Day 41 - James Greathead

Day 41 - another blue plaque from yesterday, another interesting person I did not know about. James Greathead(1844-1896). He was an engineer who pioneered tunnelling techniques and work on London’s underground. He worked on the Tower subway tunnel, the second tunnel under the Thames in 1870. (See extra for map) Originally it had a narrow gauge railway but this was uneconomic so it was then for pedestrians who paid a toll. However in 1894 the toll free Tower Bridge was opened so the tunnel was closed . Today the tunnel is used for water mains. Greathead was the main engineer on the Richmond extension of the District Railway and then was involved in tunnelling for parts of the northern line , the Waterloo and City line and the central Line. There is a large statue of him outside Bank station erected in 1994. (See extra) The Blue plaque is on a house by Barnes Common.

Tasks today
- went to Tesco for ‘click and collect’ , had to wait for 2 hours! Luckily we had taken the newspapers to read
- sorted out photos to make a photobook of my holiday to Finland at end of January
- FaceTime with both children and the grandchildren, read nursery rhymes to the older two who joined in singing some of them.