Not at all rude I hasten to add, but the shaft, opened last weekend for the first time for over 150 years was the original entrance to the then 8th wonder of the world, soon to be reopened as the ELL under the Thames from Rotherhithe. With only a few days notice they opened both the tunnel (sold out immediately) and the shaft tovisitors, accompanied by a Victorian 'fancy' fair to commemorate the original use of the tunnel as a enormous tourist attraction. Although this was the first under river tunnel in the world, they ran out of money before it could open for freight to move under the river.

Anyway the attached links says much more:
http://www.brunel-museum.org.uk/index.aspx
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/new...740557.stm
but it was a great experience to be one of the few that went down the large cylinder. Hopefully they will open it again, but just as important ELL have agreed to run the occasional special train through a floodlit tunnel at a snail's pace to admire the amazing engineering of Marc Brunel - sadly somewhat overlooked due to the sucesses of his son, IK

Excellent photos from the tour can be found at http://londonreconnections.blogspot.com/...unels.html

For those of you with an interest in Mr Brunel and his tunnel, there's a talk next Tuesday at the LT museum on the "...epic tale of the construction of the Thames Tunnel, which links Rotherhithe to Wapping...told by Robert Hulse, Director of The Brunel Museum."

http://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/event...s-calendar