Monocular opaque glass viewer enclosing a print showing the Thames Tunnel.

Great Britain, approximately 1843.

1 item ; 55 mm in diameter (at base), 105 mm long

Restricted fragile material. Use requires permission of the Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts.

Engineered by Marc Brunel and begun in 1825, the Thames Tunnel was the first tunnel ever built under a navigable river. Although Brunel had devised a special tunneling shield to dig underneath the river, water still came in during construction, and seven men drowned before the tunnel was completed in 1843.

Opaque white glass monocular viewer enclosing a partially colored engraved print of the Thames Tunnel lettered around the circumference: "Thames Tunnel. 1200 feet long, 76 feet below high water mark. Was 8 years building & cost £446,000. Opened the 25th day of March 1843." The viewer is bell shaped, measuring 35 mm in diameter at the end containing the single lens, 55 mm in diameter at the base (to which is mounted the small print). The viewer would likely have been sold as a souvenir at the opening of the tunnel.

Thames Tunnel

Other

English

December 21, 2012