Northern portal and parapet to the Blackwall Tunnel
Poplar High Street, Tower Hamlets, London, E14 0BB
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1065070
- Date first listed:
- 27-Sept-1973
- List Entry Name:
- Northern portal and parapet to the Blackwall Tunnel
- Statutory Address:
- Poplar High Street, Tower Hamlets, London, E14 0BB
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2001-09-09
- Reference:
- IOE01/04798/01
- Rights:
- © Mr Colin Carron. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1065070
- Date first listed:
- 27-Sept-1973
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 11-May-2018
- List Entry Name:
- Northern portal and parapet to the Blackwall Tunnel
- Statutory Address 1:
- Poplar High Street, Tower Hamlets, London, E14 0BB
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- Poplar High Street, Tower Hamlets, London, E14 0BB
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Greater London Authority
- District:
- Tower Hamlets (London Borough)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- TQ3839580782
Summary
Northern portal and parapet to the Blackwall Tunnel. Built 1897 probably to designs of Alexander R Binnie, Engineer.
Reasons for Designation
The northern portal and parapet to the Blackwall Tunnel, built in 1897 probably to designs of Alexander R Binnie, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Historical interest:
* as the northern portal to the first vehicular tunnel built under the Thames.
Architectural interest:
* for its striking use of pink polished granite and its commemorative inscription.
History
The original plan for a first practical vehicular road tunnel under the River Thames was undertaken by the Metropolitan Board of Works which obtained an Act in 1887. Sir Joseph Bazalgette’s plan was for three parallel tunnels, with separate tunnels for vehicles and pedestrians, and the work was to have been completed within seven years. However, the Metropolitan Board of Works was wound up on 21 March 1889, prior to the establishment of the London County Council on 1 April 1889, just as contracts for the work were about to be let. A new scheme was proposed following an inspection of the compressed air working used to hold back the outside water pressure at the Hudson River tunnel in New York and the St Clair tunnel in Canada. The new scheme, reduced to a single tunnel, was devised by the London County Council Chief Engineer, Alexander R Binnie (1839-1917) and submitted on 20 November 1890. The tender of S Pearson and Son (who were building the Hudson River tunnel), of £871,000, was accepted towards the end of 1891 and work began in 1892. The tunnel is 1,890m long with an outside diameter of the cast-iron lining of 8m. The Blackwall Tunnel was opened by the Prince of Wales on 22 May 1897.
By the 1930s the tunnel was becoming inadequate due to the volume of traffic and the London County Council obtained an Act in 1938 for a new tunnel sited to the east of the original one. However, the war intervened and construction works did not begin until 1958. The eastern tunnel opened in 1967 and is used for south-bound traffic with north-bound traffic using the original tunnel.
In 1999 the tunnel was supplemented by flood gates housed in a building over the carriageway at the entrance to the tunnel obscuring, but not altering, the portal.
Details
Northern portal and parapet to the Blackwall Tunnel. Built 1897 probably to designs of Alexander R Binnie, Engineer.
MATERIALS: pinkish brown polished granite blocks.
DESCRIPTION: the portal consists of the round-arched tunnel opening with a parapet at the top separated by a roll moulding. The parapet, which fronts onto Poplar High Street, has a sloped and rounded coping and square end-piers, each with four semi-circular faces with inscribed decoration. The arch has moulded decoration. On north face of the parapet an incised inscription reads ‘THIS TUNNEL CONSTRUCTED BY THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL WAS OPENED BY/ HRH THE PRINCE OF WALES K.C. ON BEHALF OF HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA ON 22nd MAY 1897 IN THE 60th YEAR OF HER REIGN/ SIR ALEX R. BINNIE ENGINEER'.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: the portal is adjoined to the south by the tunnel* itself, including steps* to a raised walkway* on the west side of the carriageway. It is also adjoined to the north by high retaining walls*, encased in concrete and faced with Portland stone in the 1950s, topped with modern metal safety barriers*. The parapet is adjoined at the eastern end by modern iron railings* and at the western end by a low concrete wall* connecting to a modern building* across the tunnel carriageway housing a drop-down flood gate. Those structures marked by an * are excluded from the listing.
* Pursuant to s1(5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that these aforementioned features are not of special architectural or historic interest.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 206182
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Smith, D, Civil Engineering Heritage: London and the Thames Valley, (2001), 15-16
Websites
British History Online: Survey of London: Volumes 43 and 44, Poplar, Blackwall and Isle of Dogs, ed. Hermione Hobhouse (London, 1994) - The Blackwall Tunnel, accessed 20 March 2018 from https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vols43-4/pp640-645
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
The listed building is shown coloured blue on the attached map. Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’), structures attached to or within the curtilage of the listed building (save those coloured blue on the map) are not to be treated as part of the listed building for the purposes of the Act.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 18-Jun-2026 at 06:12:21.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.