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Law Tunnel [S Portal]

Kinghorne Rd, Dundee Law, Dundee City.

Railway tunnel, disused (1829-1861).

Formed part of the (now demolished) Dundee & Newtyle Railway and contains numerous stalactites. Both entrances have been completely infilled and built over, although a covered manhole entrance still exists for the purposes of structural inspection.

The southern entrance was located just west of the upper part of Upper Constitution Street (& south of the younger High Kirk, built 1877-78) where post-1980s buildings are now present. The northern entrance was located at what is now the back garden of a residence at the western end of Keats Place. The northern portal was partially exposed following subsidence in the 1960s, and was temporarily / last exhumed in 1981 for surveying work.

The tunnel was reportedly used as an air raid shelter in the 1940s, and at one point was used for growing mushrooms. Some discussions have been had regarding reopening the site for the purposes of a visitor attraction.

Alternative Names: None recorded.

Notes: Both entrances marked on 1865 6" OS map. Given location is that of the buried southern entrance. Length approximate (measured using Google Maps). The tunnel entrances are located at the margin of the structurally robust dioritic intrusion that forms the hill of Dundee Law (ie avoided the more unstable Old Red Sandstone).

The Dundee and Newtyle Railway opened in 1831 as the first railway in the north of Scotland. It closed to passengers in 1955.

Excerpts from Forgotten Relics website: The north end of the Law tunnel was lost when housing was built on allotments; the southern entrance was bricked up and buried in 1982.

The depot at Dundee is 84 feet above the low-water mark at spring tides in the harbour. The first inclined plane, then, rises from the depot in the Ward to the east side of the Law, 244 feet perpendicular height, along an inclination of 760 yards, at the rate of 1 in 10; then the tunnel is passed through in 400 yards.

The tunnel through the Law was completed in 1829. After penetrating a short distance at both ends of the tunnel, it was unfortunately discovered that the line of it had accidentally been fixed up from below with a soft steatitic rock, in a highly disintegrated state, quite unable to withstand the process of mining. Under these unfavourable circumstances the tunnel had to be lined up on both sides with walls, and arched over with freestone and mortar. Thus, instead of realising the reasonable anticipations of a saving of expense, the formation of the tunnel incurred an extraordinary outlay.

Tunnel route marked on Pastmap.