Milford Tunnel

In this case the northern portal is a Saxon-inspired arch, surrounded by seven huge concentric semi-circular rings of stone.

Both portals are grade II listed, being part of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site.

[3][4] The Milford Contract for building the tunnel was let by the North Midland Railway in about October 1837 and completed by June 1840, in time for the opening of the line.

The winning contractor was David McIntosh who tendered £93,122 (equivalent to £10,688,000 in 2023) Historic England has suggested that the architect Francis Thompson may have been involved with the design of the tunnel portal, which received more special aesthetic treatment because it faced land owned by the Strutt family, who were in negotiations by the railway, and it could be readily appreciated by standing on an adjacent road bridge.

In effect an early experiment with a form of block working, instead of the time interval system commonly used.