Rotherhithe Tunnel - Tunnel Approach, Rotherhithe, London, UK
N 51° 29.957 W 000° 03.257
30U E 704453 N 5709464
This arch stands at the approach to the Rotherhithe Tunnel on the south side of the Thames.
Waymark Code: WMDKJB
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/26/2012
Views: 10
The steel arch is built into two granite columns, one on
each side of the road. A plaque, on the left side column, when facing the
tunnel, reads:
"London County Council - Rotherhithe Tunnel. / The cast steel segments / of
which this arch is built / formed / the cutting edge of the shield / by means of
which / the tunnel / south of and under the river / was constructed."
The archway is Grade II listed and the entry, at English
Heritage, reads:
"Archway to tunnel approach. 1908. By Thomas Blashill, architect; Sir Maurice
Fitzmaurice, chief engineer. 2 massive banded granite piers with plinths and
cornice caps abutting flanged and bolted semicircular steel arch, illustrating
the arched bracing of the tunnel itself. Tunnel opened by the Prince of Wales
(later George V) in 1908. Identical to the archway to Rotherhithe Tunnel
approach on Middlesex shore (London Borough of Tower Hamlets)."
Source
English Heritage.
"The Rotherhithe Tunnel is a road tunnel crossing
beneath the River Thames in East London. It connects the Ratcliff district of
Limehouse in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets north of the river to
Rotherhithe in the London Borough of Southwark south of the river. It is
designated as the A101. It was formally opened in 1908 by George Prince of
Wales.
The work took place between 1904 and 1908, executed by the resident engineer
Edward H. Tabor and the contractors Price and Reeves at a cost of about £1
million.
The Rotherhithe Tunnel consists of a single bore, 4,860 feet (1,481 m) long,
carrying a two-lane carriageway 48 feet (14.5 m) below the high-water level of
the Thames, with a maximum depth of 75 feet (23 m) below the surface."
Source A Sense of
Place website.