Box Tunnel
| Brunel devised a remarkably straight and level route for the Great Western Railway, but the part of the line between Chippenham and Bath was exceptionally difficult to build: out of 13 miles, only one is within 10 feet of the natural ground surface, and all of it had to be raised on high embankments or sunk in cuttings. Worst of all, the line had to be tunnelled beneath Box Hill. The 1¾-mile tunnel had to be cut through solid rock: it took from 1836 to 1841 to build, and is said to have cost the lives of over a hundred men. |