The Thames Tunnel

this episode of the history Guy brought to you by Magellan TV [Music] in 1800 London was the largest city in the world more than a million people lived within the greater London area it was the center of an Empire that would only become more dominant over the course of the century and so there in the 19th century London was among the first cities to face issues of urban growth that seem all too familiar in today's much more urban 21st century and among those was getting between the banks of the River Thames because those Banks held the docks that received the Bounty of the Empire that came up the river from the channel and if you built a bridge across the river it could interfere with that important trade and so in the early part of the 19th century Engineers began to explore the only other option if you could not go over the River Thames could you go under it is history that deserves to be remembered the Forgotten Thames tunnel is a hidden part of Britain an island with a deep and Rich history and there are more secrets revealed in a great documentary series I've recently been enjoying on Magellan TV called hidden Britain by drone with Tony Robinson where the renowned British broadcaster uses drones to explore parts of Britain not usually available to the public from hidden bunkers to sprawling caves see these secrets for the first time I've talked to you before about Magellan TV a true hidden treasure that is a rising star in the streaming world and the highest rated documentary streaming app on Google Play the reason that Magellan TV is so special is it's all about the drama of real life the lives of ancient pharaohs or critical battles in World Wars one and two are soldiers who fought in the Civil War or the battles for the control of the British crown or the Norman Conquest in my opinion Magellan TV has the largest and best collection of History shows anywhere run by documentary filmmakers Magellan TV really is the best value of all these premium documentary streaming services that are out there today both in price and in quality Magellan TV adds more than 20 hours of new documentaries every single week and history guide viewers get a special offer of a one month free trial just by going to try magellentv.com historyguy start your free trial today and you can watch hidden written by drone with Tony Robinson and don't forget that Magellan TV also offers membership gift cards that allow you to give the gift of TV that is worth watching it's great for the holiday season but for any occasion I think I'll be sending one to my brother for his birthday because he loves history too in 1798 civil engineer Ralph Dodd employed to do a survey of engineering works first suggested a tunnel under the river tine in northern England he suggested several other tunnels before he proposed a tunnel beneath the Thames between Tilbury and Gravesend the military was especially interested in such a tunnel which would allow the transfer of troops and material between Kent and Essex and despite opposition complaining that we are invited down a Steep Ravine to leave the warm precincts of cheerful day to enter regions of utter darkness and cold obstruction an Act was passed to form a tunnel company and the shaft was sunk in 1799. the entire project was a failure from the beginning the engineers in charge argued over the design and despite a stem pump the tunnel was constantly full of water by 1802 operations had assembled to a close in 1805 the Thames Archway company was formed in another tunnel beginning with a driftway that would drain the ground before they built a larger tunnel for traffic at first the project seemed to proceed much better than the last but soft soil and quicksand soon made further digging impossible the directors offered 500 pounds for new plans and 49 were presented to them all were deemed unsuitable and Report determined that an underground tunnel which would be useful to the public and beneficial to adventurers is impracticable as with so many impractical things they would be proven wrong Mark izombarded Brunell arrived in England in 1799 presented the admiralty with a machine that could automate the production of ship blocks the Royal Navy was struggling to produce enough to outfit their Fleet and his invention was quickly successful 45 of the machines were installed at Portsmouth born in rural in 1769 Brunell had left France during the revolution because he supported the monarchy he spent several years in America as the chief engineer of the city of New York and even submitted designs for the U.S Capitol building in Washington though he was a prolific inventor he was often involved in an unprofitable projects and was knocked himself a good money manager in 1817 a friend was aghast at the finances of brunell's factory reporting that it was a most extraordinary jumble which you have certainly not understood I should hardly have been more surprised than I am if one of your saws had walked into town in 1821 he spent 88 days in a debtors prison with his wife his engineering work had already brought him Fame if not fortune and he was contacted by Czar Alexander the first of Russia to build a bridge across the Neva River in Saint Petersburg it was an incredibly challenging engineering project the river's 800 feet wide where the bridge was to be built and froze completely in the winter Brunell first thought a bridge was Impractical and instead seriously considered digging a tunnel but the problems of the tunnel though interesting eventually gave way to the plan of an ambitious Bridge Bridge idea was dismissed by Alexander's ministers but Brunell wasting away in jail decided that work in Russia would be better than his lot in England I must starve or get employment here or go to Russia Brunell wrote the threat of losing a talented engineer to Russia suddenly stirred the English government and no less than the Duke of Wellington asked the Prime Minister what the government was doing to keep Brunel in England the government paid his debts brunel's planning for the Neva Bridge had inspired him to consider tunneling and in 1818 he published a patent specification for forming drifts and tunnels underground along with Lord Cochran the patent described the problems of digging a tunnel for ground traffic but