The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-04 00:00:00

TH'i; THB .MES EMBANKMENT,

A prAtient and . long-suffering public will pro-
bably not be di,sp leased to learn that a real, actual,
practical beginiig has at length been made in the
great metropoli tan work of embanking the northern
side of the Thi ones. A very long time since, a
sort of feint wi as made by the sinking of a few
miserable-lookil ag piles in groups of three, along
a portion of the route, but these were merely very
early prelimin .aries, and bad so long remained
stationary anii desolate that the promenaders on the
bridges had 'at length ceased even to bestow a
passing gIP .nce on them. Yesterday's proceedings
were, hov,eever, of a very different character, and
althouea they were only a beginning, and
a scaled one, they constituted a movement of the
right'. sort. The first of the great caissons which
are to stud the river on its northern side between
-Westminster and Waterloo bridges, and within
which the sea-wall is to be made, was shipped yes-
2erday morning in pieces from the factory at Dept-
ord, on board several barges, andcarried up to the
immediate neighbourhood of the railway bridge
t Charing-cross, where it is to be sunk, and
within it the actual work of the embankment will
forthwith be commenced.
It was only very recently that the contract for
the first portion of the works, namely those of the
embankment between Westminster and Waterloo
a.t
bridges, was " let out" to Mr. Furness, but
would appear that since then there has not been
much to complain of on the score of loss of time.
About five of these great caissons, the first of whieh
arrived at its destination yesterday, will have to be
let down into the river, over the whole length of this
portion of the work,
and within each the building
of the sea wall will be executed. The mode of pro.
ceeding will be something as follows :—The foun-
dation (within the caisson) will be s,cooped out by
machines technically called " misers," connected by
a long shaft with steam power working above the
surface of the water. The diving-bell will then be
brought into requisition to lay the concrete and put
in the masonry, and when the caisson is full of solid
work it will be taken off piecemeal, and again sunk a
little further on on the line. The same process will
be carried on in the five caissons simultaneously,
and in this manner a solid sea wall will be gradually
erected throughout the whole distance. When this
has been done, and the water has been permanently
.excluded, the work of excavation within the wall
will commence; and it will be heaik work, for room
has to be made for two erections, both of great im-
portance, and involving an immense amount of
labour in their construction. Down deep in the
concrete the great sewer which is to receive all the
drain age of the north side of London is to be im-
bedd ed, and above it will be the " subway" of the
emb anirment, for the reception of the gas and
wa'air pipes of the district. Within this space
ar.d towards the shore there will be a very large
space still unappropriated, but the general impres-
sion is that it will ultimately be made available
for a subterranean railway. The commence-
ment of the works at this period of the year, al-
though attended as it must be by short days and
broken weather, may on the whole be considered as
being rather fortunate than otherwise, as it must
give a great deal of employment to the labouring
classes at a season when the other sources of out-
door metropolitan employment are apt to be very
much diminished.

A long period has intervened between the time
when Martin, the painter of "Belshazzar's Feast,"
first sketched out his wondrous design for
an embankment of the Thames, and the day
when the first caisson was brought up the
river from Deptford. Daring the interval
waists of note and engineers of skill devised plan
'after plan, but without producing any practical
result, until at last the Metropolitan Board of
Works discovered that they could not carry out
their great scheme of drainage without seriously
disturbing the traffic of the Strand and its neigh-
bourhood, and they determined upon embanking
the Thames, in order that within the new work
they might build their great main sewer, and thus
avoid disturbing and suspending a great portion of
the trade of Western London for an indefinite period.
The work, which may be said practically to have
commenced yesterday, will extend only from West-
minster to Waterloo Bridge; the second portion
of the embankment—namely, that laying between
the latter bridge and Blackfriara—not having as yet
been contracted for. It will, in fact, be a continua-
tion of the embankment which already runs along
the river front of the Houses of Parliament, and the
reader will, by recollecting that terrace, be able to
form an adequate idea as to the elevation and gene-
ral appearance of the future esplanade.
At Westminster there will be a new steamboat
pier, harmonising in general design with the bridge,
but the approach to the embankment (which at this
point will be 100 feet wide, and four feet above
high water) will be from the east side of Bridge-
street. The embankment will thence run along the
river, striking the first brick pier oe. the Charing-
cross Railway bridge and on to Waterloo, passing
in its course at the rear of Montague House, of
Which the public will have a lively recollection in
eatieequence of the preposterous claim set up by
noble owner to " stop the way " of the entire
p°blle to snit his own ideas of aristocratic seclu-
sion,
and the animated discussion, which the said
claien
gave rise to in Parliament. It was rumoured
at the ti
by tbutne that the matter was to be compromised
Purchase of the house for Government
purpee,,, but
still retains such is not the Met. His grace
are happy to
aa
lenoble town mansion, and, as we
embankm d, improved, not injured, by the
ent.
Xentague House has at present a
garden stretchiwater, and n
tiliaga hundred feet down to the
dred feet of ream will be added another hun-
vitactutd_ land, lying between the
present garden
grace and the proposed roadway.
This space his
to plant with quick
growing trees, so as in tore
years to interpose
a sufficient screen beteee,,l hie
ehtti.is premises and the
public. From
passing
e
embankment will preserve iteZ e,eross-bridge the
tfig
it reaches Waterloo-bridge, tbunaiti breadth until
with which we at present have tof the work
tectjeed. W. h.
this limit there is plenty to be it in
ty
ys Prievided the
provisions of the Act of Parliament i)eithfull
•
carried out. There is to be a main opproula f
which is 14 from
Westminster-bridge,
om which the feetdesn4ba°e the
embankment, and
fr
80. There is to be
be
at a gradient of one foot in
Horse Guards ati7.411.
approach from opposite the
hall, by a roadway
to Wellington-street,
80 feet Wide, and a high uauryte.ei
street from Whitehall-place
bee at intervals to approae
from which there will be h with a gradient of
the embankment roadway, eac
feature
1 in 42. A very interesting of the design
ed land in
reclaim
will be the laying out of the
front of the Whitehall and Chariug-crose approaches
as well when
in gardens, which, if they only look
.sians, will
finished as they now du in the coloured
These
prove a very great metropolitan attraction.
-
gardens will be raised 16 feet above the river
side roadway, in order to keep them on a level with
the ground at the back, and, under them, foxing the
river, will be a handsome row of shops opening on
the terrace. Independently, however, of the re-
claimed land thus disposed of, there will be a great
number of pet corners and nooks of large pecuniary
value, and it will require great vigilance on the
part of the public, whose money has paid for them,
and to 'whom they properly belong, to prevent them
being jobbed away or otherwise appropriated by I
private individuals.

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