# Square Spinney Tunnel, Leicestershire



## Goldie87 (Dec 7, 2007)

Just found these photos which i had forgotten about. 
Was shown this place by Mr Sam when we were on the way home from the Mansfield Brewery back in september. This tunnel was on the Great Northern line into Leicester. We had to walk through some fields until we came to an overgrown area, where the ventilation shaft shown below was located







After a short walk you find yourself on top of the portal itself. We went down the steep slope of the cutting and onto the trackbed in front of the portal






We took a walk down the overgrown trackbed and come across this aqueduct











We turned around and decided to take a look in the tunnel. There was rubbish laying around and a bit of graffiti, a large amount of it from 10 years ago






Im not sure how long this tunnel is, but it was a very long walk. There were lots of these refuges shown below along the way 






Also a number of vent shafts






After a very long walk we finally reached the end where it had been backfilled. It was very wet and was a mass of horrible gooey mud. Overall it was an interesting explore, something different to the usual factories in the city.


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## Simon-G (Dec 7, 2007)

Nice explore Goldie, looks in the middle of no where, was it far from an urban area?

Simon-G


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## Foxylady (Dec 7, 2007)

Wow! An aqueduct! A long time since I've seen one of those. Lovely pics and an interesting explore, Goldie. Love the brickwork. Nice one!


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## Goldie87 (Dec 8, 2007)

Thanks people.



Simon-G said:


> looks in the middle of no where, was it far from an urban area?



It is surrounded by fields and does look pretty secluded, but its only just outside of the city boundary really.


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## King Al (Dec 10, 2007)

Cool tunnel - do you know what its origonal use was?


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## King Al (Dec 10, 2007)

Foxylady said:


> Wow! An aqueduct! A long time since I've seen one of those.



not quite the same as yours, people just don't put the effot in any more


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## cartboy52 (Dec 10, 2007)

It's the Glenfield Tunnel. Was a train line (the logest and first of its kind).


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## Goldie87 (Dec 10, 2007)

cartboy52 said:


> It's the Glenfield Tunnel. Was a train line (the logest and first of its kind).



Its not the Glenfield tunnel, This is the Glenfield tunnel:
http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=3067

The tunnel in this thread is called 'square spinney tunnel' It was on the Great Northern Railway line from Leicester. The first passenger train ran on 2nd October 1882 and most of the line was disused by 1964. The line was probably best known to Leicester folk as one they would use during the summer months to get to the Lincolnshire coast. Hope that helps 

Just found a site that has some old pics of the line, including some which appear to be the the tunnel itself! How cool!
http://www.meltonmowbray.steamrailways.com/Leics Belgave.htm


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## King Al (Dec 10, 2007)

Cheers both of you


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## Mr Sam (Dec 10, 2007)

hello

ill first confirm its most deffinetly NOT the Glenfield tunnel as its on the opposite side on Leicester just beyond Scraptoft down Covet Lane

not long after the line was closed my great uncle owned the surrounding land and the tunnel itself unfortunatly it was him that had the far end filled in, on a previous trip i have walked over land and pin pointed where the other portal should of been and theres no trace of it

the line heads off towards tilton just before it reaches tilton it splits and one line heads Ford Skegness via the tilton cutting (jurrasic fossiles can be found there)






you can see where the line splits here, also covered all the line here as know the land owner






me on a previous visit below the vent shaft






where the portal at the other end once was

no point me posting any more pictures as there all pretty simular


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## Richard Davies (Dec 10, 2007)

My Aunt's house is near to the old route of that line, at Great Dalby. 

You can still see an embankment with a right of way tunnel through it.

She also found a freight wagon plate nearby, which my Dad has somewhere.


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## cartboy52 (Dec 10, 2007)

Goldie87 said:


> Its not the Glenfield tunnel, This is the Glenfield tunnel:




Sorry.
Cool tunnel!


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## Goldie87 (Dec 10, 2007)

Richard Davies said:


> She also found a freight wagon plate nearby, which my Dad has somewhere.



Cool, ive got a few bits and bobs ive found on disused lines around Leicester, one day when I get round to doing a thread on the Great Central i'll post a few pics!



cartboy52 said:


> Sorry.
> Cool tunnel!



Thats ok


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## josh582 (Oct 25, 2008)

Hi guys!! I have been looking for this tunnel since i was 10, i was told briefly about it and it always sparked an interest! The other month me and my friend finally found it!! Well the start anyway, what interests me though is the only entrance to the tunnel has been cleared, from the aquaduct to the tunnel start!! 