also his thoughts on how to overcome them most important was what he called a great Shield he compared his process to the teredo Nevada or shipworm kind of mollusk that bores the wood by eating it and filling the hole behind with the excrement his Shields would be enclosed on three sides and hold up the excavation while miners worked to dig out the soil in front of them the shield could then be ratcheted forward using hydraulic Rams and could crawl forward having a tunnel behind them we may soon anticipate a speedy and total change in the face of the maps of this great Metropolis he said referring to London the Parish of rotherhithe will soon display a scene of activity that is not to be witnessed anywhere else Bernal had examined the work of the failed Archway company which had identified the soil strata he believed the good blue clay lay in a layer under the river and that the tunnel could be dug between the clay and the quicksand which had ruined the former attempt to dig the tunnel he planned a square shield made up of 12 frames that altogether could excavate a face of 380 square feet the frames would resemble Hollow books each with three cells on top of one another where miners could work at each end would be a shaft 50 feet in diameter where gently sloping stairs would allow entrance to the tunnel vehicle traffic in the form of carts and wagons would be enabled by great descents spiral ramps that would descend to the tunnel level beneath the river Mark's only son is embarked Kingdom Brunel was 16 when he began working with his father we've got a good amount of the engineering preparations in 1823 while the Elder Brunel sought support for the project support abounded nearly everyone was excited about the new communication between the banks of the river a committee was formed in 1824 to Garner subscriptions and within three days the sum pledged to the amount of 179 900 pounds parliament passed a bill for making and maintaining a tunnel under the Thames which granted Royal assent on June 24th 1824. Brunell was made engineered to the company and after surveying work began the project in February 1825. the tunnel was to cross the river less than a mile from the failed Thames Archway and would connect rotherhi on the south bank and whopping on the North the first stage of the project was to sink the enormous shaft that would lead down on the south side of the bank Brunel constructed an iron ring 50 feet in diameter above ground with a sharp edge against the ground a 40-foot tall brick wall was built on top of the Ring workers removed soil from the Ring's Edge which slowly sank into the ground under its own weight like an enormous cookie cutter as with nearly any engineering project problems abounded Brunell insisted on using Roman cement to seal the brickwork but argued endlessly with the treasure over the cost a brick Supply was difficult to obtain and of an initial order of 500 000 bricks only 53 000 were delivered but the shaft continued to sink one writer wrote that the crashing sound produced by the entrance of the iron curb into the gravel being reverberated from the walls of the tower had a striking not to say startling effect the tower was designed to secure the top part of the whole shaft it was in place in June and from there the shaft was manually dug and the walls bricked brunell's great Shield was built nearby and the 12 frames were in place in the shaft by November 21st the 12 frames were moved into place each to hold around 50 tons of Earth and River above them as they slowly tunneled forward the process was for the odd numbered frames to slowly dig forward about four inches placing boards to shore up the walls as they went once done great screw Jacks braced against brickwork behind them shoved the frame forward against the new wall next the even-numbered frames repeated the process and the entire Shield shambled forward like a 12-footed beast behind them brickwork was continually laid working in the gloomy ground with only candles for light and a huge number of workers miners Carpenters bricklayers and Men carrying out the dirt was cramped and difficult twelve thousand bricks were laid for each foot the tunnel Advanced the largely illiterate and untrained miners struggled to take care of the complex shield and parts of it were often damaged at times they could progress as far as 12 feet a week but at others problems kept them to Mere inches construction quickly fell behind and it became clear the tunnel was unlikely to be completed in the estimated three years perhaps most costly for the project were arguments between the court as the board of directors styled themselves and Brunel especially opposed was the chairman William Smith an MP who generally thought Brunell a hack and even believed the shield to be unnecessary burgeoning costs inspired the company to allow visitors into the tunnel which brought in hundreds of onlookers a day to view the work the money was necessary but not enough Brunell made preparations to seal the tunnel as work continued at a crawl brunell's son is embarred was especially vital and in 1826 became the resident engineer essentially in charge of day-to-day operations problems never ceased in May of 1827 miners went on strike protesting cuts to their wages the same month the greatest of their troubles began is embarred was in the tunnel when the Roar of water found out all of the sound the tunnel was 549 feet long not quite halfway to the northern Shore but it had met the bottom of the river the engineers later found that dredging had left a trench in the river which they had run into everyone was able to escape but the tunnel was filled with water and silt using a diving bell is embarked measured the trench in the river and bags of clay chains and more were sunk to seal the breach at one point izombard was able to actually hand objects through the diving belt to the workers on the frame miraculously the situation was salvaged and tunneling allowed to continue in January of 1828 another flood nearly killed is embarred and did Kill six workers izombard had reached the visitors entrance but the door was locked and if a contractor had not been near to break the door down and drag the unconscious man out izombard would have died 4 500 tons of clay and gravel again filled in