Greenwich Foot Tunnel

The Greenwich Foot Tunnel crosses beneath the River Thames linking Greenwich on the south bank with Millwall (Island Gardens) on the north.

The Greenwich Foot Tunnel in May 2018
Credit: Wiki Commons/Mlanni98

The Greenwich Foot Tunnel was designed by civil engineer Sir Alexander Binnie for London County Council and constructed by contractor John Cochrane & Company. The project started in June 1899 and the tunnel opened on 4 August 1902. Its creation owed much to the efforts of politician Will Crooks, who had worked in the docks and, after chairing the LCC’s Bridges Committee responsible for the tunnel, later served as Labour MP for Woolwich.

Its purpose was the creation as a way for workers who lived in south London to get to work at the docks on the Isle of Dogs. It still offers 24 hour access to travellers who need to cross the Thames. The cast iron tunnel is 1215 feet long.

Lifts, installed in 1904, were upgraded in 1992 and again in 2012, and helical staircases allow pedestrians to access the sloping tunnel - lined with around 200 000 white tiles.

During the Second World War, the northern end of the tunnel was damaged in bombing. It is now reinforced with a concrete lining and thick steel.

Main source:	Wikipedia
	Further citations and sources

Click here to explore another London street
We now have 666 completed street histories and 46834 partial histories
Find streets or residential blocks within the M25 by clicking STREETS

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY

None so far :(

LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

Tony Whipple Frank Whipple Place, E14 Added: 16 Apr 2024 21:35 GMT	Frank Whipple Place, E14 Frank was my great-uncle, I’d often be ’babysat’ by Peggy while Nan and Dad went to the pub. Peggy was a marvel, so full of life. My Dad and Frank didn’t agree on most politics but everyone in the family is proud of him. A genuinely nice, knowledgable bloke. One of a kind. Reply
Theresa Penney Whites Row, E1 Added: 16 Apr 2024 18:08 GMT	1 Whites Row My 2 x great grandparents and his family lived here according to the 1841 census. They were Dutch Ashkenazi Jews born in Amsterdam at the beginning of the 19th century but all their children were born in Spitalfields. Reply
Wendy The Polygon Added: 22 Mar 2024 15:33 GMT	Polygon Buildings Following the demolition of the Polygon, and prior to the construction of Oakshott Court in 1974, 4 tenement type blocks of flats were built on the site at Clarendon Sq/Phoenix Rd called Polygon Buildings. These were primarily for people working for the Midland Railway and subsequently British Rail. My family lived for 5 years in Block C in the 1950s. It seems that very few photos exist of these buildings. Reply
Steve Charleville Circus, SE26 Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:42 GMT	Road construction and houses completed New Charleville Circus road layout shown on Stanford’s Library Map Of London And Its Suburbs 1879 with access via West Hill only. Plans showing street numbering were recorded in 1888 so we can concluded the houses in Charleville Circus were built by this date. Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London Reply
Steve Charleville Circus, SE26 Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:04 GMT	Charleville Circus, Sydenham: One Place Study (OPS) One Place Study’s (OPS) are a recent innovation to research and record historical facts/events/people focused on a single place �’ building, street, town etc. I have created an open access OPS of Charleville Circus on WikiTree that has over a million members across the globe working on a single family tree for everyone to enjoy, for free, forever. Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London Reply
Charles Hornsey Rise, N19 Added: 8 Mar 2024 20:45 GMT	My House I want to know who lived in my house in the 1860’s. Reply
NH Woodgrange Road, E7 Added: 7 Mar 2024 11:41 GMT	Telephone House Donald Hunter House, formerly Telephone House, was the BT Offices closed in 2000 Reply
Paul Cox Aldine Street, W12 Added: 5 Mar 2024 22:18 GMT	War damage reinstatement plans of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street Whilst clearing my elderly Mothers house of general detritus, I’ve come across original plans (one on acetate) of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street. Might they be of interest or should I just dispose of them? There are 4 copies seemingly from the one single acetate example. Seems a shame to just junk them as the level of detail is exquisite. No worries if of no interest, but thought I’d put it out there. Reply

LOCAL PHOTOS

Click here to see map view of nearby Creative Commons images
Click here to see Creative Commons images near to this postcode

