- Object name(s):
- Cardboard model of the Thames Tunnel and Tunnelling Shield
- Brief description:
- Two-part cardboard model of Marc Brunel's tunnelling shield and partially completed Thames Tunnel, with figures of workers and an overseer showing the works to a visitor. The tunnel section can be removed to facilitate closer inspection of the shield. Likely made to reassure investors following the floods of 1827-8, and to demonstrate the new method of tunnelling. Probably produced by the Philanthropic Society, which printed descriptive booklets to accompany these models (absent from this object). In the remnants of its apparently original case, including small pins on the back of the box, with two sheets of passe-partout glass.
- Collection:
- Brunel Museum
- Acquisition method:
- Purchase
- Acquisition source:
- Bonhams
- Condition:
- Apparently underwent conservation at the Ashmolean, 1983. At least one sheet of glass missing from right hand side; previous breaks to glass have left it broken and fixed with brown tape. One historic ink stain to the front of the model. Conservator's assessment (Graeme Gardiner, 2025-01-20) questioned whether the glass is original, or a later replacement; second opinion (Eleni Katsiani, 2025-01-21) believes this to be 19th-century glass.
- Current location:
- TLA
- Dimension:
- 99 x 186 x 110
- Object name:
- Cardboard model of the Thames Tunnel and Tunnelling Shield
- Object number:
- LDBRU:2017.31
- Object production date:
- 1828
Persistent shareable link for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/4bb09f01-d0e1-3111-bbc2-f720ebc914cb
Use licence for this record: CC BY-NC
Attribution for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/4bb09f01-d0e1-3111-bbc2-f720ebc914cb, Brunel Museum, CC BY-NC
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