Bourne's Tunnel at SJ5033491804
BOURNE'S TUNNEL AT SJ5033491804, A570
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1393700
- Date first listed:
- 05-Mar-2010
- List Entry Name:
- Bourne's Tunnel at SJ5033491804
- Statutory Address:
- BOURNE'S TUNNEL AT SJ5033491804, A570
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Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1393700
- Date first listed:
- 05-Mar-2010
- List Entry Name:
- Bourne's Tunnel at SJ5033491804
- Statutory Address 1:
- BOURNE'S TUNNEL AT SJ5033491804, A570
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- BOURNE'S TUNNEL AT SJ5033491804, A570
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- St. Helens (Metropolitan Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- SJ5033491804
Reasons for Designation
Bourne's Tunnel is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Historical: It is one of the earliest tunnel structures of the railway age, constructed in the late 1820s on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway Line, which is regarded as the earliest locomotive passenger line in the world. * Architectural: The tunnel is a well executed construction displaying engineering skill in its angled design, and attention to aesthetic detail, articulated by the use of dressed stonework to the archway voussoirs. * Group value: It has strong group value with the nearby Grade II listed Skew Bridge at Rainhill (1828-9), Ropers Bridge at Knowsley (c.1829), four other railway bridges at Huyton with Roby (c.1829), and Rainhill Station (1860-68). Together they form a significant group of railway structures that represent the development of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway Line, and the British railway network in general.
Details
455/0/10029 A570 05-MAR-10 RAINHILL (Off) BOURNE'S TUNNEL AT SJ5033491804
II Tunnel built to carry colliery tramway underneath the Liverpool & Manchester Railway Line, late 1820s, possibly by Thomas L. Gooch with Jesse Hartley, 104 ft long, coursed red sandstone, skew design.
LOCATION: Approximately 1km east of Rainhill station.
EXTERIOR: South portal with single span segmental arch with vermiculated rusticated voussoirs set at a skew angle, retaining wall above with slightly projecting flat ashlar copings. Right side of portal arch is obscured by a short side abutment wing, longer left abutment wing with flat ashlar copings; both wings with plain short terminal piers. North portal is buried and is not visible.
INTERIOR: Horseshoe-arched stone lined interior, skew alters to straight alignment approximately 6m into the tunnel.
HISTORY: On 1 January 1824 John, James & Peter Bourne, merchants of Liverpool, and their partner Robert Robinson, a Sutton coal proprietor, leased 20 acres of land in Rainhill from Bartholomew Bretherton, a local landowner and stagecoach proprietor. Permission was granted by Bretherton for them to construct a 'railed way' from their collieries in Sutton, which passed through part of the Rainhill land to the Liverpool-Warrington turnpike road (Warrington Road) where they installed a weighing machine and stockpiled coal.
When the Liverpool & Manchester Railway Line (the earliest locomotive passenger line in the world) was being constructed in the late 1820s under the supervision of the engineer, George Stephenson, the directors recommended that the colliery tramway should cross under the line through a tunnel, which became known as Bourne's Tunnel.
It is not known exactly who designed Bourne's Tunnel, but it is believed that many of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway Line's bridges were designed by George Stephenson's apprentice, Thomas L. Gooch, aided by the Liverpool dock engineer, Jesse Hartley.
The Sutton collieries were later connected to the St Helens & Runcorn Gap Railway (operational from 1833) and the tramway and turnpike road became increasingly obsolete. The Bourne brothers and Robert Robinson consequently surrendered their lease in 1844 and the tramway was dismantled.
SOURCES: F Dickinson, A History of Transport Through Rainhill (1979). 24-25. R H G Thomas, The Liverpool & Manchester Railway (1980).
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: Bourne's Tunnel is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Historical: It is one of the earliest tunnel structures of the railway age, constructed in the late 1820s on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway Line, which is regarded as the earliest locomotive passenger line in the world. * Architectural: The tunnel is a well executed construction displaying engineering skill in its angled design, and attention to aesthetic detail, articulated by the use of dressed stonework to the archway voussoirs. * Group value: It has strong group value with the nearby Grade II listed Skew Bridge at Rainhill (1828-9), Ropers Bridge at Knowsley (c.1829), four other railway bridges at Huyton with Roby (c.1829), and Rainhill Station (1860-68). Together they form a significant group of railway structures that represent the development of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway Line, and the British railway network in general.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 507533
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Dickinson, F, A History of Transport Through Rainhill, (1979), 24-25
Thomas, R H G, London's First Railway The London to Greenwich, (1972)
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 13-Jul-2026 at 23:36:03.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.