Thames Tunnel, London John Francis Rigaud carrying a lantern and spear

carrying a lantern and spear

Steam tug moving between barges on the Thames

with two women walking in the foreground

View of Queen Victoria Street and the intersection with Cannon Street

a large basket of asparagus balanced on her head

Thames Tunnel, London John Francis Rigaud carrying a lantern and spearThames Tunnel, London, 1835. The Thames Tunnel, connecting Wapping and Rotherhithe, was the first underwater tunnel in the world. Completed as a foot tunnel in 1843, it was converted to a railway tunnel for the East London Railway in the 1860s. Sir Marc Isambard Brunel designed the tunnel, and his son, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, was site engineer.