Hunting Butts Tunnel

[TheOneKEA]

I was at the south portal of Hunting Butts today and noted a few
interesting features:

- A large square hole can be seen at the top of the portal span; it
appears to have been chiseled off a while ago. Pictures of similar
portals show that the area may have held a stone plaque denoting the
date of the tunnel's construction; is that what this square once held?

- How much of the formation south of Hunting Butts belongs to the G&WR?
The formation was choked with trees and appeared to have laid
undisturbed for some time; there was no sign of KEEP OUT and friends
anywhere between a point 1/4 mile north of Pitville Gap and the south
portal.

- A large rusty thing resembling a boiler can be seen beyond the north
portal, in front of some even more rusty flatbed wagons; if it is a
boiler, who does it belong to?

Also, an unrelated query: who is responsible for maintaining the
Pitville occupation bridge, a couple hundred yards north of Pitville
Gap?

[Alasdair Baxter]

Post by TheOneKEA
I was at the south portal of Hunting Butts today and noted a few

Can someone please tell me where Hunting Butts is and is the tunnel
accessable to the public?
--

Alasdair Baxter, Nottingham, UK.Tel [phone]; Fax [phone]

"It's not what you say that matters but how you say it.
It's not what you do that matters but how you do it"

[TheOneKEA]

Post by Alasdair Baxter
Can someone please tell me where Hunting Butts is and is the tunnel
accessable to the public?

Whoops - I figured everyone knew where it was ;-)

Hunting Butts tunnel lies on the formation of the GWR Honeybourne
Route, from Stratford to Cheltenham via Honeybourne and Toddington. The
tunnel is the southern terminus of the metals of the Gloucestershire
Warwickshire Railway (the G&WR) which uses the tunnel and the headshunt
within as covered storage.

The tunnel lies just south of Cheltenham Racecourse station and is
approximately a quarter mile long. It can be reached by following the
fallow formation of the Honeybourne route from just north of Pitville
to the south portal, which is blocked with fifteen vertical guard
rails, each about ten feet tall. The tunnel is in excellent condition.

[d***@my-deja.com]

It's near Cheltenham Racecourse - to the SW of the terminus of the
GWWR.

OP seems to indicate you can get to it (from the other end though)

[Mark Annand]

Post by d***@my-deja.com
It's near Cheltenham Racecourse - to the SW of the terminus of the
GWWR.
OP seems to indicate you can get to it (from the other end though)

OT: Honeybourne line management plan (this for the path section past
Cheltenham town centre ...) PDF document.

http://tinyurl.com/9epox

[TheOneKEA]

Post by Mark Annand
OT: Honeybourne line management plan (this for the path section past
Cheltenham town centre ...) PDF document.
http://tinyurl.com/9epox

Interesting - this document doesn't seem to cover the line north of St.
James. I can say authoritatively that the section between Pitville Gap
and Hunting Butts hasn't seen the business end of a gardening tool for
quite some time...