The Thames Archway Company was a company formed in 1805 to build the first tunnel under the Thames river in London.
The development of docks on both sides of the river around the Isle of Dogs indicated that a river crossing of some kind was needed. A tunnel from Rotherhithe to Limehouse was suggested in about 1803 in which the Nothumbrian[1] engineer Robert Vazie became involved. An Act of Parliament was obtained on 12 July 1805 which enabled the Thames Archway Company to start construction.
The idea was to bore a pilot tunnel or 'driftway' starting from a shaft to be sunk in Rotherhithe (i.e. from the south bank). The driftway was supposed to drain the surrounding bedrock and then be enlarged into a full, brick-arched tunnel which would accommodate two-way vehicular traffic. Unfortunately the firm strata anticipated were mostly sand and gravel with pockets of quicksand. After a year Vazie had only driven a shaft 12.8 metres (42 ft) deep and money was running out.[2]
In 1807 the directors of the company brought in Richard Trevithick who agreed to take the driftway across the river for a success fee of £1,000. Employing Cornish miners to dig and a 30-horsepower steam engine to pump, he eventually succeeded in making the driftway 313 metres (1,027 ft) from the Rotherhithe shaft: he had tunnelled under the Thames, albeit only beyond the low-water mark. This was the first time that anyone had made a tunnel pass underneath the actual water of any river. However, it remained to complete the excavation under the high-water mark, and this Trevithick was unable to do, owing to breakthroughs of quicksand.[3]
The failure of the Thames Archway project led engineers to conclude that "an underground tunnel is impracticable".[4]
About 40 years later Marc Isambard Brunel and Isambard Kingdom Brunel built the Thames Tunnel about half a mile (0.80 km) upstream.
^Skempton, A. W. (2002). A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland: 1500-1830. Thomas Telford. ISBN 978-0-7277-2939-2.
^'EPCK', Engineering Timelines Social Network, Thames Driftway http://www.engineering-timelines.com/scripts/engineeringItem.asp?id=1187
^Richard Trevithick Jr, 'Life of Richard Trevithick, with an Account of His Inventions', vol 1, 249-284
^Nathan Aaseng, Construction: Building the Impossible, p. 28. The Oliver Press, Inc., 1999
and 27 Related for: Thames Archway Company information
The ThamesArchwayCompany was a company formed in 1805 to build the first tunnel under the Thames river in London. The development of docks on both sides...
station Archway Road, a major road in London Archway Tower Archway School, a secondary school in Stroud, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom ThamesArchway Company...
and did not modify their methods for soft clay and quicksand. This ThamesArchway project was abandoned after the initial pilot tunnel (a 'driftway')...
prison in August. In 1805 the ThamesArchwayCompany was formed with the intention of driving a tunnel beneath the Thames between Rotherhithe and Limehouse...
Cornish engineer, was selected by the ThamesArchwayCompany in 1805 to drive a tunnel under the River Thames at Rotherhithe. Vazie encountered serious...
1810–11 for a brick pedestrian tunnel under the Thames, with Charles Wyatt, proposal to the ThamesArchwayCompany The mechanical pencil (1822); the rights were...
the only visible remaining structure of the ancient capital city. The archway is considered a landmark in the history of architecture, and is the second...
purpose-built new roads in what is now the outer London borough of Barnet. The Archway Road section was built by Thomas Telford using Roman cement and gravel...
is to the west. The nearest Underground stations are Tufnell Park and Archway, both on the Northern line. The nearest Overground station is Gospel Oak...
The Embanking of the tidal Thames is the historical process by which the lower River Thames, at one time a broad, shallow waterway winding through malarious...
occupied by companies belonging to Pearson plc. The entrance of the building, which is set back from Strand, is through a large gated archway. A green plaque...
a junction at Camden Town to Golders Green and Highgate (now known as Archway). It was extended south by one stop to Embankment in 1914 to form an interchange...
for example York Against Cancer. Dench is a patron of the Leaveners, The Archway Theatre, Horley, Surrey, and the relationship research and innovation charity...
each year to the needy through the Mercers' Company. To mark his bequests, the Whittington hospital at Archway in the London Borough of Islington was named...
All houses on London Bridge were pulled down in 1757. Nonsuch House's archway straddled the bridge. The house was in the centre of the bridge with its...
ISBN 9780520267190. Geographers' A-Z Map Company (2008), London Postcode and Administrative Boundaries (6 ed.), Geographers' A-Z Map Company, ISBN 978-1-84348-592-6 Mills...
formal gardens on the bank of the River Thames in Ham, south of Richmond in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. The original house was completed in...
October 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2016. Historic England. "Brookside, Archway Place (1378074)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 14 October...
tunnels between the City of London and Stockwell, passing under the River Thames. The diameter of the tunnels restricted the size of the trains, and the...
Hammersmith Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the River Thames in west London. It links the southern part of Hammersmith in the London Borough...
Lin-Manuel Miranda, premiered on May 23, 2019, at the Nuyorican Poets Café. Archway Editions, an imprint of powerHouse Cultural Entertainment, published the...
and colloquially known as Spoons) is a pub company operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company was founded in 1979 by Tim Martin and is based...
It is one of two main line termini in London to the south of the River Thames (the other being Waterloo) and is the fourth-busiest station in London,...
Tattershall Castle is a floating pub and restaurant moored on the River Thames at Victoria Embankment. It was a passenger ferry across the Humber estuary...
Paternoster Vents by Thomas Heatherwick. Temple Bar Gate, a Wren-designed stone archway constructed between 1669 and 1672 on Fleet Street at Temple Bar (the historic...
Coulsdon embankment extended over today’s A23 where there was a brick archway “of sufficient height and width to admit a wagon loaded with hay, straw...
Diamond South East, Go-Coach, First Beeline, Metrobus, Stagecoach South, Thames Valley Buses and Reading Buses. In Victorian times, people who took the...
Global Information