View of the Rotherhithe Tunnel

This view of the Rotherhithe Tunnel (below the River Thames) was published in 1844, one year after the tunnel's completion. It was the first tunnel to be built under a navigable river. Both Marc Isambard Brunel and his son - Isambard Kingdom Brunel - were closely involved in the tunnel's design and construction. Horse-drawn traffic proved impossible to accommodate. The tunnel therefore operated as a pedestrian subway until taken over by the East London Railway in 1869. Today it forms part of London Underground's East London Line.