what are we doing
here 230 years ago you're seeing a Workforce like no other
the most dangerous conditions you've seen in your life
of all the Landscapes that we visit this is quite possibly one of the most terrifying for
a couple of different reasons which will show you both today [Music]
that is more terrifying on the basis that the fence is down over there
what that means is we're about to see we're about to approach the uh sapperton Canal tunnel
oh the sapperton canal tunnel was terrifying for two different reasons the first of which requires
us to go above sapperton Canal tunnels to see some rather scary holes in the ground [Music]
before we do either of those two terrifying things Steve who has joined us today a little bit more
on Steve later um Steve has just pointing out something that we never saw last time when we
came here which is an aqueduct but also it's a siphon Aqueduct Steve right when a canal is
too low for the river to sort of go under it or uh you know can't go over or whatever like that
you've got to get it under some way so you have the river level on two sides the canal and they
basically invert down with a pipe and then under and it pulls itself through like a cycle [Music]
sapperton Canal tunnel once formed an integral part of the Thames in seven
Canal setting it over two miles long it was once the world's longest Canal tunnel
this length isn't really the most impressive feature it's over a staggering 14 foot wide
I'll just come out of sapperton so we're not far from the northern portal and you'll notice
on this main road that we're walking along has lots of clumps of trees in those clumps of trees
are terrifying thing number one let's have a quick look in this one we know we're not going
to see anything overly obvious but it'll give you a little taster of what's to come just up ahead
all right so we've just stepped inside one of those clumps I've mentioned and they're in a
line along this section of the canal tunnel standing high above it and if you have a look
at the lidar for these tunnels you'll notice that there's a mound in each of them so what
we're looking at now Steve I guess would be the spoil yeah so he literally dumped it where they
took it out yeah so it surrounds the shafts and you get this Mount around all of them
really right so if we now we don't know where the axle shaft would be doing there's no exactly it's
quite it's quite a large amount it's a very large Mound um but we climb up on top of it
I'll show you exactly what we mean right so ahead of us now is this um what looks deliberately not
deliberately but sunken bit in the ground we're fairly confident that there is a shaft down there
wouldn't be standard on that agreed definitely not ready to cover it over to be rotten with uh yeah
and then you go so we're probably a good 50 meters plus down that shaft which is a heck of a long way
um but you can't see much so let's go and show you something which you can see foreign
[Music]
to the woods just ahead of us and we stuck a GoPro down the hole that was great fun but
we kind of just stopped packed up didn't look at the footage went home got excited
about the footage we didn't go any further in that for us to see what else there was
and I'm pretty confident there are some more things to see so that's why I thought we'd
make this number one of two things we're doing today that are quite terrifying
point out that one of the shafts is right beside the main road over there on the north
side of it and it's actually fenced off that particular one it's not in the woods
still staggered by 26 shafts along this route giving them that's 52 entrances from each shaft
and then the portals perhaps so maybe 54 working faces and they would then uh the two mile tunnel
they would then work from each of these 54 faces and build a pilot tunnel and that would only be
I don't know a meter tall or thereabouts not even able to stand up at it oh yeah
okay we stood on top of the line of the canal Steve has already scouted off into the woods
towards an unmarked shaft and we can see the um telling mound of Earth ahead of us but I've
never seen this one before Steve this is good but look at that mound in the middle of nowhere
and who'd have thought that if you weren't a canal Aficionado like us Legends then um
that's going to Patreon video um then uh yeah who didn't know that there is one of
the most terrifying things you'll see in terms of Georgian Victorian infrastructure
Jordan George II it was because he came down to this video site because this was a buffer
to stay or the uh when all ours came down here and it was quite a um quite a day almost like a
um celebrity type thing at the time and you can imagine that this was at the time the longest
time in the world it was so early in Canal yeah this is another reason why you should
go and watch Steve's Channel because Steve has this absurd mindful of facts about canals and
when you watch one of his videos You'll see exactly what I mean right the mound
this is really weird because it's not weird at all it just tells you what they did with
the spoil we're actually stood on spoil now not um the shaft itself because right ahead of us is
the single most terrifying thing you'll see in your life the whole spool Heap there shows you
the amount of Earth it will took to get this out and there's a small Heap all around us over here
as well over the back the spoil and it tells you how deep this is it really does just a reminder
from the last video that we've made where we did stick the GoPro down there so we're now going to
walk 100 yards further south 150 yards further south along the line of the canal we're still on
the massive pile of Earth look at this it's huge all this came out of that hole in the ground so
it tells you how much I was just mad about 100 that way we're going to show you another one
oh God this is even more terrifying because the fence is a bit sketchy yeah so this is
another one this is good this is great because exactly what I wanted to find today evidence
