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
Shrewley Tunnel Shrewley Tunnel Shrewley Tunnel is a canal tunnel near Shrewley, Warwickshire, England, which opened in 1799. It became part of the Grand Union Canal in 1929. The Warwick and Birmingham Canal Company obtained an Act of Parliament in March 1793, which authorised the construction of a canal from the Digbeth Branch Canal of the Birmingham Canal Navigations to Warwick, where it would end at Saltisford Wharf. The plans showed three tunnels, at Shrewley, Rowington and Yardley, but as construction progressed, the last two became deep cuttings. This was not an option at Shrewley, as the route passed under the village.