Amazing

The barge in this picture going away from me just came through a tunnel(centre front of this photo right under where I stood to take the pic)the tunnel was almost half a mile long and came under a public footpath,fields and a main road.
What a feat of engineering that was getting that through.
Apparently built in 1797.
Amazing

Internet info.....

Saddington Tunnel

Entrance to Saddington Tunnel, also known as Fleckney Tunnel. Saddington Tunnel was finished in February 1797 and opened for traffic in early April. It is 8813/4 yards long. During the building William Fletcher discovered that it was not straight. Varley the engineer offered to pay the cost as a sign of his integrity. The misalignment was confirmed by James Barnes, Engineer to the Grand Junction Canal Company and subsequently three lengths of the tunnel were rebuilt and widened six to eight inches to ensure that the wide barges of the Thames type used on the lower Grand Junction could pass through. In 1920 a Fellows, Morton and Clayton steamer sank in the tunnel having hit an old pile. The contents of the boat, chemicals worth £1,000 were lost.
A gravestone in nearby Willoughby Waterleys records that Thomas Hill, aged 16, was killed whilst working in Saddington Tunnel, July 17, 1796.