Haymarket Tunnel - Birkenhead

The third and last tunnel of the day was Haymarket. This one is more a series of large cut and cover bridges supporting the roads above.

Crossing the disused wasteland, we found it home to groups of rough-looking folk who seemed surprised and wary of our presence. We had to pass by them as they lingered on a bridge we needed to cross, and feeling uneasy with bags full of expensive camera gear, we marched on without hanging around.

After finding a spot where we could drop down the steep cutting without breaking our legs, we walked back along the former line heading north. Fighting through years of overgrown vegetation, we eventually passed through the series of tunnels with ease.

The oval archways were a nice feature among the decay, although signs of homelessness revealed the tunnel’s new purpose. The distinct smell of sewage soon hit us, traced to a small room where a door had been cut open and a manhole left exposed.

It was about a five foot drop straight into the sewer. The idea of finding a processor or CSO room was tempting, but without a 4gas monitor on hand, we easily resisted the urge to traipse through a sewer on a hot summer’s evening.

History

“The Haymarket Tunnel in Birkenhead, part of the historic Birkenhead Dock Branch Line, was constructed around 1847 by the Great Western Railway to link the main rail network with the bustling Birkenhead docks. Built using the cut and cover technique, the tunnel stretches beneath central Birkenhead, featuring a distinctive brick-lined, square-section design internally divided by arched supports. It was engineered to handle heavy freight traffic, primarily coal, timber, and shipbuilding materials vital to the port’s industry. The Dock Branch Line itself extended from Rock Ferry Junction to Bidston Dock, serving numerous sidings and dock connections along the way. Though the tunnel saw steady use through the 19th and early 20th centuries, rail traffic began to decline after the 1960s, following the downturn in dock activity and the rise of road transport. By the 1990s, the line and tunnel were fully closed, leaving behind a remarkable relic of Birkenhead’s industrial and railway heritage”.