Underground Wharf
About 880 yards (800 m) from the tunnel's Western Portal there is an underground wharf about 60 yards (55 m) long with the tunnel here widened to about 16 feet (4.9 m). One of the horizontal tunnels departing from the tunnel at this point used to run to the Butterley Company's Butterley Carr Pit which opened in 1812 and loaded its coal directly into narrow boats at the underground wharf. There were also vertical shafts from the wharf which allowed goods in tram boxes to be lowered directly from and lifted up to the Butterley Company's works (on the hill above the tunnel) to and from the underground wharf. These tram boxes were used by Benjamin Outram on the Little Eaton Tramway. The box could be lifted from the tram chassis and loaded directly into narrow boats or barges on the Derby Canal. Similar designs were used in other undertakings in which Benjamin Outram had an interest. Initially the boxes were lowered with the aid of a large water bucket descending or ascending a parallel shaft to act as a counterbalance. This system was later replaced by a steam engine winding the boxes up and down the shafts. Reputable sources cited here consider the presence and mode of use of this underground wharf to be if not unique, extremely rare within the United Kingdom.
In the mid 1980s, demolition of the Butterley Company's old foundry buildings exposed the original blast furnace, dating to 1790. In front of the furnace is at least one vertical shaft, now capped off, which leads down to a short tunnel which connects with the canal tunnel close to the wharf area. Additionally, a number of deep drains below these buildings probably link to the canal tunnel. The site is now occupied by Butterley Engineering, one of the successors to the Butterley Company, and noted for its involvement in the construction of the Falkirk Wheel.
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