Pedestrian usage Thames Tunnel

entrance shaft thames tunnel

amongst blocks of buildings [in wapping] separate street river, notice octagonal edifice of marble. enter 1 of several great doors, , find ourselves in rotunda of fifty feet diameter, , floor laid in mosaic work of blue , white marble. walls stuccoed, around stands sale of papers, pamphlets, books, confectioners, beer, &c. sort of watch-house stands on side of rotunda next river, in fat publican, or tax gatherer. before him brass turnstile, through permitted pass, on paying him penny, and, entering door, begin descend shaft, flight of long marble steps descend wide platform, next series of steps descends in opposite direction. walls of shaft circular, finished in stucco, , hung paintings , other curious objects. halt few moments on first platform , listen notes of huge organ occupies part of it, discoursing excellent music.

you resume downward journey till reach next story, or marble platform, find other objects of curiosity engage attention whilst stop rest. , go down – down – bottom of shaft eighty feet; walls meanwhile, being studded pictures, statues, or figures in plaster, &c. arrived @ bottom, find in rotunda corresponding entered street, round room, marble floor, fifty feet in diameter. there alcoves near walls in sorts of contrivances money, egyptian necromancers , fortune-tellers dancing monkeys. room lighted gas, , brilliant.

now thames tunnel before you. consists of 2 beautiful arches, extending opposite side of river. these arches contain each roadsted, fourteen feet wide , twenty-two feet high, , pathways pedestrians, 3 feet wide. tunnel appears ventilated, air seemed neither damp nor close. partition between these arches, running whole length of tunnel, cut transverse arches, leading through 1 roadsted other. there may fifty of them in all, , these finished fancy , toy shops in richest manner – polished marble counters, tapestry linings gilded shelves, , mirrors make appear double. ladies, in fashionable dresses , smiling faces, wait within , allow no gentleman pass without giving him opportunity purchase pretty thing carry home remembrancer of thames tunnel. arches lighted gas burners, make bright sun; , avenues crowded moving throng of men, women , children, examining structure of tunnel, or inspecting fancy wares, toys, &c., displayed arch-looking girls of these arches ... impossible pass through without purchasing curiosity. of articles labelled – bought in thames tunnel – present thames tunnel .

drew perhaps charitable in view of tunnel, came regarded haunt of prostitutes , tunnel thieves lurked under arches , mugged passers-by. american writer nathaniel hawthorne, writing in 1855, took more negative view of tunnel when visited few years after drew:

it consisted of arched corridor of apparently interminable length, gloomily lighted jets of gas @ regular intervals ... there people spend lives there, seldom or never, presume, seeing daylight, except perhaps little in morning. along extent of corridor, in little alcoves, there stalls of shops, kept principally women, who, approach, seen through dusk offering sale ... multifarious trumpery ... far present use concerned, tunnel entire failure.