Odd Corners of Old London - Part 3 Rotherhithe

Rotherhithe is another old docklands area on the south bank of the River Thames in the East End of London.  I can't pretend that it has a lot going for it - but if you take the train from Wapping (on the north bank) to Rotherhithe (a journey of all of 4 minutes), you pass through the Thames Tunnel.  This tunnel goes under the River Thames and was the first successful tunnel built underneath a navigable waterway, an amazing feat of engineering at the time, and still going strong.  It was built by Marc Isambard Brunel and his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel between 1828 and 1843.  The Brunel Museum is in the engine house of the tunnel, and it held the steam-powered pumps that extracted the water from the tunnel.  I'm going to visit it later in the year with a group from the V&A, so more then...  Meanwhile, here is a close-up of one of the benches in the garden, with a cute train chuffing along the back:

I was there at low tide and strolled on the "beach":

And of course there is a great view of the Shard up-river:

On the way back to Clerkenwell, I went past the Shard which looks very impressive from underneath: