March the 25th, 1843.
The day London did something that had never been done before.
It went under the Thames.
Now…
If you want to understand that story properly – how it was done, why it mattered, and why it changed cities forever – you want someone who really knows their Brunel.
Enter Robert Hulse.
Robert is one of the great authorities on Brunel.
Former curator of the Brunel Museum.
Author of The Brunels’ Tunnel.
And – crucially for our purposes – a man who knows this stretch of the river, this story, this ground… inside out.
He’s also primus inter pares – first amongst equals – of the crack team of guides who front our Thames Sightseeing, Brunel’s River Cruise walk – the one that runs three times a week, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Not just a good walk… a perfect walk, as a certain well-known actor memorably put it.
It’s a splendid outing.
A boat ride from central London downriver to the Isle of Dogs.
The slipways where the Great Eastern was built and launched.
Then through the tunnel itself to Rotherhithe.
And if you’re doing it properly, you finish up at the Mayflower — that wonderfully atmospheric old riverside pub, with its Pilgrim Fathers associations — and quite often, lunch with Robert.
But for now…
We’ve got the next best thing.
Robert Hulse on the anniversary, regaling us with no end of quite remarkable tales about the tunnel that changed everything. Here’s Robert.
[Robert’s piece follows]
Robert Hulse there – on the Thames Tunnel.
The tunnel that made the modern city possible.
“And tomorrow…
We move forward 130 years.
March the 26th, 1973.
The London Stock Exchange.
And for the first time in its history… women were admitted.
Not ancient history.
Not Victorian London.
Living memory.
Who were the first women to walk onto that trading floor?
What kind of welcome did they get?
And what did it take simply to be there?
That’s tomorrow’s story.
Cue our valediction.
London calling. London Walks connecting.
This is London. This is London Walks. Streets Ahead.
And here’s to no end of great Londoning.
See you tomorrow.