The Thames Tunnel is a tunnel beneath the River Thames in London, connecting Rotherhithe and Wapping. It measures 35 ft (11 m) wide by 20 ft (6.1 m) high and is 1,300 ft (400 m) long, running at a depth of 75 ft (23 m) below the river surface measured at high tide. It is the first tunnel known to have been constructed successfully underneath a navigable river.[1][a] It was built between 1825 and 1843 by Marc Brunel, and his son, Isambard, using the tunnelling shield newly invented by the elder Brunel and Thomas Cochrane.
The tunnel was originally designed for horse-drawn carriages, but was mainly used by pedestrians and became a tourist attraction. In 1869 it was converted into a railway tunnel for use by the East London line which, since 2010, is part of the London Overground railway network under the ownership of Transport for London.
- ^ "The Thames Tunnel". Brunel Museum. Archived from the original on 9 October 2013. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
- ^ Browne, Malcomn W. (2 December 1990). "Tunnel Drilling, Old as Babylon, Now Becomes Safer". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 25 September 2017. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
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