Inside the Hanch Tunnel. Image from Dave Moore’s Flickr photostream.

This Sunday morning (29th June 2014 at 11:00am), there’s going to be a rather excellent event put on by Lichfield Discovered, a side project of Kate Cardigan from the wonderful Lichfield Lore – a walk along the line of the great, legendary and hotly debated Hanch Tunnel.

The Hanch Tunnel was built in the Victorian era to supply water from Seedy Mill, north of Lichfield, to Sandfields pumping station in the south of the city. It’s a remarkable piece of Victorian civil engineering, and one which still provokes much discussion in the urban exploration and draining community.

The walk is being led by Chris Pattison, South Staffordshire Water historian, and contributor of so much great local history to the Brownhills Blog.

Lichfield discovered is going from strength to strength with lots of fun stuff to come – Kate has organised some great talks and events for 2014. These include some excellent folk, like Dave Moore, late of this parish, Sandfields Pumping Station expert and campaigner.

Remember, these events are free (but donations are welcome!) What’s not to love?

Kate said:

Hi Bob

Chris Pattison is leading a walk along the route of Lichfield’s only authenticated Victorian tunnel which was constructed between 1856 and 1866 to convey drinking water to Sandfields pumping station.

Along the way, we’ll be discovering the location of the remaining shafts which were sunk to enable construction of the tunnel and the walk will include a commentary with references to contemporary documents and photographs taken during recent surveys of the tunnel.

We’ll also be taking some minor detours from the tunnel route to sites which were relevant to Lichfield’s original water supply.

The walk will commence at the Grange Lane/Eastern Avenue crossroads (city side) at 11 am and will terminate at Sandfields pumping station, Chesterfield road. It’ll last approximately 2 hours and everyone is welcome.

People can keep in touch with what’s going on via our blog, by following us on twitter (@lichdiscovered) and we’re on Facebook as Lichfield Discovered.

Cheers,
Kate

These events are increasing in popularity, and I can see why; this is a collection of dedicated but offbeat local history enthusiasts who really know how to make their subject engaging and entertaining. And it’s absolutely free to attend.

The line of the Hanch Tunnel: Map from Dave Moore’s ‘Friends of Sandfields Pumping Station’ blog.