An engineering marvel whose ingenuity can be traced back to the humble shipworm.
This year sees the 200th anniversary of work beginning on the Thames Tunnel in London – the world’s first tunnel built underneath a navigable river.
Built by father and son team, Marc Brunel and Isambard Kingdom Brunel, construction on the 400-metre long Thames Tunnel began in 1825 and was finished 18 years later having endured four floods, many deaths and near-bankruptcy.