This is one I've been wanting to have a look in for a long time, since I literally nearly fell in it on my way back to a festival in Belper, Derbyshire. The entrance should be approached discreetly as the chances of getting in completely unnoticed are a bit small. Took a chance yesterday, and had a mooch inside. As a caver, I found it quite spacious, but it's a stoopy one so be warned if you're not into low (five foot max) tunnels and of course plenty of spiders. Lovely little entrance though..
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The tunnel on the left is interesting in its own right but only goes back about ten metres before closing down.
I'd assumed that this was the outflow from a mill, which I think makes sense in Belper, but it immediately seems to be an old bridge which has been incorporated into a larger culvert, and there's no evidence I could see of any waterworks connecting to the historic building whose ground it flows under. Subsequent research suggests that was a warehouse rather than a mill, and I wonder if that makes this a very OLD culvert...
The bridge section looking in...
... and back out. This is about as high as the tunnel gets until the other end, over 100 metres east...
Nice pipe work, and these connect to two parallel pipes that run the length of the culvert...
After passing under one manhole letting in light, the tunnel makes a very gentle curve for about 80 metres. There's one point where you can't quite see either entrance, and my camera's not good enough to capture those moments. But this is closer to the east end, where it's passing under a modern housing development and approaching the railway.
Rusty pipes, and the final box culvert ahead.
After the stooping, I was glad of the 'shelves' to sit on!
The view from the end of the culvert. Beyond is the railway, which I could have got under on hands and knees, but my knees aren't what they were. The river has at this point flowed down from the nature reserves, under a factory, on the surface behind some cottages to a large walled off sink area which I couldn't get to, and reappeared under some garages before flowing down the back of the cottages on Brookside. This was far enough for today! Turned round and began the Gollum style return journey...
Another view of the modern section, about twenty metres long before meeting the original stone channel.
More modern road drain crashing in...
The crossing of the pipes...
Lovely stone work, would hazard a guess that the stone came from some of the quarries nearby on the Chevin or Little Eaton. Must have been a ball ache for later engineers to work around, hence the ungainly way the metal pipes have been slotted in.
The stonework of the bridge is more obvious looking out...
And one last shot of the outflow, from which the stream continues on to the River Derwent, barely noticed by the hundreds of people who must be close to it every single day! A fun short explore!
Thanks for reading!
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Thanks for reading!
