Leek Railway Tunnel

This abandoned railway tunnel residing in the quiet town of Leek in Staffordshire dates back to 1849 when it first opened as part of the North Staffordshire Railway on the manchester

to stoke route carrying goods for the coal and pottery industries and closed its route in 1964.

The Northern Portal lies nearby a very active allotment, a local scrap yard and a lot of overlooking houses. We got talking to one of the neighbours there who told us he had plans

to venture down himself by abseiling from his garden which was directly above it by around 20m (probably a much easier option than ours).

The southern portal has been infilled and inside the tunnel it differs between red brick and sandstone. The refuge areas were bigger than those we've seen in other similar tunnels like this, they look to be more like small storage areas than refuge points.

Information on this tunnel is scarce from what I could find with no real mention being made of it apart from old rail maps.