Strange symbols carved in Foulridge tunnel portal

[noddyboater]

Can anyone shed some light on the carvings in the stonework of the western portal of Foulridge tunnel? 

They look like random patterns at first glance but the longer you look the more you see.

[jonesthenuke]

A collection of Mason's marks perhaps?

 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

It is an ancient northern pictographic language. They are spells calling down curses on any soft southern boater daring to traverse the tunnel.

😀

Edited August 4, 2022 by Jen-in-Wellies

[Ogwr]

Obviously an early version of blue signs, I can detect one about No Fishing in the Tunnel and one about keeping dogs on the lead.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

2 minutes ago, Ogwr said:

Obviously an early version of blue signs, I can detect one about No Fishing in the Tunnel and one about keeping dogs on the lead.

The one with the freshest chisel marks will be saying that cows are banned from swimming in the tunnel. Carved after this incident.

[Chris Lowe]

Shouldn't shout about such secret marks or there'll be a Dan Brown novel coming out.

[noddyboater]

50 minutes ago, Ogwr said:

Obviously an early version of blue signs, I can detect one about No Fishing in the Tunnel and one about keeping dogs on the lead.

I'll help you all out with the one of them I deciphered..

" Beware the two crap pubs that will be shut at 9pm, seek out the excellent social club with it's 3 real ales at £2.75 a pint" 

[Tracy D'arth]

Egyptology influence?

[Bee]

Its a portal to another world, press all the right bits and you will enter a world where Trump flipped burgers, Johnson was a bus driver, Truss was a schoolteacher and Putin worked in a tractor factory. Oh, and I was prime minister and everything was lovely

[Pluto]

A slightly different style can be found on those at Gannow. Stonework was under the supervision of Samuel and James Fletcher, who became the canal's engineers when Robert Whitworth died in 1799. The Fletchers seem to have been stone masons from Bradford, and may have worked on the earliest sections of the canal. They settled in Gannow, building two houses close to the western end of the tunnel, which served as their base whilst construction of the canal continued through Lancashire. They seem to have been strong church people, and there is a memorial to Mary, wife of Samuel, in Burnley Parish Church. The houses at Gannow were sold/given to the Church of England when a new church was built at Gannow. I have always thought that the designs on the tunnel portals were probably stone masons showing off their skill.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

When the stones are cut by hand, I'm guessing it takes a similar time to carve a pattern on one face than it takes to square off and smooth that face. The carving distracts the eye from the roughness of the rest of that face.

Edited August 4, 2022 by Jen-in-Wellies

[noddyboater]

1 hour ago, Pluto said:

A slightly different style can be found on those at Gannow. Stonework was under the supervision of Samuel and James Fletcher, who became the canal's engineers when Robert Whitworth died in 1799. The Fletchers seem to have been stone masons from Bradford, and may have worked on the earliest sections of the canal. They settled in Gannow, building two houses close to the western end of the tunnel, which served as their base whilst construction of the canal continued through Lancashire. They seem to have been strong church people, and there is a memorial to Mary, wife of Samuel, in Burnley Parish Church. The houses at Gannow were sold/given to the Church of England when a new church was built at Gannow. I have always thought that the designs on the tunnel portals were probably stone masons showing off their skill.

Thanks for that,  Gannow is definitely a simplified version of the patterns. 

While we're on the subject.. Foulridge was built mainly I read as a "cut and cover" tunnel,  wouldn't it have been cheaper to leave it as a steeply sided cutting,  or would the land access above have influenced the final outcome? 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

1 hour ago, Pluto said:

A slightly different style can be found on those at Gannow. Stonework was under the supervision of Samuel and James Fletcher, who became the canal's engineers when Robert Whitworth died in 1799. The Fletchers seem to have been stone masons from Bradford, and may have worked on the earliest sections of the canal. They settled in Gannow, building two houses close to the western end of the tunnel, which served as their base whilst construction of the canal continued through Lancashire. They seem to have been strong church people, and there is a memorial to Mary, wife of Samuel, in Burnley Parish Church. The houses at Gannow were sold/given to the Church of England when a new church was built at Gannow. I have always thought that the designs on the tunnel portals were probably stone masons showing off their skill.

I would reckon that these markings above are the signatures of masons, which were quick to carve. 
They're marked with single (wobbly/curved) lines, or a line and two dots, or whatever. 


The other tunnel patterns are more complex, and more deliberate attempts at fancy work. 

A simple pattern for breaking the surface was punching rows and columns of dots/holes. You can see some low down and on the arch.

Then above, the rows of holes are sometimes linked or made into a star like shapes, or whatever. 
And then the masons go all out further up. 
 

I like them all. 

 

[Jerra]

3 hours ago, Bee said:

Its a portal to another world, press all the right bits and you will enter a world where Trump flipped burgers, Johnson was a bus driver, Truss was a schoolteacher and Putin worked in a tractor factory. Oh, and I was prime minister and everything was lovely

That would come under the category of cruel and unusual punishment for the kids.

[Pluto]

2 hours ago, Goliath said:

I would reckon that these markings above are the signatures of masons, which were quick to carve. 
They're marked with single (wobbly/curved) lines, or a line and two dots, or whatever. 
 

I like them all. 

 

The photo below shows masons marks on Barrowford Locks, so close to Foulridge. Such marks are very simple and quick to make, and are purely to identify who dressed specific pieces of stone. The markings around the tunnel mouths are the dressing, with the style varying from mason to mason, or perhaps contractor to contractor. It is possible to confirm who built a particular bridge on some sections of the L&LC purely from the style of stone dressing. There were two contractors building bridges between Church and Rishton, and each had a specific way of dressing the stone. There are also variations over time in the dressing of lock chamber stonework, so you can often date where new stonework has been fitted, as well as more recent dressing where the walls have bulged and the stone has been cut back to keep sufficient clearance for boats.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Yes, I’ve seen plenty of those in locks. 
But to clarify what you said: the markings in the photo of Garnow Tunnel you posted are not mason marks (dug deep and large for effect) but simply pattern. 
 

 

[Heartland]

My opinion too when viewing them in the past was "pattern"

 

But what of the story of the cow in Foulridge Tunnel may be Pluto can elaborate

 

[Pluto]

Before the 1WW, a cow swam through the tunnel and was revived by whisky from the now-demolished pub in Foulridge. When living on my boat at Preston Brook, we had the same thing happen. Once a cow starts swimming there is little you can do to stop it. At Dutton, the cow had to be rolled out of the canal with the help of the fire brigade - farmers can't afford whisky today.

[Jubbly]

A more recent "Mason's mark" below bottom gates on the Wilmcote flight. By a mason from the Winson Green/Maidstone prisoners' working party.