Plans for the world’s first underwater tunnel designed by legendary engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel and his father have sold for £200,000 at auction.
The plans, created 200 years ago, show the design of the Thames Tunnel which stretched 1,300ft under east London, between Rotherhithe and Wapping.
Work on the tunnel, designed by Brunel’s French engineer father, Marc, began in 1825 and took 18 years to complete.
It was deemed such an amazing engineering feat it was described as ‘the eighth wonder of the world’.
The Thames Tunnel was designed by Marc and Isambard Kingdom Brunel to connect Wapping and Rotherhithe in east London
![The plans (pictured, a side view of three men tunneling) were sold for £200,000 at Bonhams auction in London](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/17/11/4670B16900000578-5092469-image-m-35_1510917925402.jpg)
The plans (pictured, a side view of three men tunneling) were sold for £200,000 at Bonhams auction in London
![The historic drawings were tucked away in a large album in the Brunel family archive for over 150 years but have now sold for auction at Bonhams in London](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/17/11/4670B0AD00000578-5092469-image-m-36_1510917941909.jpg)
The historic drawings were tucked away in a large album in the Brunel family archive for over 150 years but have now sold for auction at Bonhams in London
The historic drawings were tucked away in a large album in the Brunel family archive for over 150 years but have now sold for auction at Bonhams in London.
They have been bought by the Brunel Museum, in east London, thanks to a grant from the National Lottery Hertiage Fund.
A spokesman said: ‘We are delighted that these nationally important drawings are coming back to the museum where they were made and above this internationally famous site.
‘The drawings will now be the property of the trustees of the museum which is a registered charity and they will be available for the public to view.’
The plans were sold as part of an incredible archive, that revealed drawing by Brunel senior from 1818 laying out his plans for the tunnel.
They also included a sketch by his son, who could go on to design the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, illustrating how he lowered a diving bell from a boat to repair a hole at the bottom of the river in 1827.
There was a cross-section of the tunnel by the project’s chief mechanical draftsman Joseph Pinchback which shows it extending half way across the river and includes the Rotherhithe shaft and nearby buildings.
![The tunnel was designed to stretch 1,300ft under the River Thames at east London](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/17/11/4670B0F500000578-5092469-image-m-37_1510917956571.jpg)
The tunnel was designed to stretch 1,300ft under the River Thames at east London
![In this illustration miners begin work on the underwater tunnel, with a three-men working a boring device](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/17/11/4670B0D100000578-5092469-image-m-38_1510917969813.jpg)
In this illustration miners begin work on the underwater tunnel, with a three-men working a boring device
![This illustration shows the tunnel's entrance shaft and the progress miners made under the riverbed](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/17/11/4670B18500000578-5092469-image-a-41_1510918244913.jpg)
This illustration shows the tunnel’s entrance shaft and the progress miners made under the riverbed
In addition, there were also drawings of Marc Brunel’s tunneling shield which demonstrate hydraulic pumps propelling the shield while miners chip away at the rock.
In the decades after the Thames Tunnel was completed, the Tower Subway in London, the Severn Tunnel under the River Severn and the Mersey Railway Tunnel under the River Mersey were constructed replicating Marc Brunel’s methods.
Today, the tunnel is part of the London Overground railway network, a testament to Marc Brunel’s remarkable design.
Matthew Haley, head of books and manuscripts at auctioneer Bonhams, said: ‘The drawings came from a family album which was put together by Marc Brunel and has remained with them for over 150 years.
‘They kept the drawings in a very large album which they conserved but now they feel it is the right time for them to pass into the hands of an institution or museum.
‘An ancestor of this invention is doing the tunneling under the Thames for cross rail today.
‘This was the world’s first underwater tunnel and the great thing is that it is still in operation, which is completely remarkable.’
![The tunnel now makes up part of the Overground network and pictured, is Rotherhithe Station in east London](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/17/11/46558B2D00000578-5092469-image-a-7_1510916855813.jpg)
The tunnel now makes up part of the Overground network and pictured, is Rotherhithe Station in east London
![French-born engineer Marc Brunel](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/17/11/46558B2000000578-5092469-image-m-12_1510916900132.jpg)
![Isambard Kingdom Brunel](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/17/11/46558B1C00000578-5092469-image-a-13_1510916909217.jpg)
Left, French-born engineer Marc Brunel and right, his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who went on to design the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol
A new land connection between the north and south banks of the Thames was needed at the start of the 19th century to link the expanding docks on each side of the river.
In 1805, a group of Cornish miners set out to dig a tunnel farther upriver between Rotherhithe and Wapping but four years later they had to admit defeat because of the difficult conditions of the ground.
Marc Brunel patented the tunneling shield in 1818 and five years later unveiled his plan for the Thames Tunnel which would be dug using this new technology.
Financing was found from private investors including the Duke of Wellington and the Thames Tunnel Company was formed in 1824.
The project began in February 1825 but many workers fell ill from the poor conditions caused by filthy sewage-laden water seeping through from the river above.
Work was slow, progressing at only 12ft a week, and excavation was hazardous.
The tunnel flooded suddenly on May 18, 1827 and then again on January 12, 1828, with six men killed.
![An early illustration of men working beneath the River Thames on the Thames Tunnel](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/17/11/46558B3400000578-5092469-image-a-16_1510916959798.jpg)
An early illustration of men working beneath the River Thames on the Thames Tunnel
![An illustration of what the finished tunnel named 'the eighth wonder of the world' would look like](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/17/11/46558B0A00000578-5092469-image-a-14_1510916927430.jpg)
An illustration of what the finished tunnel named ‘the eighth wonder of the world’ would look like
Financial problems followed, leading to the tunnel being walled off and abandoned in August 1828.
It was not until December 1834, when Marc Brunel received a £247,000 loan from the Treasury, that work re-started on the tunnel.
They were impeded by further floods, fires and gas leaks but the tunneling was completed in November 1841.
It was then fitted out with lighting, roadways and spiral staircases and finally opened to the public on March 25, 1843.
The overall cost of the tunnel was £634,000 – far more than budgeted – but it became a major tourist attraction, attracting two million people a year who each paid a penny to pass through.
It also became the haunt of prostitutes and ‘tunnel thieves’ who lurked under its arches and mugged passers-by.
The tunnel was designed to accommodate horse and carriages but this idea was scraped because of a lack of access.
Instead, it was used solely by pedestrians until it was purchased in September 1865 by the East London Railway Company.
The first train ran through the tunnel on December 7, 1869 and it is part of the London Overground network connecting Rotherhithe and Wapping today.