The Tunnel House Pub at Coates has recently closed - much to the sadness of Cirencester folk who used it, writes Robert Heaven.
The pub was built originally in the 1780s for the navvies working on the two mile long Sapperton tunnel on The Thames & Severn Canal.
There was a huge loss of life during digging of the tunnel in 1788-90.
The inn provided lodgings for the navvies and occasionally the Tunnel House was used as a makeshift mortuary.
When the canal was operational the tunnel had to be negotiated by ‘legging’, a slow laborious and physically demanding process, which necessitated the consumption of several pints beer by the ‘leggers’ as means of compensation for the arduous task.
The Tunnel House was badly damaged by fire on January 17, 1952.
The ‘Standard’ reported on Saturday 26, 1952: A second outbreak of fire at Tunnel House Inn early last Friday morning approximately 24 hours after firemen had been first called to the scene, completely destroyed the building, leaving only the bare walls standing.
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