Reigate Tunnel

The tunnel was designed by William Constable, the surveyor for the Reigate Turnpike Trust.^[7][8] It is 51 m (56 yd) long^[9][10] and runs through the Folkestone Beds beneath Reigate Castle. It provides a direct link between the High Street (to the south) and London Road (to the north), reducing the distance between the two by 0.25 mi (0.4 km).^[8]

Construction began in 1823 and required the demolition of two shops on the north side of the High Street.^[8] The two portals were built with bricks made from the local Gault clay and the tunnel is lined with red brick in a stretcher bond.^[7] The work was funded by John Cocks, 1st Earl Somers, through whose land it ran, and was completed in the summer of 1824. A toll post was erected at the southern entrance and tolls were levied for horses and horse-drawn vehicles. Pedestrians were not charged for using the tunnel.^[8]

The tolls were removed in 1858.^[8] In 1954, the tunnel was closed to southbound motor traffic^[11] and was fully pedestrianised in April 1970.^[2] It was Grade II listed on 27 January 1989.^[7] A plaque above the southern entrance gives the year of construction as 1823.^[12]