of more shafts that is more terrifying on the basis that the fence is down over there
um and it doesn't look like a shaft it looks more like well you can still see some of the
original wood planks that they put over the top I think they put something like Railway sleepers
just over the top of it in a really sketchy Manner and I think that's one of those that's still left
there now um but absurdly dangerous never really failed to be completely grasped by the fact that
if you'd have been here 230 years ago you'd have seen a Workforce like no other you'd have seen
people being lowered down the shaft buckets of Earth being lifted up the most dangerous
working conditions you've seen in your life and we're right here now in this environment and it's
peaceful and tranquil and full of Wildlife and yet there's these terrifying Earth lumps just
seemingly coming out of the ground with the shafts still in place today it's really quite terrifying
speaking of terrifying things I think we're done here now Steve we've shown the lovely viewers
some of these shafts and how dangerous they are do you fancy going in the tunnel plan [Music]
well Gary said the hose um interesting Garage in the video when we came here last he was the
one that built the trolley to go down the Shelf the house I'll catch up a bit more [Applause]
so if you haven't worked out already the second terrifying thing that we're going to show you
today is inside the tunnel um there's a collapse around about two or three hundred yards we think
um how far we'll get I don't know we don't know how deep it is how shallow it is how effective
the boat's going to be um let's go have a look [Music] now the goal is to get past the gate
first of all because it gets a bit deeper past the gate and we can then get in this
right we're only 10 yards in it's very shallow that's our first concern at the
moment that we're not going to actually better sit in the boat without grounding it and we're
also causing a lot of silt to come up um but we'll just see how far we get oh good [Music]
yeah so we're in the boat which is good Steve I probably need to go further forward and you
probably need to go backwards because that's good we need to distribute a bit don't we [Music]
we had High Hopes um did Steve and I about today we've been planning this
for quite some few weeks right Steve yeah um we're now about 20 yards in and we burst the
boat the literally the bottom of the boat is bursting we're just sat there going
let's go another 10 yards and see how we feel at this point forward we didn't know what was for the
best we debated for a few moments I took a few more steps forward around 10 yards and twice in
that period I got my foot stuck in the silt now without a boat this really wasn't for me Steve
however Steve wanted to go on so for the next few minutes this is Steve's trip to the first collapse
so whilst we journey in the tunnel with Steve let's remind ourselves of
a few important facts this tunnel is over two miles long it's over 14 feet wide and at its
time of construction was the longest in the world 26 shafts were used to construct this
1911 saw the first collapse and therefore the canal was abandoned thereafter a few more were
reported in the 1960s it's understood that the collapses are only this end now that's about three
or four hundred yards in and you'll see those very shortly but from the other end well it's reported
that you can go at least a mile and a half but the danger there is the quality of the air
as in I put my like toe down to try and find the base and it was just going deeper and I couldn't
get myself so he was like no sign he's bad he's probably mad he's crazy but he's going in he's got
my GoPro and he's getting some food um Love Steve go and subscribe to Steve's Channel just for this
alone before Steve reaches the collapse you'll notice on the left-hand wall the North Eastern
side well there's a few bulges there again from the Fuller's clay which look incredibly unsafe
are one thing Steve noticed as he Roots the collapses how hard the ground was yes the clay had
fallen down here but it's now been covered by the calcite from all the water and Limestone that had
been dragged down through it you'll see the actual construction of the tunnel now because you can see
the layers of bricks here three or four layers now one thing that Steve wasn't Keen to do is go on
any further obviously is on his own at this point but as you can see if I slow the images down here
in the distance where there's at least two more collapses Within Reach and apparently just beyond
those end of the 20 or 30 yards is a complete blockage of the tunnel you can't go any further
now this is on the plans of the Cotswold Canal Trust they do want to extend this canal right
through this tunnel whether I'll see that in my lifetime or not is Up For Debate [Music]
while Steve comes out I want to show you the portal because now this has been restored probably
I think 30 40 years ago in 1996 so a good nearly 30 years ago 27 years ago but I assume back to
its original state I think this end and the other end are listed buildings now which is
um a good thing yeah so how was that Steve it was actually once you go on
that side really that was hard you could feel it I think we're in the basically yeah
um but they're worse there were spots which are still quite sticky yeah uh
could easily get stuck so thank you Cloud on yeah guys Brave man now Steve Brave man and I
straight away after leaving the portal of Dame way all of a sudden the Heat's hit us a bit even
the photos are 20 yards towards it you can really feel the difference in temperature as the air is
coming through despite the fact it's blocked right we are done today we're gonna go and have a quick
um bite to eat in the pub the Dane way
um big thanks to Steve massive thanks to Steve for carrying on where I said no Steve you crazy fool
um but for me Rebecca and Steve a big thanks for watching we'll see you this time next week
foreign
[Music]