Tunnel of Love - Valentines Tour at Brunel Museum

The Grand Entrance Hall at the Brunel Museum has been unused and inaccessible for 140 years, but this weekend & on Valentine's Day, Museum Director, Robert Hulse is presenting an unusual tour based around love stories relating to the history of the chamber.

The puntastic & erudite, Robert Hulse will lead you down the staircase and tell the story of engineer Brunel's love and the world's largest underground meeting hall for lovers. Here's how Robert introduced the event to me:

"With quivering pen I announce that the newly revealed pillars in the restored Rotherhithe London Underground ticket hall are Corinthian, whilst the proud muscular supports in the Tunnel beneath are Doric! Read on and you will see why this matters! I may have done too much in my ‘Self Guided Tour of the Tunnel of Love’, but I believe – like you! – in combining Tube travel with a fastidious reverence for artistic form. Plenty of Oysters, and impeccable good taste....

"The Rotherhithe columns are mounted with burgeoning green shoots of the angiosperm acanthus. Thousands of lovers have rushed between these two elegant talisman. Stroke or caress the pillars, trace with your finger the orange ring of the East London Railway or press your cheek against their cool firm glory.

"The Grand Entrance Hall will once again be crowded in a weekend of engineering foreplay. Love holds the key and the Brunel Museum panders to visitors with a story of love and abandonment, revolution and constancy. As well as an engineer, Brunel was a French naval officer and so his lover was the French Lieutenant’s woman. Come hear their story .....


"Take your partner’s hand, look into their eyes and say together: ‘I plight you my troth, with open heart and open mouth, standing at the foot of Frenchman Brunel’s Wapping Shaft’. The Lovers’ Lift will take you back to the real world. Take a look at Wapping, but even if you plan to return directly to Rotherhithe, remember your Oyster. To avoid a penalty fare, ‘Pay as you go’ should exit Wapping and come straight in again. Give your Oyster a stroke, and don’t forget the Tunneller in your Life."

The tours take place on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th February at 14.00, 15.00 and 16.00. If you want to go on Valentine's day itself on Monday 14th February the tours are at 17.00, 18.00 and 19.00

Tickets are £5 include admission to the Museum of Tunnelling aka the Brunel Museum. No need to book, just turn up & enjoy.

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