This image of Pluto, released on 23 July 2015, clearly shows the now familiar heart-shaped region nicknamed Tombaugh Regio. The photo is actually a combination of observations from the main camera on New Horizons (called LORRI) and the probe’s visible/infrared imager (known as Ralph) which provided data for the colours in the view. The enhanced colours allow scientists to identify differences in the composition and texture of Pluto’s surface, according to a NASA image description. TUM image id: 1620402347 Licence:	Saturn and its rings, as seen from above the planet by the Cassini spacecraft Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute TUM image id: 1620648753 Licence:	The establishment of a Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London was proposed in 1674 by Sir Jonas Moore who, in his role as Surveyor-General of the Ordnance, persuaded King Charles II to create the observatory, with John Flamsteed installed as its director. Royal Observatory, Greenwich (ROG) played a major role in the history of astronomy and navigation, and because the Prime Meridian passes through it, it gave its name to Greenwich Mean Time, the precursor to today’s Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The ROG has the IAU observatory code of 000, the first in the list. Credit: Kjetil Bjørnsrud TUM image id: 1621597663 Licence:	The Statue of Yuri Gagarin in Greenwich, London, is a zinc statue depicting the cosmonaut wearing a spacesuit and standing on top of a globe. Credit: Anatoly Novikov TUM image id: 1621892426 Licence:	A procession passing the corner of Chapel House Street and Westferry Road (1930s) Credit: Island History Trust / Tony Atkinson TUM image id: 1651500794 Licence: CC BY 2.0
Crooms Hill (1937) TUM image id: 1657290361 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Gloucester Circus (1960s) TUM image id: 1657291606 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Tram in Greenwich Church Street. TUM image id: 1657290753 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Looking up Saunder’s Ness Road from approximately the boundary between Empire Wharf and Storer’s Wharf (1930s) Credit: Isle of Dogs – Past Life, Past Lives TUM image id: 1594561778 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Thermopylae Gate, E14 (2022) Houses in the Chapel House Estate on the Isle of Dogs were designed in a ’Neo-Georgian’ style by Sir Frank Baines. Credit: The Underground Map TUM image id: 1651313864 Licence:
Jubilee Crescent, E14 Credit: The Underground Map TUM image id: 1518378083 Licence:	Arktika-M spacecraft entering high elliptical orbit after a launch of the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with the Fregat upper stage on 28 February 2021. When flight tests are finished, we will have new ability to observe the Arctic region and ocean from space. Photo: Credit: Roscosmos TUM image id: 1620396365 Licence:	The corner of Feathers Place (mid 1900s) Feathers Place is situated to the east of Greenwich town centre in an attractive area north of Greenwich Park. The photo shows where this road intersects with Park Vista. "F.C.Sharp" is long gone. TUM image id: 1657291232 Licence:	NASA’s Curiosity landed on Mars in August 2012. JPL engineers are seen here celebrating the successful landing. Credit: NASA TUM image id: 1620397266 Licence:	Greenwich bath house (1900) This stood near Greenwich station on the later site of the Town Hall. Old London postcard TUM image id: 1657287382 Licence:

In the neighbourhood...

Click an image below for a better view...

A procession passing the corner of Chapel House Street and Westferry Road (1930s)
Credit: Island History Trust / Tony Atkinson
Licence: CC BY 2.0

Crooms Hill (1937)
Licence: CC BY 2.0

Gloucester Circus (1960s)
Licence: CC BY 2.0

Tram in Greenwich Church Street.
Licence: CC BY 2.0

Looking up Saunder’s Ness Road from approximately the boundary between Empire Wharf and Storer’s Wharf (1930s)
Credit: Isle of Dogs – Past Life, Past Lives
Licence: CC BY 2.0

Thermopylae Gate, E14 (2022) Houses in the Chapel House Estate on the Isle of Dogs were designed in a ’Neo-Georgian’ style by Sir Frank Baines.
Credit: The Underground Map
Licence:

Arktika-M spacecraft entering high elliptical orbit after a launch of the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with the Fregat upper stage on 28 February 2021. When flight tests are finished, we will have new ability to observe the Arctic region and ocean from space. Photo:
Credit: Roscosmos
Licence:

NASA’s Curiosity landed on Mars in August 2012. JPL engineers are seen here celebrating the successful landing.
Credit: NASA
Licence:

Greenwich bath house (1900) This stood near Greenwich station on the later site of the Town Hall.
Old London postcard
Licence:

Eric Pemberton/Isle of Dogs Life
Licence:

MAP YEAR:	1750	1800	1810	1820	1830	1860	1900	1950	2024	Show map without markers
	Use the control in the top right of the map above to view this area on another historic map