Feature: Walk the Rotherhithe Tunnel
Walk the Rotherhithe Tunnel
8.30pm Tuesday 21st June
Meet outside Rotherhithe DLR
Equipment – Cycling Mask
Organised by John Wild
The Rotherhithe Tunnel was built by the London County Council in 1904-08 to link the dockland area of Shadwell and Rotherhithe on both banks of the Thames.
Built by Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice it was constructed partly by tunneling
and partly by the cut and cover method. It is an 8.23 metre diameter,
1481 metres long (excluding the approaches) single bore tunnel. The top
of the tunnel is 14.6 metres below Trinity high water mark to allow for
the passage of large ships. The area around the entrances was cleared
resulting in 3,000 people being rehoused.
The tunnel consists of a single lane of traffic in each direction and
two footways. It was originally designed to carry horse-drawn carriages
and pedestrians but now carries over 34,000 vehicles a year.
As part of Anarchitecture Week 2005 you are invited to take part in a
walk through the tunnel exploring both the physical and psychological
environment as we traverse under the Thames heading from South to North.