2-358-706 - Keystone Archives/Heritage Images

Taking soundings for a proposed Channel Tunnel, 1879. The idea for a tunnel linking Britain to France dates back to the Napoleonic Wars. In 1881 work started on pilot tunnels from Folkestone and Sangatte, but was halted the following year by the British government because of fears regarding national security. The tunnel was eventually built, however, opening in 1994.