicitly cited on the 1848-52 OS six-inch map and later editions.

References - Primary sources:
1. PRONI OS/6/5/2/2, Second edition OS six-inch map, Co Londonderry sheet 2 (1848-52).
2. PRONI OS/10/5/2/12/1. First edition OS 25-inch map, Co Londonderry sheet 2-12 (1904).

References – Secondary sources:
1. A. McCutcheon, Railway History in Pictures, Ireland vol.2, p.23 (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1970).
2. J.R.L. Currie, The Northern Counties Railway, vol.1, pp 67-69 (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1973).
3. W.A. McCutcheon, The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland, p.169 and plate 37.3 (Belfast: HMSO, 1980).
4. S. Johnson, Johnson’s Atlas & Gazetteer of the Railways of Ireland, p.104 (Leicester: Midland Publishing, 1997).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

K. Group value
Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed
Not listed

Evaluation

The East Tunnel is a 614m long rock-cut rail tunnel constructed in 1845-52 through a basalt headland just west of Castlerock. There are relatively few such tunnels in Ireland and this is one of the earliest. It was constructed using the relatively innovatory technique of blasting rather than pick and shovel. Despite its utilitarian function, both its portals exhibit a degree of embellishment. The juxtaposition of cliff and sea give it a spectacular setting and it also has group value with the West Tunnel (HB03/12/031B).

The East and West Tunnels were scheduled in December 2016, as this was felt to be the most appropriate form of protection. SMR Ref: LDY 002:503.