Milford Tunnel

Milford Tunnel is a double-track railway tunnel on the Midland Main Line in Derbyshire which runs under a hill called the Chevin between Duffield and Belper. It was built in 1840 by the Stephensons for the North Midland Railway. At 856 yards (783 m) long, Milford Tunnel was the second-longest tunnel on the North Midland Railway when it was built.^[1]

The west side of the Derwent valley has a number of gritstone outcrops, one being Burley Hill to the south of Duffield, another being Castle Hill in Duffield itself. The valley here however was too narrow, and already occupied by the village of Milford from which the tunnel gets its name, and one of Jedediah Strutt's cotton mills. The name Chevin has Celtic origins, but the hill is often called Firestone Hill, for the spot on which the beacon fires were lighted to rouse the country when peril of invasion or other dangers were imminent.