Blisworth Tunnel has no tow path inside, but is wide enough for two narrowboats to pass in opposite directions. Work began in 1793, but errors by contractor left a wiggle in the tunnel, and after three years work it collapsed due to quicksand, claiming the lives of 14 men. It was then decided to begin again with a new tunnel. By the time the rest of the Grand Junction Canal had opened between London and Braunston, Northamptonshire in 1800, apart from the crossing of the River Great Ouse, the section of canal from Blisworth to the lower end of Stoke Bruerne locks
Sapperton Canal Tunnel Sapperton Canal Tunnel The Sapperton Canal Tunnel is a tunnel on the Thames and Severn Canal near Cirencester in Gloucestershire, England. With a length of 3,817 yards it was the longest canal tunnel, and the longest tunnel of any kind, in England from 1789 to 1811. Although the Thames and Severn Canal was authorised by an Act of Parliament on 17 April 1783, the details of the tunnel had not been worked out, and arguments about its size continued for two or three months. Boats on the Severn were trows and were wide, while those on the Thames were Thames