The Canterbury and Whitstable Railway was the world’s first designated passenger line that connected Canterbury and Whitstable via a steam locomotive. The line opened on the 3rd of May 1830 and operated as a passenger train until 1931 when the operator at the time (South-eastern rail) had to scale back the service due to a lack of demand. The freight service ultimately terminated in 1953. However the land where this train line once stood is now in the ownership of the University of Kent and a piece of public art at the centre of the campus delineates the presence of this historic rail link.

I decided to start reading into this seemingly quirky project that was once a well established piece of East Kent’s infrastructural landscape.

So why have I decided to make this post about a long forgotten train line? 

Well the inspiration came from a recent discovery of mine that an important piece of civil engineering was tucked rather inconspicuously behind the UKC campus. Although the tunnel now stands in a rather desperate state. The tunnel at Tyler Hill should not be dismissed as an abandoned piece of industrial engineering, or even as a buried way finder for walkers and lost students at the University of Kent.

The tunnel should in fact be celebrated as a reminder of the first ever purposely designed railway tunnel and more to the fact that the tunnel at Tyler Hill has gone on to play an important role in defining a precedent for shaping the architectural engineering of the country’s expanding rail network.

The tunnel at Tyler Hill today, appears to be extremely out of place to its more natural and overgrown context and that its this juxtaposition of the intricate brickwork of its construction and the inconspicuous nature of its contemporary setting which I feel justifies a further investigation into what is now gets reduced to a quirky totem just off the public right of way.  

The Crab and Winkle route takes you through to the northern portal of the Tyler Hill Tunnel. Whilst it has since been bricked off, this tunnel is an excellent example of early railway engineering. In addition to boasting the fact that The Canterbury and Whitstable Railway was the world’s first regular timetabled service which operated solely for transporting passengers by steam locomotive. 

The tunnel was designed by George and Robert Stephenson, John Dixon was the resident engineer and the land was initially surveyed by William James. The final connections were made to Whitstable harbour, which was designed by Thomas Telford. 

The line was divided into six parts to account for the steep relief of the land.

The tunnel at Tyler Hill initially required a horse drawn winch system to drive the locomotive up the steep gradient through the tunnel. However, later locomotives were able to make the climb unassisted.

The tunnel’s biggest claim to fame however was showing that it is possible to design a train line which can still operate safely, even at steep reliefs with the tunnel at Tyler hill operating at a one in fifty six gradient. 

The safety of this tunnel was put to the test in 1835 when Isambard Kingdom Brunel and five associates visited the tunnel to test the safety features of the locomotives that were used on this line. The data collected from the Canterbury and Whitstable railway became justification to disprove several politicians who were against Brunel’s application to Parliament to build the Great Western Railway.

The Tyler Hill tunnel became the prototype for railway tunnel design across the country. With many features being replicated in addition to setting a safety precedent for more ambitious tunnel designs, such as the work seen within Brunel’s Box Hill tunnel in Wiltshire. Which connected Cheltenham and Bath and operated at an even steeper gradient at a rate of one in one hundred. 

For the tunnel at Tyler hill, ground was broken on the 31st of October 1825 and after several concerns with financing the project, the works were finally completed on the 9th of July 1827. A total of 2.4 million bricks were used to construct this engineering marvel which sees the twelve by twelve foot archway extend a total of 828 yards, with the tunnel’s deepest part being a total 65 feet underground.

So Where did the Crab and Winkle Line go?

The line consisted of four rail halts. 

Starting at Canterbury West train station, the line headed north through Beverley Meadows before crossing Forty Acres and Beaconsfield road in what now forms the base of the Eliot Footpath on the UKC Campus. A total distance of 3300-yards was constructed at a rising gradient of 1 in 46.

Tyler’s Hill Engine Station then extended north to Clowe’s Wood Engine Station, covering a total of 1980 yards at a rising gradient of 1 in 750, after which the line’s summit was reached.

Beyond the summit, for a distance of 1780 yards, a descent was made at the rate of 1 in 31, before the following 2200-yards of the track would run virtually level.

The next 880-yards of the line descended at 1 in 53 gradient reaching the South Street halt just on the periphery of Whitstable before reaching the final 440-yards which was on a level gradient that would bring the line to its terminus on Whitstable Harbour.

So, what is the story with the train line?

The Canterbury and Whitstable Rail line was initially developed as a primary connection route between Canterbury and the coast. This rail connection route became an essential and cost effective link to transport coal and other goods to Canterbury in addition to providing a regular passenger service which offered one train per hour.

The poor infrastructure links to East Kent made it a difficult area for establishing a wider network for trade, as high prices for importing goods often resulted in higher prices for local consumers. 

As such the need for a more cost effective method of trade arose. This took on a two stage approach to development. The idea to link Canterbury to the coast was borne from surveyor William James and later being executed by a father and son team of George and Robert Stephenson. An engineer and construction manager, they would later go onto design the Invicta steam engine that will work to ferry the carriages along the Crab and Winkle line.

The second phase focussed in Whitstable with the construction of the harbour that we see today. Being completed 2 years after the railway’s inaugural voyage. The marriage of these two pieces of infrastructure allowed for an expansion to the area’s fishing industry and all the while provided direct access for trade with the market city of Canterbury. 

In the early years, the harbour flourished as it effectively halved the shipping costs, in particular transporting coal from the north of the country to east Kent. 

However it was the use of the railway as a means for shipping freshly caught produce such as Whitstable oysters, crabs and fish, and the railway’s ability to connect inland settlements to the coast, which gave the train line its affectionate title of the Crab and Winkle line.

