Beaminster Tunnel opened on 29th June 1832. It is reckoned to be the only pre-railway road tunnel in the country still in use. The tunnel was built to take the road under Horn Hill thus avoiding a 1 in 6 gradient which was particularly difficult for horse-drawn traffic. The tunnel was opened with much ceremony with the day being regarded in Beaminster, according to the Dorset County Chronicle, as something of a holiday. Promoter of the project was local solicitor, Giles Russell who raised £13,000 by public subscription. Celebrations began at 8am with a 21-gun salute fired from a battery on Horn Hill. At 10am a Grand Procession formed which included bands from Beaminster and Bridport, dignitaries from Beaminster and local towns, ‘ladies and gentlemen in around 60 carriages’, 100 visitors on foot followed by a further 200 on horseback. Then followed the many tradesmen who had worked on the project and the labourers who had excavated the tunnel carrying shovels and pick axes. Prominent in...