Pennine Waterways News

Wednesday 6 April 2011

Legging Fiesta Marks Standedge Anniversary

Monday 4th April 2011 was exactly 200 years after the official opening of Standedge Tunnel after a mammoth 17 years of construction.

The special anniversary was marked by a number of events over the weekend at Tunnel End and by boats being legged through Standedge Tunnel in the traditional way.

On Saturday 2nd April the historic wooden narrowboat Maria, built in 1854, was horsedrawn up the Diggle locks before being legged by members of the Horseboating Society through Standedge Tunnel to Tunnel End, Marsden.

On Sunday 3rd April members of the Horseboating Society legged three horseboats through Standedge Tunnel from Tunnel End to Diggle. On Monday 4th April the three horseboats, Maria, Elland and Vixen, were legged back through Standedge Tunnel from Diggle to Tunnel End. On all three days walkers were invited to accompany the boat horse walking over the moors between the two tunnel portals


NB Maria exits from Standedge Tunnel

Photographs from the event can be seen on the Horseboating Society website.

The weekend also saw a live broadcast from Tunnel End by Pulse FM and the opening of a new play area and Wildlife & Sensory Garden.

Tunnel guide Fred Carter, who has worked for BW at Standedge for 42 years, talks about the weekend in this video:


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