By 1860, with a growing interest in expanding London’s own rail network, the construction of a competing service called the north Kent line increased competition and began to reduce the number of passengers using the Crab and Winkle line as a passenger service.   

Competition for using the Crab and Winkle line grew, resulting in Whitstable needing to diversify their trade as passenger numbers began to dwindle following the completion of the north Kent link to London and the construction of the A2 Motorway. 

At the height of the harbour’s use, Whitstable expanded their fishing industry and began to service new cargoes such as exporting timber from the Baltics which had gone on to greatly expand Whitstable’s economy. However, the future of this small fishing town was beginning to look more uncertain as the years went by. 

The Crab and Winkle passenger service terminated in 1930 with British Rail decommissioning the line in 1952. The line was briefly reprieved in February 1953 due to flooding of the nearby London Chatham & Dover Railway. The track was lifted at the request of its current occupier, South eastern railway, from within the Tyler hill tunnel a year later.

The Crab and Winkle line was finally closed by the British Rail corporation with the line being entirely removed soon after. It was decided that in 1958 the then titled Whitstable Urban District Council would buy the harbour in a referendum for £12,500. Whilst this was a fraction of what the harbour would have been worth in its heyday. The motivation was to prevent the harbour from being decommissioned as trade had significantly diminished with the removal of the rail link. However the harbour still provides an invaluable asset to Whitstable’s economy, and to ensure greater security moving forward the harbour was retained and is now in the ownership of Canterbury City Council.

Shortly afterward the line was removed. The rail halt on the harbour was largely demolished. Whilst the actual halt no longer exists, a small part of the platform has been retained and the converted ticket hall can both be seen from harbour street. Whilst these two features act as monuments to the railway’s history,  The only original pieces that remain from this halt are the iron gates which were used to close off access to the terminal. 

In more recent history, the newly established University of Kent acquired the Tyler Hill tunnel for £70. An inspection determined that it was safe to build over and part of the campus was subsequently erected on land above it. However in 1973, ten years after the institution’s foundation, an assessment found significant defects in the tunnel, including bulging of the vertical sidewalls. Tenders went out for the repair work but it was too late: on 11th July 1974, the Cornwallis Building was affected by subsidence, sinking 18 inches in about an hour. 

Later investigation found that a 30-yard collapse in the tunnel was responsible, so remediation works began filling the tunnel with brick and clay 260 yards from the north end.

Part of the building was subsequently demolished and Pulverised Fuel Ash (PFA) pumped into the tunnel via a series of boreholes. Since the original work, a bulkhead has been assembled about 100 yards from the south end and further infilling carried out beyond it. A brick partition wall has also been inserted 30 yards in from the entrance.

The south portal, built in red brick, was the focus of a restoration project in 2009. Until recently, the north portal was in a particularly poor state due to a blocked land drain and tree growth. However these have now been felled, remedial works have been undertaken and the brickwork has been largely repaired.

Whilst it was hoped that these entrances could be reopened to allow walkers access to a more direct route along the Crab and Winkle path. The tunnel now is home to several families of bats and is under active protection for its biodiversity value. 

Additionally, Since 2009, the structure has been protected by a Grade II* listing. Given that the tunnel is now a designated heritage asset, it is unlikely that any plans to reopen the tunnel to the public will happen any time soon. 

However in 2017 the land owners opened the southern portal for a curated nature walk and bat observation evening. So whilst this tunnel has largely been left to the elements, and lost to history. Some interest has begun to percolate back into this defining piece of history.  

The history of this train line is an important one for many reasons, and although largely forgotten, elements of the Crab and Winkle line are still evident and celebrated today.

The third train line is still in operation as a freight line at Canterbury West and in 1997 a small community group worked to transform the former train route into a public footpath and cycle route with key views, and locations of the now non-existent halts being preserved and reimagined with information plaques and public art installations lining the route to Whitstable Harbour which can be traversed from Canterbury town centre in just under two hours.

Canterbury City Council (n.d.), History, [Installation] Whitstable: The Harbour, (Visited 27/04/2023).

Dixon, M. (2021), Tyler Hill railway Tunnel, [online] At: Tyler Hill Railway Tunnel – Subterranea Britannica (subbrit.org.uk), (Accessed 30/04/2023).

Fourbythree, (2017),The Tyler Hill Tunnel, [online] At:Tyler Hill Tunnel (forgottenrelics.co.uk), (Accessed 30/04/2023).

Glasspool, D. (n.d.), Kent Rail: Tyler Hill Tunnel, [online] At:Tyler Hill Tunnel (kentrail.org.uk), (Accessed 30/04/2023).

Kentish Gazette Canterbury and District, (2019), Brunel’s City Visit to test tunnel vision, [ARCHIVED ONLINE] At: PressReader.com – Digital Newspaper & Magazine Subscriptions, (Accessed 30/04/2023).

Kentish Stour and Countryside Partnership, (2000), The Crab and Winkle Way, [online] At: CrabWinkle.pdf (crabandwinkle.org), (Accessed 30/04/2023). 

South Street Women’s institute, (2014), South Street Halt, [Installation] Whitstable: Crab and Winkle Way (visited 27/04/2023).

The Crab and Winkle Line Trust,(2017), Visiting the Tyler Hill Tunnel at the South Portal, [online] At:Visiting the Tyler Hill Tunnel at the South Portal | The Crab and Winkle Line Trust, (Accessed 30/04/2023).

University of Kent, (2015), The Crab and Winkle Path, [Installation] Canterbury: Crab and Winkle Way, (Visited 27/04/2023).