Brunel Museum

The Mural on the side of the Grand Entrance Hall.

The Brunel Museum is located within the Brunel Engine House building, Rotherhithe. This small but very informative museum allows you to descend into the Rotherhithe Thames Tunnel Shaft and visit the Engine House, where you will learn exactly what went in to building the world's first tunnel beneath a navigational waterway.

Marc Isambard Brunel designed Engine House as part of the Thames Tunnel project. Steam-powered pumps, used to extract water from the tunnel, were originally housed here, although it was used as a boiler house, between 1825-43. 

A Priming Pump from 1929.

In 1961 the Brunel Engine House opened and offered visitors the chance to see the interior of the building, as well as the Rennie flat V steam engine.

In 1974 the Engine House and Chimney were Grade II Listed. 

Between 1975-79 restoration work to stop structural decay was undertaken and completed.

The Chimney and Engine House.

In 2006 the Brunel Engine House changed its name to the Brunel Museum allowing the museum to incorporate other projects by the Brunel's. A new mural was created on the side of the Tunnel Shaft and benches were created in the style of Brunel bridges, in the garden area.

The Royal Albert Bridge, Saltash, as a bench at the museum.

Refurbishments, in 2007, included the moving of the Rennie flat V steam engine to the Chatham Historic Dockyard, thus creating a larger exhibition space and improved toilet facilities, within the Engine House. 

Memorabilia for the Thames Tunnel.

Walking with friends: Borough Market to the Isle of Dogs... and beyond

With Covid-19 and the various lockdowns putting a pause on my walks with friends, around The Unfinished City, it is great to be able to start them up again.

Saturday April 2, 2022

After a breakfast of Pulled Pork Burger with apple sauce and sage & onion stuffing, from Hobbs in Borough Market, my friend Stephen and I began our first walk of 2022.

Borough Market is a food lovers paradise.

Heading towards the River Thames we made our way through the Contorted Tunnel, which Stephen had never seen, to the basement of Hay's Galleria. Climbing the stairs we headed out on to the embankment, by HMS Belfast, and followed the path to Tower Bridge. 

Tower Bridge and the Girl with a Dolphin.

Taking the eastern pedestrian path, across the bridge, we headed to St Katharine Docks Marina, where various yachts, barges, lifeboats and the Queen's Rowbarge 'Gloriana' were moored. As we rounded one of the buildings I pointed out Stanley Kubrick's original 'Monolith' from 2001: A Space Odyssey, which had been affixed to the wall of one of the buildings, back in 1977.

'Monolith' by Arthur Fleischmann.

From here we headed eastward towards Hermitage Basin and the Ornamental Canal, through Wapping Woods and on to Shadwell Basin. A small area of the basin was being used by Wapping Docklands Market, so we had a look around the different food stalls before heading in to the historic The Prospect of Whitby, for a well-deserved drink.

Our first drink in London together for a number of years.

'SS Great Eastern' Launch Ramp, Isle of Dogs

 

Steam Ship Great Eastern launching chains

Saturday, April 2, 2022

It had long been one of my ideas to walk along the Thames Path around the Isle of Dogs, to take in the historic aspects of the area.

And so, having left Borough Market and crossed the River Thames via Tower Bridge, I made my way through St Katharine Docks to Wapping and on to Limehouse, before finally making it to the Isle of Dogs.

Much of the area around West India Docks, which became disused in the 1980s, were redeveloped between the late 1980s and the 1990s, and became the second financial district for London, commonly known as Canary Wharf.

Continuing on my walk I finally reached one of the most historic places on the Isle of Dogs... Napier Yard and the launch ramp of the SS Great Eastern.

SS Great Eastern launch ramp.

This was the exact spot from where, on January 31, 1858, following thirteen unsuccessful attempts, the SS Great Eastern was launched sideways into the River Thames. 

A model of the SS Great Eastern, in the Museum of London Docklands.

She was the largest ship ever built, at the time, and was the brainchild of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Timbers and the dock wall leading to the River Thames.

The slipway had been lost to the ravages of time, but was finally rediscovered in 1984 when redevelopments took place in the area. As the timbers were uncovered they were sprayed with water before they could be injected with a preservative.

Preserved for Posterity.

The reason for the thirteen unsuccessful attempts stems from the fact that two slipways were required, rather than the usual one. Both slipways had to be at an identical height to carry the weight of the 12,000 tonne ship, but a miscalculation made the slipway at the bow of the ship being steeper than that at the stern.

A history of the SS Great Eastern.

Also, if you visit the Brunel Museum in Rotherhithe, you will find an original grinding wheel, from the Great Eastern Yard.

An original grinding wheel from Great Eastern Yard, now at the Brunel Museum, Rotherhithe.