Photograph as originally submitted to this page in the Historical Marker Database www.HMdb.org. Click on photo to resize in browser. Scroll down to see metadata.

Photographer: Michael Herrick
Taken: May 9, 2018
Caption: Islington Tunnel
Additional Description: Completed in 1820, the tunnel is 960 yards long. There was no towpath for horses in the tunnel. Horses were untied from the boat and led up a ramp to the tunnel’s other end. Barges originally had to be “legged” by watermen lying on the deck and “walking the tunnel”. In 1826 it was upgraded with a steam tug attached to a continuous chain on the canal bed which would heave barges through. This remained for over one hundred years until the 1930s, when it was replaced with a diesel engine, which is no longer in use. It not possible to walk or cycle through the tunnel.
Submitted: June 13, 2018, by Michael Herrick of Southbury, Connecticut.
Database Locator Identification Number: p430534
File Size: 0.811 Megabytes

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