The Thames Tunnel, illustration. The Thames Tunnel is a tunnel beneath the River Thames in London, connecting Rotherhithe and Wapping. It measures 11 metres (m) wide by 6 m high and is 396 m long, running at a depth of 23 m below the river surface measured at high tide. It is the first tunnel known to have been constructed successfully underneath a navigable river and was built between 1825 and 1843 by Marc Brunel and his son Isambard using the tunnelling shield newly invented by the elder Brunel and Thomas Cochrane. The tunnel was originally designed for horse-drawn carriages, but was mainly used by pedestrians and became a tourist attraction. In 1869 it was converted into a railway tunnel for use by the East London line.