It's only a tiny patch of land beside the Thames, but the old riverside village of Rotherhithe drips history. You have to hunt for the old stuff carefully these days, surrounded as it is by rather less characterful housing estates, but the ancient heart still beats. The lanes around the old church are narrow and cobbled. Tall converted warehouses block the neighbouring Thames from view. Real ale pints are supped inside a half-timbered quayside pub. But what's that big white cylinder beside the old brick building with the tall chimney? What exactly is the East London line's world famous claim to fame? And why is there an American tourist taking photographs in the churchyard? Here's why.
1620: The Mayflower sets sail
Rotherhithe was the home port of Captain Christopher Jones, master of the Mayflower. His children were baptised in the local church, StMary's, which at the time had something of a reputation for puritanism. Cap'n Chris usually sailed his merchant ship to France, but in 1620 he was hired to carry a group of religious separatists across the Atlantic to the New World. Legend tells that he stopped off for a pint at the Shippe Inn on the Rotherhithe waterfront before climbing aboard from a flight of nearby stone steps. And so the PilgrimFathers set off on their epic voyage. And then they set off again from Southampton harbour. And then they set off again from Plymouth, which is the location most of the history books remember. The ocean crossing took more than three months, with one birth and one death along the way. Captain Chris remained with the settlers during a particularly fierce winter before sailing back to Rotherhithe in the spring with his crew. He died the following year and was buried in St Mary's churchyard, although nobody's quite sure precisely where. And the Shippe Inn still stands, now renamed the Mayflower. If you can fight your way through the charmingly gnarled bar then there might just be room to sit out on the rear jetty above the Thames, sipping a pint or three, looking out over the spot where America's destiny began.
1843: The Thames Tunnel opens It had never been tried before anywhere else in the world, a tunnel underneath a navigable river. But Sir MarcBrunel (Isambard's Dad) believed it was possible and attempted to dig a tunnel between Rotherhithe and Wapping beneath the Thames. First he built two huge cylindrical shafts on the surface, one on each side of the river, then his got his miners to dig down until each structure had sunk beneath the level of the riverbed. Clever man. He also invented the tunnelshield which allowing his miners to edge slowly forward in relative safety. Even so, in 1828 the Thames broke in through a weak spot in the roof of the tunnel, flooding the lower chambers and drowning several of the miners, delaying construction by several years. The tunnel was finally opened to the public in 1843. Fashionable Victorians flocked to promenade through this new underwater marvel, an amazing twin-bore arched corridor lit by flickering gaslight. Two million visited in the first year alone, but the novelty didn't last. Market traders and hawkers gradually moved in until the tunnel had degenerated into a seedy backwater haunted only by pickpockets and prostitutes, surviving only as a curiosity. In 1865 the tunnel was sold to the East London Rail Company who laid tracks and ran services through from the Metropolitan line.
The Brunel Engine House just north of Rotherhithe station is now a small museum telling the story of the tunnel and the people who constructed it. It's only a small exhibition but it's packed with information and artefacts, and £2 feels a fair entrance price. You can read all about the Brunels and their subterranean struggle, peruse displays of tunnel-related ephemera and squint into a cardboard Victorian peepshow to get a feel of how the tunnel must have looked in its heyday. In the lower gallery there's also 20 minute video to watch, although half of the film appears to be a London Underground propaganda piece explaining why ten years ago they felt the need to close the tunnel and spray almost all of the original brickwork with concrete 'for safety reasons'. But at least this gruesome preservation means that the tunnel remains open, and tens of thousands of people still travel through Brunel's first engineering marvel every day. I bet they don't even notice.
Rotherhithe Opened: 1884 Distance from the next station down the line: it's only 320m to Canada Water (a very short walk) Distance from the next station up the line: it's only 500m to Wapping (a very short swim) Crossing the southern end of the platforms:the vehicular entrance to the Rotherhithe Tunnel Platform mural: bold colourful sketches of local landmarks with arty scribbles Exit: stairs, then mini escalators, then ticket barriers Outside the station: tree-lined Brunel Road, a few old dockworkers' cottages, lots of modern non-dockworker's non-cottages Annual passenger throughflow: 1.1 million
The East London line: Rotherhithe
1620: The Mayflower sets sail
It had never been tried before anywhere else in the world, a tunnel underneath a navigable river. But Sir Marc Brunel (Isambard's Dad) believed it was possible and attempted to dig a tunnel between Rotherhithe and Wapping beneath the Thames. First he built two huge cylindrical shafts on the surface, one on each side of the river, then his got his miners to dig down until each structure had sunk beneath the level of the riverbed. Clever man. He also invented the tunnel shield which allowing his miners to edge slowly forward in relative safety. Even so, in 1828 the Thames broke in through a weak spot in the roof of the tunnel, flooding the lower chambers and drowning several of the miners, delaying construction by several years. The tunnel was finally opened to the public in 1843. Fashionable Victorians flocked to promenade through this new underwater marvel, an amazing twin-bore arched corridor lit by flickering gaslight. Two million visited in the first year alone, but the novelty didn't last. Market traders and hawkers gradually moved in until the tunnel had degenerated into a seedy backwater haunted only by pickpockets and prostitutes, surviving only as a curiosity. In 1865 the tunnel was sold to the East London Rail Company who laid tracks and ran services through from the Metropolitan line.
