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The Harecastle railway tunnels are three consecutive tunnels on the North Staffordshire Railway at Kidsgrove, Staffordshire, England. Opened to traffic in 1848, two years after being authorised, the tunnels carried the North Staffordshire Railway line between Kidsgrove and Tunstall. The older Harecastle Canal Tunnels ran so close that vibrations from the trains allegedly affected their integrity. The Middle and South tunnels have been disused since the realignment of the railway in 1965 as their limited size made them unsuitable to install overhead electrification apparatus. In 2013 it was announced that the disused tunnels, which have continued to be maintained, would be sold to a public body.
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Harecastle Tunnel
Harecastle Tunnel is a canal tunnel on the Trent and Mersey Canal in Staffordshire between Kidsgrove and Tunstall. The tunnel, which is 1.6 mi (2.6 km) long, was once one of the longest in the country. Its industrial purpose was for the transport of coal to the kilns in the Staffordshire Potteries. The canal runs under the 195 m (640 ft) Harecastle Hill near Goldenhill, the highest district in Stoke-on-Trent.
Although described singularly as a tunnel, Harecastle is actually two separate but parallel tunnels built almost 50 years apart. The first was constructed by James Brindley in the late 18th century and the second larger tunnel was designed by Thomas Telford, and opened in the late 1820s.
Only the Telford tunnel remains navigable after a partial collapse closed the Brindley tunnel shortly before the First World War. As the Telford tunnel is only wide enough for a single boat, canal traffic is managed by sending alternating northbound and southbound groups of boats through the tunnel. Ventilation is provided by large electric fans at the south portal.
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Chatterley railway station
Chatterley railway station is a former railway station in Staffordshire, England.
Situated in the main North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) between Stoke-on-Trent and Macclesfield a station was opened in 1864 to serve the nearby town of Tunstall and was named Tunstall. In 1873 the NSR opened the Potteries Loop Line which went much closer to Tunstall town centre. A new station called Tunstall was built on the Potteries Loop Line and the existing station renamed Chatterley. For some years the station was referred to in timetables as Chatterley for Tunstall.
The station closed in September 1948 and although the line between Stoke and Macclesfield still exists, the station site is no longer on the route as the line was diverted during the electrification of the West Coast Main Line as the Harecastle railway tunnels were not large enough to accommodate the overhead wires.
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Goldenhill
Goldenhill is an area on the northern edge of Stoke-on-Trent, in the Stoke-on-Trent district, in the ceremonial county of Staffordshire, England. It is centred along the High Street, part of the A50 road that runs from south-east to north-west. It is about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of Tunstall and 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south-east of Kidsgrove.
Its altitude is 700 feet (210 m), the highest point in Stoke-on-Trent.
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Ravenscliffe (ward)
Ravenscliffe is an area of Kidsgrove, Staffordshire, England, lying south of the town centre and west of Sandyford.
The name Ravenscliffe was used for a ward in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, which covered part of Kidsgrove along with the area of Acres Nook; in 2011 the ward had a population of 4007. As of 2023, the area is part of Kidsgrove & Ravenscliffe ward.