Wednesday, 7 April 2010

The Thames Tunnel

The Thames Tunnel is an underwater tunnel, built beneath the River Thames in London, United Kingdom, connecting Rotherhithe and Wapping. It measures 35 feet (11 m) wide by 20 feet (6 m) high and is 1,300 feet (396 m) long, running at a depth of 75 feet (23 m) below the river's surface (measured at high tide). It was the first tunnel known successfully to have been constructed underneath a navigable river, and was built between 1825 and 1843 using Thomas Cochrane and Marc Isambard Brunel's newly invented tunnelling shield technology, by him and his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

The tunnel was originally designed for, but never used by, horse-drawn carriages and was most recently used by trains of the London Underground's East London Line. The East London Line closed on 23 December 2007 to allow extension of the line and conversion of the route to become part of the London Overground network in time for 2010.

kensington exclusive apartment