This is what i mean -











This is where it all begins -











Is there by any chance something going on?? On the day we found it there was a digger there clearing this path, its quite large!! Another thing that interests me is where the other end of the tunnel is (sadly its not like this end) as its not there lol but the trees along where the railway line used to go have been chopped down?? :S

Anyway, the other day we found were the tunnel was meant to have finished, we followed it along and found some interesting bridges!!






and the most awesome thing, which is a short walk after the picture above -





















and at the bottom of it all - 






Im unsure how many arches this bridge has as i did not count them!! One thing i would like to warn people on is if you go here beware of steep embankments and sliperie slopes!!

Let me know what you guys think!!


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## josh582 (Oct 25, 2008)

Some great pictures, i live near this, i tried to submit a reply with some pictures and some pictures of the bridges at the enclosed end of the tunnel but it has not been put on yet? :S I'll try again soon!! lol


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## josh582 (Oct 25, 2008)

This is the first structure you come to on the scraptoft/thurnby side of the tunnel, this is before the aqueduct











As you can see the track bed from the aqueduct to the tunnel has been cleared, which puzzled me because the ingarsby end of the tunnel (not accesable) has had the trees chopped down there aswell!!











Now here are some pictures of the other end, we found a overgrown pile where we assumed it once was and the field we walked through has a massive ditch/crater which is were we suspect it was collapesed!!

Another bridge











And finally this massive bridge






I did not count how many arches it has but its very big and must be at least 100ft tall





















And at the bottom of the bridge






Hope you enjoyed the pictures and if anyone could shed some light on why it has been cleared i would be very interested to hear from you!!


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## Goldie87 (Oct 25, 2008)

josh582 said:


> Some great pictures, i live near this, i tried to submit a reply with some pictures and some pictures of the bridges at the enclosed end of the tunnel but it has not been put on yet? :S I'll try again soon!! lol



Would be interesting to see some more pics. Never looked what else was left of the railway as we were just passing by. Are there more bridges and stuff then?


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## josh582 (Oct 25, 2008)

There are a few more bridges, i tried to upload them but it says it has to be approved by a moderator first??? Did you go all the way through the tunnel?? What was it like? I have been inside it but must admit it was rather scary in there!!


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## Goldie87 (Oct 26, 2008)

josh582 said:


> There are a few more bridges, i tried to upload them but it says it has to be approved by a moderator first??? Did you go all the way through the tunnel?? What was it like? I have been inside it but must admit it was rather scary in there!!



Not really sure about about the pics having to be approved, post them on the leicestershire forum if you want! http://urbexleic.myfreeforum.org/

Yeah we went right to the end, it was full of horrible gooey mud where it had been backfilled lol. 
Might get down there again soon and try to take some better pics!


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## josh582 (Oct 26, 2008)

Sounds alright, im going there today, but we have decided to follow it along through to ingarsby and then ending at jon o gaunt!!


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## Goldie87 (Oct 26, 2008)

Ah right sounds a cool plan. We went to the viaduct at john o gaunt once, but not walked the rest of the line round there


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## josh582 (Oct 26, 2008)

Wicked, i'll get some more pictures and i'll email the mods aswell, might be because im using photobucket to host the images???


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## Goldie87 (Oct 26, 2008)

josh582 said:


> Wicked, i'll get some more pictures and i'll email the mods aswell, might be because im using photobucket to host the images???



nah my images are hosted on photobucket too so i dunno, have to contact the mods like you say.


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## pdtnc (Oct 26, 2008)

this place looks interesting.
thanks for the posting the pics


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## josh582 (Oct 26, 2008)

Fair enough lol, i'll contact them soon if i remember!! I did not go today as it was rather wet this morning and we thought it was the best idea to not go as its slipie when its dry let alone wet lol


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## Goldie87 (Oct 26, 2008)

Ah yeah those embankments are very steep there, I think you made a wise move not to go when its wet lol. BTW, do you know what that funny thing with the shells in the woods is? I know its somewhere up that way, someone showed it me some years back.


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## josh582 (Oct 26, 2008)

Shells?? Shells of what?? Are we talking about a bridge here or summin?


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## Goldie87 (Oct 26, 2008)

Ah take it you dont know then! Someone once took me to this load of trees somewhere down covet lane. There was a tiny hut type thing and all the walls inside were covered in sea shells. It was really weird! 
Still dunno what the hell it was to this day!


