Bourne’s Tunnel built in the late 1820’s, is 104 feet long and goes under the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Line, the earliest locomotive passenger line in the world, near to Rainhill village.
The tunnel was given Grade II listed status in 2010 for both architectural and historical reasons, due to its angled design and attention to detail.
The tunnel predates the building of the Liverpool to Manchester railway. In 1824, brothers John, James and Peter Bourne and Robert Robinson, coal proprietor of Sutton obtained a lease of 20 acres from Bartholomew Bretherton. This lease included the right to construct a tunnel from Ansdale Wood Colliery at Elton Head to the Prescot to Warrington turnpike near Kendricks Cross (around the entrance to the Ex-Servicemen’s Club on Warrington Road). At this point there was a weighing machine and coal stockpile. Ansdale Wood Colliery closed before 1853.
The designer of the tunnel is not known for sure, but it is suspected to be George Stephenson’s apprentice, Thomas L Gooch, with the help of Liverpool dock engineer, Jesse Hartley.
The tramway was dismantled in 1844 when the brothers John, James and Peter Bourne together with their partner, Sutton Coal proprietor, Robert Robinson surrendered their lease on the land.
It was back filled when the Lea Green waste tips were levelled out and is hidden in the undergrowth today.