Tunnels under the Thames-Blackwall Tunnels 1897

No4 1897 Blackwall Tunnels, used as a road tunnel

The Blackwall Tunnel is a pair of road tunnels underneath the River Thames in east London, linking the London Borough of Tower Hamlets with the Royal Borough of Greenwich, and part of the A102 road. The northern portal lies just south of the East India Dock Road (A13) in Blackwall; the southern entrances are just south of The O₂ (formerly the Millennium Dome) on the Greenwich Peninsula. Before the opening of the Dartford Tunnel in 1963, the Blackwall Tunnel was the easternmost Thames crossing for vehicles, excluding ferries.

The northern approach takes traffic from the A12 and the southern approach takes traffic from the A2, making the tunnel crossing a key link for both local and longer-distance traffic between the north and south sides of the river. It forms part of a key route into Central London from South East London and Kent.

The tunnels are not open to pedestrians, cyclists or other non-motorised traffic. One bus route, the Transport for London (TfL) 108 (Stratford-Lewisham) route, runs through the tunnels.

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Today's Featured Blue Plaque Bejamin Britten BRITTEN, Benjamin, O.M. (1913-1976)

BENJAMIN BRITTEN O.M. 1913-1976 Composer lived here 1931-1933   173 Cromwell Road, South Kensington, SW5 0SE      
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Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist; and one of the central figures of 20th century British classical music. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to international fame. For the next fifteen years he devoted much of his compositional attention to writing operas, establishing him as one of the leading 20th century figures in this genre. Britten's interests as a composer were wide-ranging; he produced important music in such varied genres as orchestral, choral, solo vocal (much of it written for his life partner, tenor Peter Pears), chamber and instrumental, as well as film music. He also took a great interest in writing music for children and amateur performers, and was an outstanding pianist and conductor.