Greenwich Foot Tunnel, London
Nice easy explore (well, it is open to the Public 24 hours a day & 365 days a year!)
Below is a bit of info I managed to "dig-up" (pardon the pun)
The foot tunnel was originally built to enable people who lived south of the River Thames to get to work on the Isle of Dogs on the north side. It was designed by Sir Alexander Binnie, and was opened in August, 1902.
The tunnel is about 1,200 feet long, but suprisingly, is only 50 feet below ground level. To get to the lowest point, you walk down a gentle slope, where it levels off for one hundred feet or so, before sloping upwards, towards the lift and stairwell at the opposite end. Almost the entire length of the tunnel walls (as well as the spiral staircase at each end), are finished with white glazed brickwork -approximately 200,000 of them! Looking up at the roof of the tunnel, a partially intact cast iron gutter still exists, with intermediate drainage holes. I'm guessing this was to channel any "leaks" from above!
There is also a passenger lift at each end, and the original ones were only replaced in 1992.
A similar foot tunnel was built in 1912 in Woolwich.
Strangely, just a short distance down the tunnel from the north side of the Thames, the construction of the tunnel changes -from glazed brickwork to exposed iron rings
I can only imagine that perhaps this section of tunnel needed to be re-inforced at some stage (with these rings being placed inside of the original tunnel's width, making this section of tunnel narrower. Looking at these rings, they look identical to the type used in the London Underground.
Each stair / lift shaft is capped with a lovely rotunda, finished in terracotta and a glass domed roof.
Pics to follow shortly..........
Nice easy explore (well, it is open to the Public 24 hours a day & 365 days a year!)
Below is a bit of info I managed to "dig-up" (pardon the pun)
The foot tunnel was originally built to enable people who lived south of the River Thames to get to work on the Isle of Dogs on the north side. It was designed by Sir Alexander Binnie, and was opened in August, 1902.
The tunnel is about 1,200 feet long, but suprisingly, is only 50 feet below ground level. To get to the lowest point, you walk down a gentle slope, where it levels off for one hundred feet or so, before sloping upwards, towards the lift and stairwell at the opposite end. Almost the entire length of the tunnel walls (as well as the spiral staircase at each end), are finished with white glazed brickwork -approximately 200,000 of them!
Looking up at the roof of the tunnel, a partially intact cast iron gutter still exists, with intermediate drainage holes. I'm guessing this was to channel any "leaks" from above! There is also a passenger lift at each end, and the original ones were only replaced in 1992.
A similar foot tunnel was built in 1912 in Woolwich.
Strangely, just a short distance down the tunnel from the north side of the Thames, the construction of the tunnel changes -from glazed brickwork to exposed iron rings
I can only imagine that perhaps this section of tunnel needed to be re-inforced at some stage (with these rings being placed inside of the original tunnel's width, making this section of tunnel narrower. Looking at these rings, they look identical to the type used in the London Underground.
Each stair / lift shaft is capped with a lovely rotunda, finished in terracotta and a glass domed roof.
Pics to follow shortly..........
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