A 'melancholy accident' in Watford Tunnel

This fourth in the series, originally published in the Watford Observer of January 19, 1935, is headed A Melancholy Accident in Watford Tunnel and proves to be a fascinating historical document of life in south west Herts in the mid 19th Century.

It’s far too long to reproduce in full, but here are the edited highlights. I hope you find them as interesting as I did.

“An account of the route from Euston to Birmingham occupies a considerable portion of the Guide and provides an intersting mirror of the life and relative importance of the towns of West Herts in the forties [1840s].

“Hatch End station had not been thought of, for instance. The bridge carried the road over the railway, on the right of which ,we are told, “a pleasant white villa” the residence of the Rev Mr Monro, the curate of Harrow Church, might be observed.

“The writer then takes us through Oxhey Lane cutting which, he states, is in parts 40 feet deep. The sides were clayed over and ‘are now a series of beautiful gardens of wild flowers which in their due season enliven the lonely walks of the policeman by their beauty and fragrance; though owing to the rapidity with which the traveller is impelled, the clusters of violets, the harebell, the forget-me-not and the germander speedwell are to him scarcely perceptible.’

“It is stated that during the excavation of the cutting, ‘the abundance of vegetable fossils found, resembling the cardamom, date, areca, cocoa and a berry analogous to coffee gives rise to the supposition that the neighbouring land constituted a group of spice islands, the shores of which were, judging from the animal remains, the haunt of various species allied to the crocodile, turtle and shark.’

“Watford station is given as being 17¾ miles from London and 94¾ miles from Birmingham.

“‘Here is a coke and engine house, water cistern, crane, pump and all the necessary appliances of a station,’ states the Guide. ‘Watford is a station for first as well as second class trains; the arrangements as at other stations, are all highly calculated to give passenger satisfaction.

“‘Conveyances to the neighbouring towns are in waiting on the arrival of the trains. Watford is a market town about half-a-mile from the station. The town consists principally of a street about a mile in length. There are three silk mills in the neighbourhood and these, together with the straw plait, which is manufactured here, employ a considerable number of persons.’ [The districts around Luton and neighbouring counties were, since the beginning of the 17th Century, the British home of the straw-plait industry. The plaiting was carried out by women and children who were taught the skills in plait schools. At its peak, many thousands were employed in the industry – 30,000 in 1871 – but the numbers dwindled by the end of the century, and by 1907 there were only a few hundred. Cheap foreign imports are blamed for the decline.]

“In those days Rickmansworth had no branch line and was stated to be four miles from the station. An idea of its prosperity in early Victorian times may be gained by the statement that ‘in the parish there are six paper mills, a number of flour mills, and an extensive brewery; the manufacture of straw plait is carried on here and also that of horsehair seating for chairs; and the cultivation of water cresses for the supply of the metropolis, gives occupation to numbers of the people.’

“While the Watford Tunnel was being constructed – no mean engineering feat in those days – a terrible accident occurred involving the loss of the lives of ten of the men engaged on the work.

“Here is an account of the tragedy as related in the book:

“‘On leaving the Watford station, the train enters a deep cutting through gravel, containing masses of chalk and after passing the accommodation bridge for Mr Moore’s farm we enter the Watford Tunnel, which runs under a part of the Earl of Essex’s estate.

“‘The tunnel was cut through the chalk and gravel; in some places the former was of an exceedingly indurated nature but the latter was mostly so loose as to resemble a running sand and required much engineering skill to get through it.

“‘In forming this tunnel six shafts were sunk and at one of them, a melancholy accident took place which, though similar unfortunate occurrences are commonly incidental to mining work, created a strong sensation at the time.

"This shaft was sunk about nine feet in diameter and the workmen were rapidly proceeding with its completion when suddenly the whole mass of gravel, chalk and soil surrounding it gave way and buried ten men who were at work fixing one of the iron rings which are placed in the top of the tunnel to support the brickwork of the shaft.

“It appears the men had penetrated through the chalk into the gravel to place the iron ring, when that loose material rushed in upon and overwhelmed them; all perished, and so sudden was the catastrophe, that some of the unfortunates were not even knocked down but enveloped in the position in which they were standing; one body in particular was found about three weeks afterwards, in removing the loose materials, standing upright, trowel in hand, as employed at the moment of the dreadful occurrence.’

“The writer then refers briefly to “Cashiobury Park” as the residence of the Earl of Essex, the dark woods on the estate of the Earl of Clarendon, and ‘the mansion and estate of Mr Whittinstall called Langley Bury, with its rookery and pleasure grounds.’

“He mentions that at the 20th mile post the farm and outhouses of Mr Reeves and the village of Hunton Bridge present themselves on the left side and the line crosses ‘a duct over a road leading from Rickmansworth to St Albans.’

“Rose Hill House is described as the residence of Captain Foskett and noting that Gallows Hill is sometimes called Mount Pleasant, comments: ‘The two names have such different associations with them that it is difficult to understand why they should have been given to the same place, unless, perhaps, that the latter was intended to be ironical with reference to the meaning of the first.’”