The Tar Tunnel is one of the ten Ironbridge Gorge Museums. You can step inside
the Tar Tunnel and discover where miners digging in 1787 struck a spring
of natural bitumen which has oozed out of the walls for over 200 years.
The Tar tunnel is another remarkable and interesting feature of the
Ironbridge Gorge. Located along the banks of the River Severn in the
Village of Coalport, the tunnel starts near the foot of the Hay Inclined
Plane and runs under the hill for at least 1000 yards. The Tar tunnel
was dug from the hillside in 1787 - probably in connection with the
nearby coal workings. The miners struck a gushing underground spring of
thick, treacle-like natural bitumen that was one of the great
curiosities of the eighteenth century and still oozes from the walls
today. It was used to treat ropes and for caulking ships however small
amounts of the bitumen was processed, bottled and packaged as 'Betton's
British Oil'. It was sold as a remedy for 'rheumatic and scorbutic
affections
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