Northern portal and parapet to the Blackwall Tunnel

Northern portal and parapet to the Blackwall Tunnel. Built 1897 probably to designs of Alexander R Binnie, Engineer.

MATERIALS: pinkish brown polished granite blocks.

DESCRIPTION: the portal consists of the round-arched tunnel opening with a parapet at the top separated by a roll moulding. The parapet, which fronts onto Poplar High Street, has a sloped and rounded coping and square end-piers, each with four semi-circular faces with inscribed decoration. The arch has moulded decoration. On north face of the parapet an incised inscription reads ‘THIS TUNNEL CONSTRUCTED BY THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL WAS OPENED BY/ HRH THE PRINCE OF WALES K.C. ON BEHALF OF HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA ON 22nd MAY 1897 IN THE 60th YEAR OF HER REIGN/ SIR ALEX R. BINNIE ENGINEER'.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: the portal is adjoined to the south by the tunnel itself, including steps to a raised walkway on the west side of the carriageway. It is also adjoined to the north by high retaining walls, encased in concrete and faced with Portland stone in the 1950s, topped with modern metal safety barriers. The parapet is adjoined at the eastern end by modern iron railings and at the western end by a low concrete wall connecting to a modern building across the tunnel carriageway housing a drop-down flood gate. Those structures marked by an * are excluded from the listing.

• Pursuant to s1(5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that these aforementioned features are not of special architectural or historic interest.