Friday 28 October 2012 marks the centenary of the opening of the foot tunnel which links the north and south bank of the Thames at Woolwich. To celebrate the occasion I travelled over there with a few members of the London Historians group to walk its length and to see the results of its recent refurbishment.
The Woolwich Foot Tunnel was unveiled on 26 October 1912 and was built to provide workers living south of the river easy access to the docks that still line this stretch of water. An impressive 504 metres long (or 23 chains in old money), it is glazed in white tiles and is accessed by spiral stairs and lifts at each end.
Unfortunately the two local authorities that jointly operate the tunnel, Newham and Greenwich, have stopped funding the refurbishment of the Woolwich Foot Tunnel for the time being, leaving the restoration incomplete. Visit today and you’ll discover entrance buildings still covered in ugly scaffolding and a pair of lifts that appear to be permanently out of action (although the signs next to them would have you believe otherwise). It’s very sad to see the Woolwich Foot Tunnel in this state, but when you consider that it’s sister tunnel a little further west was also undergoing refurbishment until recently its not that surprising. Arguably much more deserving of the councils’ limited funds, the Greenwich Foot Tunnel provides a link between the plaza that features the Cutty Sark and the southern tip of the Isle Of Dogs. Equally popular with international tourists and bankers from Canary Wharf, it wouldn’t do to leave that in a state of disrepair…
Fortunately, for those who can’t negotiate the long spiral staircases there is another way of getting across the river at this point, by boarding the Woolwich Free Ferry. Able to accommodate both vehicles and pedestrians, the service’s three ships (the Ernest Bevin, the James Newman and the John Burns) make the crossing every day between 6:10am and 8pm, except on Sundays when the service runs between 11:30am and 7:30pm. It’s quite a novel way to travel – the current ships have been in service since the early 1960s, although Londoners have been crossing the river by ferry at this spot since the 1400s.
The Woolwich Foot Tunnel is open to pedestrians 24 hours a day, although you wouldn’t catch me down there after the witching hour…
About Pete Stean
