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| While the Channel Tunnel became a reality in the 1990's, throughout the centuries many dreamers and innovators have come up with a plethora of schemes attempting to link England and France (or the low countries) beneath the English Channel. | |||
| #REDIRECT ] | |||
| One of the first was the ], who in ], wrote to the ] about his "phantastick dreame" in which English labourers were recruited to dig a proposed 5,000 feet below the bottom of the Channel.¹ The bottom was to be thatched with reeds and tramped down by oxen and man. This project, like many to follow, never got off the ground due to the extreme impracticability of the scheme. The long and costly wars of ] did not help the situation however either. | |||
| A famous depiction of a paranoid fantasy gripping England in the early ] was captured in a famous print demonstrating the invasion plans of England supposedly put in place by ]. From the air, the ] flys across the Channel in ] balloons. Many more barges bearing French soldiers crossed the Channel by water. However, the most innovative of the fictional "invasion" was legions of the French forces marching underground -- through a tunnell supported by rafters and lit by torches, descending into the tunnell at Calais and emerging to lay waste to the English homeland at Kent. Invasion-related paranoia was at its height before the Battle of ] in ] and is much evidenced in the novels of ], which were written in and set during this era. | |||
| Royal cousin and diletante, the ], in the 1830's proposed a scheme, prefacing the modern day Channel Tunnel, that would connect a ] departing from ] Station in ], connecting at ], and crossing under the English Channel to emerge at ].² This of course never reached fruition, due to technological constraints, and the dream of creating a working crossing under the English Channel was to remain a dream for the next 160 years. | |||
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| ¹ St. John (ed.) "Memoirs of the Duke of Saint Simon on the Reign of Louis XIV and the Regency." London: Willey Pub, 1936, Vol 1, p. 256. | |||
| ²Elizabeth Longford, "Queen Victoria: Born to Succeed." New York: Harper & Row, 1965, p. 376. | |||
Revision as of 01:55, 7 September 2006
While the Channel Tunnel became a reality in the 1990's, throughout the centuries many dreamers and innovators have come up with a plethora of schemes attempting to link England and France (or the low countries) beneath the English Channel.
One of the first was the Duc de Lille, who in 1702, wrote to the Duc de Saint-Simon about his "phantastick dreame" in which English labourers were recruited to dig a proposed 5,000 feet below the bottom of the Channel.¹ The bottom was to be thatched with reeds and tramped down by oxen and man. This project, like many to follow, never got off the ground due to the extreme impracticability of the scheme. The long and costly wars of Louis XIV did not help the situation however either.
A famous depiction of a paranoid fantasy gripping England in the early 19th Century was captured in a famous print demonstrating the invasion plans of England supposedly put in place by Napoleon Bonaparte. From the air, the Grande Armee flys across the Channel in Montgolfier balloons. Many more barges bearing French soldiers crossed the Channel by water. However, the most innovative of the fictional "invasion" was legions of the French forces marching underground -- through a tunnell supported by rafters and lit by torches, descending into the tunnell at Calais and emerging to lay waste to the English homeland at Kent. Invasion-related paranoia was at its height before the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 and is much evidenced in the novels of Jane Austin, which were written in and set during this era.
Royal cousin and diletante, the Duke of Clarence, in the 1830's proposed a scheme, prefacing the modern day Channel Tunnel, that would connect a railway departing from King's Cross Station in London, connecting at Folkestone, England, and crossing under the English Channel to emerge at Calais.² This of course never reached fruition, due to technological constraints, and the dream of creating a working crossing under the English Channel was to remain a dream for the next 160 years.
¹ St. John (ed.) "Memoirs of the Duke of Saint Simon on the Reign of Louis XIV and the Regency." London: Willey Pub, 1936, Vol 1, p. 256.
²Elizabeth Longford, "Queen Victoria: Born to Succeed." New York: Harper & Row, 1965, p. 376.