Stone Culvert Under the Road to Leithen Glen: (by Renton Kerse ) This is quite an impressive structure and would be more than comparable with the best anywhere. There was one also built at Wainakarua (near Oamaru) and both are a credit to the master stonemasons who built them. The one under the road to the Leithen swimming pool at Dusky Forest was built in 1890 by prison labour from Dunedin. The prisoners under guard left Dunedin on Monday mornings and arrived at Kelso railway station by the branch railway goods and passenger train about 12.30 pm. They then marched up to the culvert site and a well known identity told me that the Mothers en route used to order their young daughters inside while these bad men passed by. During the week they were camped at the site in tents and on Saturday mornings marched back to Kelso and caught the afternoon branch train which connected with the northern express at Waipahi. The stone was quarried out of a rock face nearby and carried to the site. Dimensions of the culvert are nine feet high, six feet wide and thirty nine feet in length. On a recent inspection it was classed as being in good order for another five hundred years.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 18:59:35 +0000
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