An "eerie" forgotten world that was closed over 60 years ago and runs beneath a Greater Manchester estate has been likened to a 'portal to a lost world'.

Running between Grotton and Grasscroft in Saddleworth , Lydgate Tunnel opened in July 1856 as part of the Delph Donkey, a line of the London and North Western Railway (LNWR). The tunnel is 1,332 yards long and runs beneath Lydgate, with housing estates on either side.

The grand opening of the tunnel was reported in the West Yorkshire Advertiser in July 1856. Describing the tunnel, the journalist wrote: "It appeared to be most firmly built, as there was scarcely any vibration when the long train passed through it."

The construction of the tunnel didn't come without a cost. A year earlier, 31-year-old labourer, Luke Crossby, working on

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