Listed Building record MDO10464 - Horn Hill Tunnel, south entrance

The Beaminster road tunnel, ST 468031, was built in 1831-2 - " a remarkable foretaste of railway architecture" <3>. It is 345 feet long, of brick with a modern cement lining. The portals are ashlar
and rubble.

A white-painted cross on the approach to the tunnel from Beaminster marks the spot where a workman was killed during its construction. <2>

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 27 (Monograph). SDO97.

'(60) Tunnel, 13/8 m. N.W. of the church, has the S.E. entrance in this parish, the N.W. in Broadwindsor. The internal lining is of brick and the entrances are built of rubble and ashlar. There is an inscription panel at each end recording the public's indebtedness for the erection of the tunnel chiefly to Giles Russell of Beaminster; it was begun in 1831 and finished in 1832; M. Lang, civil engineer. The entrances consist of semi-circular rusticated arches with keystones and plain imposts; each has a heavy string over and a parapet wall above containing the inscription panel. The embankment-walls flanking the approaches are shaped and battered.'

<2> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1962 (Map). SWX1540.

(ST 46770320) Tunnel (NAT)

<3> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset (Monograph). SWX1290.

<4> Wallis, A J, 1974, Dorset Bridges, 87 (Monograph). SDO17814.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 193053 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Nov 14 2022 4:40PM