Brunel Engine House Rotherhithe Greater London hotels:

A roofless ruin until 1975, the Engine House has been rescued and registered as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. It is now an International Landmark Site and an independent museum illustrating the story of the Thames Tunnel which today carries the East London Line from Rotherhithe under the Thames to Wapping on the North Bank. The Museum is managed by the Brunel Exhibition Rotherhithe, registered educational charity no 1003287. The Engine House is a striking piece of 19th Century architecture. It is a listed red brick building, elegant but simple. It was designed by Sir Marc Brunel to contain the steam engines which drained the celebrated Thames Tunnel. The high chimney has been restored by the Trust. The Shaft: Adjoining the Engine House is the original brick shaft. This was the first part of the project and was itself one of the most innovative aspects of the project. The shaft was built on the land surface course by course while the miners undermined the foundations. This allowed the brick lining to gradually sink into the ground. The Shaft was the first part of the great work and the first project of the great career of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The Tunnel: The tunnel was built between 1825 and 1843, and was a triumph of ingenuity and perseverance in the face of floods, financial losses, and human disaster. It was opened as a pedestrian route in 1843, but was sold to a railway company in 1865. It is still used by the London Underground today, and passengers travelling to Rotherhithe Station on the East London Line will have the pleasure of passing through this historic piece of engineering.The Shield: Digging under a river in soft sediments was an impossible task. But Marc Brunel solved the problem with the invention of the tunneling shield - a solution that has formed the basis of modern tunnelling right down to the present day.