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## josh582 (Oct 27, 2008)

wow that sounds interesting, have you any idea where it is?? I might go and check it out!!


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## Mr Sam (Oct 27, 2008)

would be good to see more stuff ive been over most of the bridges going to the john o gaunt viaduct as no the farmer around there and we dump soil around the junction

just be carefull heard stories of an old chap who's lost his marbles that wanders the line asking when the next train is coming


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## josh582 (Oct 28, 2008)

haha lol at the old chap with no marbles, it sounds like the nutters you get around here!!


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## josh582 (Oct 31, 2008)

Hey guys, i have put all the pictures i have taken of the GNR railway in an album on facebook!!

Check them out!! -

http://s188.photobucket.com/albums/z23/joshbraker/GNR railway pics/

Let me know what you think!! Thanks!!


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## Goldie87 (Oct 31, 2008)

Cool to see some recent pics, thanks. The ground in front of the tunnel portal looks pretty churned up now?


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## josh582 (Nov 1, 2008)

Yh it is, its been completely cleared from the tunnel to the aqeduct or whatever its called, and its all flat ground now apart from the ground to the co-op farm entrance gate thing were there has been a hill for the diggers and that to access, the first day we found this place the digger was down there clearing it lol!!


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## Goldie87 (Nov 1, 2008)

hmm strange, I wonder why they are doing that


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## Mr Sam (Nov 1, 2008)

okay ive missed this....








and its odd there clearing it wonder what there upto i may have to take a look down there



did you go in the tunnel


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## josh582 (Nov 1, 2008)

It is odd they are clearing it lol, it puzzled me aswell as i could not understand it!!

I went in the tunnel, loads of graffiti in there, only went in 20ft maybe more, found a metro dating 27th april 2008 lol.

The picture of the bridge which you missed is at the end where the tunnel is collapsed, if you follow it along to the first bridge, stay on the old trackbed and you come to the top of it!! If your going down be careful as its very steep and full of slippery stones lol!!


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## boothy (Mar 28, 2009)

This place is amazing,the size of it gets me everytime.has anyone come up with why there clearing yet ?


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## jameswildcooper (Apr 5, 2009)

Goldie87 said:


> Ah take it you dont know then! Someone once took me to this load of trees somewhere down covet lane. There was a tiny hut type thing and all the walls inside were covered in sea shells. It was really weird!
> Still dunno what the hell it was to this day!



yeh i have seen that hut type thing with the shells very wierd!

went down there today for the first time really good place how far does the tunnel actually go?


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## listerofsmeg (Aug 10, 2009)

Myself, Pumpkin man and a few others walked the length of the tunnel a few months ago (cant remember exactly when) and it seems that there is a clearing leading to a farmers field/barn/phone mast just before you get to the portal of the tunnel (looking at the protal the new 'road' bends to the right and upwards) I will see if pumpkin man has any different photos ..... if not ill go down there again! and this time explore the other side where it has been filled in (if some fool has not decided to build new houses on there)


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## ajc29 (Sep 3, 2009)

*thurnby tunnel*



Mr Sam said:


> hello
> 
> ill first confirm its most deffinetly NOT the Glenfield tunnel as its on the opposite side on Leicester just beyond Scraptoft down Covet Lane
> 
> ...



Hi

_ went for a walk with my dad the other week so see the tunnel, I used to play in it as a kid, it has changed a bit, its now not so overgrown, and it looks like the coop farm has made a track down to the trackbed for vehicles, part of the trackbed is now a footpath, manged to take a few photos, won't bother uploading them as they are the same. _ Any idea why the other end was backfilled, there is a urban myth that the tunnel is haunted, mmmm, was that just invented just to scare the kids away, it didn't work very well.


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## Black Shuck (Sep 3, 2009)

ajc29 said:


> Hi
> 
> _ went for a walk with my dad the other week so see the tunnel, I used to play in it as a kid, it has changed a bit, its now not so overgrown, and it looks like the coop farm has made a track down to the trackbed for vehicles, part of the trackbed is now a footpath, manged to take a few photos, won't bother uploading them as they are the same. _ Any idea why the other end was backfilled, there is a urban myth that the tunnel is haunted, mmmm, was that just invented just to scare the kids away, it didn't work very well.



Has anybody been down to the John O Gaunts Viaduct yet?


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## Goldie87 (Nov 6, 2009)

Black Shuck said:


> Has anybody been down to the John O Gaunts Viaduct yet?



Did the viaduct once ages back... [ame]http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=3574[/ame] was getting dark though so pics turned out crap!


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