At the recent AIA Conference most delegates who stopped to look at the Greenwich Industrial History stand said that they were only aware of the Cutty Sark ship in relation to Greenwich IA. Of course there is a vast amount more – but how many of them realised that only a few yards away from Cutty Sark is an unusual means of walking across the river – the Greenwich Foot Tunnel. This has recently been the subject of a major renovation programme – which has uncovered a great deal of information about the tunnel and its construction.
As far as we are aware the Greenwich Foot Tunnel – and its sister at Woolwich – is one of only three or four sub-river pedestrian tunnels. It was opened in 1902 having been designed by Sir Alexander Binnie for the London County Council. It was built in order to allow access for south London residents to jobs in the Docks and also to provide allow east and south east Londoners to cross the river for free – likewest Londoners who cross on untolled bridges.
Construction began with the sinking of a shaft on the north bank of the River and advanced under the river with special measures taken to prevent compression sickness among the workforce.Recently Greenwich Industrial History Society has seen a presentation by geologist Dr. Jackie Skipper, who drew our attention to the complexities of the river bed which faced the engineers.
The tunnel is formed of32mmiron plates bolted together, lined with concrete and white glazed ceramic tiles. It is accessed by lift and by spiral staircases descending in shafts – 88 steps on the north side and 100 at Greenwich. The stairs are of wrought iron with brittle non-polishing cast iron tread plates. The shafts are accessed via a brick entrance rotunda capped with a listed glass dome. The walls of the rotundae are built over the outer edge of caissons which hold the shafts; the lift and stair structures hang from the caisson, and do not bear structurally on the horizontal surface at the base of the shafts. A thick vertical stanchion stands in front of the lift doors and this runs the whole depth of the shaft and tie the stairs and lifts together.
Hundreds of people have daily used the tunnel to cross the river - and pedestrians have now been joined by many cyclists, for whom it is the major crossing point between Tower Bridge and the Woolwich Free Ferry. During the Second World War it was bombed but a strengthened section near the north end attests to the damage and emergency repair work. There is also shrapnel damage left unrepaired in the brickwork of the south rotunda.
The tunnel is now over a hundred years old and feeling its age. In 2008 it was agreed that it needed to be, at least, refurbished. Work began in 2009 but it soon became clear that the project was running very late and was in trouble. As 2012 neared , when the tunnel would be needed as a river crossing during the Olympics, public disquiet grew. At this point FOGWOFT was launched – Friends of Greenwich and Woolwich Foot Tunnels .
In 2002 with works still in a complete mess the Royal Borough of Greenwich set up an inquiry into the refurbishment scheme. FOGWOFT officers attended meetings where the tunnel was discussed and made representations. The eventual consultant’s report to the Council commented that while work on the tunnel was a small job for the construction industry it was nevertheless unique and complex in a way that had not really been appreciated.
FOGWOFT has worked closely with Council officers and reported on work as it has been completed. Officers have had several interesting visits to see the problems faced by the construction team – they can hardly be called tours of the works, since the area involved is small and cramped. As work progressed problems with century old structures were uncovered as well as problems of drainage and with the formation of miniature stalagmites as condensation drips onto the floor. The clear wired glass on the domes had the dirt of many decades on it and people assumed the murky look was traditional. English Heritage agreed that the new laminated glass would have a feint white smoke tint to reproduce that unwashed look! FOGWOFT helped with a public consultation as to whether the tunnel should be re-tiled or whether the traditional tile work should be cleaned but remain, however scarred.
The original mahogany lift interiors have been re-installed in new state-of-the-art lifts – but there have been problems of constant lift breakdowns. The ventilation system allows hot air from the tunnel to be vented through louvres in the cupolae but solar heat builds up under the listed glass domes. The electronic lift controls cut out at temperatures above 43deg.C. – the highest recorded temperature in the domes has been 56deg.C. Initially it became a struggle to keep the new equipment cool; temporary air conditioned boxes were built round the control cabinets and industrial fans used. Even so they could not cope and now permanent cool boxes have been installed as well as back up air conditioning units and fans put on new steel gantries below the cupola. Since then the lifts have been more reliable – and it has been a lesson in how advances in technology can produce systems more vulnerable to environmental change than old mechanical systems.
As the tunnels have returned to normal use FOGWOFT has been asked by Greenwich Council for help with a new system to control some cyclists. The by-laws – dating from 1902 – rule that there shall be no cycling in the tunnel, but this is ignored by many cyclists, and in particular a lycra-clad minority who hurtle through the tunnel to the danger of pedestrians. We are waiting for news of funding for a pilot scheme which will be able to monitor – and hopefully regulate – movement in the tunnel. It is thought that if this is successful that it could be used elsewhere –canal towpaths would be one obvious use.
This article has been about the Greenwich Foot Tunnel – but much the same processes have been going on in regard to the other tunnel in Woolwich although it is much less heavily used and many people prefer to use the Free Ferry . Both tunnels continue to do the job they were built for a century ago, and do it efficiently, however modernising them, while maintaining their traditional features has been more problematic than anyone thought – and provided some valuable lessons.
GIHS is particularly interested to know more about an earlier Woolwich foot tunnel. The entire sum of what we know about it can be found at http://greenwichindustrialhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/a-tunnel-under-thames-at-woolwich.html
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