STANDEDGE TUNNEL (Marsden side ).

The Standedge tunnels are four parallel tunnels beneath the Pennines in northern England. There are three railway tunnels and one canal tunnel, located at the traditional Standedge crossing point between Marsden and Diggle, on the edge of West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester. The canal tunnel, which forms part of the Huddersfield narrow canal, is the longest and oldest of the tunnels and holds the record as the longest and highest canal tunnel in the United Kingdom, stretching 3.25 miles through the Pennines from Marsden to Diggle. Of the three railway tunnels only one tunnel which was built in 1894 is currently used for rail traffic. The canal was closed in 1943 but was re-opened in May 2001. You can go on boat trips into this tunnel from the Marsden end of the tunnel. There is also a visitors centre as well. The nearby tunnel end cottages which formerly housed canal maintenance workers, now houses a cafe and booking office for the 30 minute boat trips into the tunnel.

 

Tunnel end cottages now the booking office and cafe.

 

 

Closer view.

 

 

The tunnel entrance in the background with a boat and its tug boat (blue one ) which pulls or pushes the barge through the tunnel.

 

 

The tunnel entrance with a train coming through the railway tunnel. You can also see the lights from one of the barges coming out of the canal tunnel.

 

 

Closer view of both tunnels.

 

 

The entrance.

 

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THE EXHIBITION CENTRE.

The Standedge tunnel visitor centre is located in a former warehouse. The centre contains exhibits on the history of the tunnels, the canals recent restoration and the Huddersfield narrow canal.

 

 

 

The view looking towards the exhibition centre from the cafe.

 

 

The exhibition centre.

 

 

One of the exhibits.

 

 

And another.

 

 

 

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A FEW PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE COUNTRYSIDE AROUND STANDEDGE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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GOONHILLY SATELLITE EARTH STATION.

Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station is a large telecommunications site located on Goonhilly Downs near Helston on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall, England. This site is owned by BT Group PLC (British telecommunications). It was once the largest satellite earth station in the world, with more than 25 communication dishes in use and over 60 in total. This site also links to undersea cable lines. The largest dish called Merlin has a diameter of 32 metres. Other dishes are called Guinevere, Tristan and Isolde plus other dishes called after characters in Arthurian legend. Goonhilly`s first dish, antenna one called Arthur was built in 1962 to link with Telstar. It was the first open parabolic design and is 25.9 metres in diameter and weighs 1,118 tonnes. In 2008 satellite operations was shut down and moved to Madley Communications Centre in Herefordshire. The site had a visitors centre which told the history of Satellite Communications. On the site their was a cafe, a shop, interactive exhibits and one of Britain's fastest cybercafes ( a one gigabit pipe and a theoretical maximum speed per imac of 100 mbit ). There were also tours around the main BT site and into the heart of Arthur. The tour of the site was done in a coach, you was not allowed to wander around on your own , there was areas which was classed as top secret. In March of 2010 the visitor centre closed. Their was talks into selling of the site to create a Space Science Centre.

 

One small part of the site.

 

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Arthur (front view).

 

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Arthur (side view).

 

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Arthur with a rainbow.

 

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RANDOM PHOTOGRAPHS #4.

 

A dead rat which was floating in our local canal.

 

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A female Mallard with her young on local canal.

 

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A slug trying to escape across my garden path.

 

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A wintry scene taken last year near where i live.

 

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Falling Foss, North Yorkshire Moors. I took this photo standing on the very top of the waterfall around 40 feet up. Thankfully the stream i was stood near was not in flood.

 

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The Red Arrows doing there flying display at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, England.

 

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From the left my granddaughter, then my daughter, then haven`t got a clue who he is.

 

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Waterfall on the river Colne at Marsden, West Yorkshire, England.

 

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LINCOLN CATHEDRAL (part two ).

 

 

INSIDE THE CATHEDRAL.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the many stained glass windows.

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The Rose window.

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Chandelier.

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Central Tower roof.

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This is the Lincoln Imp.

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Carved walkway high up in the roof.

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Pulpit.

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Intricate carvings on one of the very many stone arches.

 

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Edward King Bishop of Lincoln

monument.

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Two of the carved stones ready for being put in place on the outside of the cathedral.

 

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