the hole but the financial situation was Dire Wellington tried to save the project saying there is no work upon which the public interest to foreign Nations had been more excited than it has been upon the tunnel men cannot but see great political military as well as commercial profit that will be derived but even the assistance of Wellington himself couldn't convince the public and after the second flood the company couldn't raise enough money to continue digging the project was from the first in the very first class of desperate hazards a letter to the times argued should it be completed it will always be liable to disruption and the consequence said an annihilation of all within a satirical poem by one James Smith read that very mishap where the Thames forced a gap and made it fit haunt for an otter has proved that your scheme is no catch Penny dream they can't say it will never hold water the frames were sealed behind a wall and the dreams of a tunnel ended for a time but Brunell never gave up on the project pushed aside other engineer suggestions and the board's cost-cutting measures and after nearly seven years Brunel was able to secure the need of money which included a 243 thousand pound loan from the government to address the problems they had already faced Bunnell designed a new Shield which would overlap the brickwork ceiling to prevent it from buckling under the river the old frames each weighing seven tons were removed and the new frames were stronger and included tails to hold up the cavern's roof troubles were not entirely overworth the squatter continued to seep into the tunnel sometimes as fast as 500 gallons a minute is embarred was at that point much in demand elsewhere and unable to help with the project large amounts of gas like hydrogen sulfide and methane made workers sick and occasionally lose Consciousness and explosions became routine as pockets of gas caught fire the tunnel was inundated several more times during the work but the workers were better prepared for it and each time the river broke in the riverbed was covered in more clay and the workers went back to work by inches and feet the tunnel reached the North Shore and then September of 1840 a second cookie cutter was under construction to sink the shaft on the North Bank the shaft was sunk through the ruins of an ancient Shipyard which was simply thrown aside with the mud in the years before archaeological surveys the impressive engineering Marvel which had pushed the boundaries of 19th century technology was finally nearing completion I am truly happy Brunell wrote to be able to say that my arduous Enterprises drawing to a conclusion has been one of inconceivable labors difficulties and dangers in March of 1841 as the tower was being sunk Mark izombarded Brunell was knighted by Queen Victoria by November the tunnel had reached the shaft and the 1200 foot long tunnel was complete took most of another two years to pave whitewash and prepared the tunnel for pedestrians large walkways were built lighting was installed and superstructures built over each entrance in March 1843 the tunnel was opened to pedestrian traffic for a penny a piece fifty thousand people passed through the tunnel in the first 27 hours less than four months later the millionth traveler passed through the Arches it had taken 18 years immense effort cost more than a dozen lives and Bone through nearly every cent given to it but there was at last a walking tunnel beneath the Great River the great descents that would have allowed wheeled vehicles to travel the tunnel were never built indeed the cost had been so great that the board cut corners on properly draining the tunnel and putting in better ventilation it filled with Street vendors by day and By Night the homeless paid a penny to sleep there the penny toll was not enough to pay even the interests on the government loan despite 1.8 million people passing through it in the first year it was never a significant financial success six years after the tunnel was opened Sir Mark izombard Brunell died the age of 80. the tunnel was his last major project his son is embarred is considered one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history far overshadowing his father in vain the tunnel while not financially successful was nonetheless a Marvel an American traveler described it as the eighth wonder of the world and claimed that no one goes to London without visiting the tunnel although others decried it as a haunt for criminals and prostitutes the tunnel was converted into a railway tunnel in the 1860s finally attaining the usefulness that it had originally promised Ironically neither Brunell lived to see the trains run is embarked Kingdom Bernal passed away in 1859 it later became part of the London Underground parts of it has been preserved Parts reinforced and now serves as part of the London overground the former Indian house is now open as the Brunell Museum the influence of the project as the first large tunnel known to be dug using a tunneling Shield is significant and The Institute of civil engineers has designated the tunnel and international historic civil engineering landmark tunneling Shield technology will continue to develop over the following decades in many more sub-aqueous tunnels would be built and in fact it was tunneling Shield technology that allowed the construction of subways in the century that followed and the American Society of civil engineers notes that brunel's original tunnels are still the most watertight part of the London Underground system but perhaps the most impressive part of the entire project was brunel's persistence because without that the project almost certainly never would have been completed I hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guide check out our community on the historyguyguild.locals.com our webpage at thehistoryguy.com and our merchandise at teespring.com or book a special message from the history guy on Cameo and if you'd like more episodes of Forgotten history all you have to do is subscribe [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 123,584

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy, london, brunel, thames tunnel

Id: NXjOYwlTKo4

Length: 17min 55sec (1075 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 04 2022