MEM24559 - Post-medieval tunnel northwest of Ashley Combe (Building)

A tunnel carries one drive under a narrow path in Yearnor Wood. It has two towers, one built into the parapet and the other into the retaining wall, and provides a vantage point across the two drives MEM24556 and MEM24557. It possibly dates to the 1840s.

A tunnel lies some 6 metres to the west of another tunnel (MEM24558) at SS 85698 48273 and is an elaborate structure with two towers, one built into the parapet, the other built into the top of the high retaining wall. The towers have openings which take a narrow path across the top of the tunnel to Drive 4 (MEM24557) and also provide vantage points down onto Drives 3 (MEM24556) and 4. The tunnel is 2 metres long, 2.5 metres wide and 2.5 metres high with a brick arch. The 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map [1] shows most but not all of the 19th Century drives and paths between Ashley Combe and Culbone; the tunnels are also depicted on the map. Documentary evidence suggests that the drives were laid out in the 1840s and perhaps largely completed by the early 1850s, when Lord King travelled abroad following his wife’s death in 1852. [2] The tunnel is mentioned in the 2019 Conservation Area Appraisal for Porlock Weir. [3]