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This was only the second tunnel to be driven under the river Thames in central London.
1869 The engineer of the works was Peter W. Barlow Jun; James Henry Greathead was responsible for the tunnelling using a shield made of segmented cast iron. The shield consisted of an iron cylinder 7 ft 3 in in diameter fitted with screw jacks which enabled it to be jacked forward. In use, the shield was inched forward as the working face was excavated, while behind it a permanent tunnel lining of cast iron segments was fitted into place, itself an important innovation.