The Opening of the Queensway Mersey Tunnel

BBC Memoryshare Liverpool on behalf of Bill's memory of 18th July 1934

I was nine years old and remember walking with the other children from my school, Whitefield Road, all the way into town to see the official opening of the Queensway Mersey Tunnel by H. M. King George V and Queen Mary on 18th July 1934.

We all sat on the steps of the Liverpool Museum and waited patiently for the King and Queen and the other special guests to arrive. Their big cars eventually arrived and we waved our union jack flags and cheered as they drove past.

I remember seeing the King and Queen and being fascinated by the King’s full beard and the Queen dressed in all her finery, wearing a long dress and a big hat. I remember lots of beautiful decorations and lighting and flags and there were large poles along William Brown Street with what I think were metal birds on the top.

The crowds were enormous, people were standing on the Museum steps, in St John’s Gardens and all around the entrance to the tunnel right the way up to Dale Street.

Once the procession had passed us we couldn’t really see or hear that much because we were too far away from the tunnel entrance so the people up by Dale Street probably didn’t see anything.

The King and Queen sat on a canopied platform and when the King officially declared the tunnel open two large curtains at the entrance to the tunnel lifted and the first cars drove through. As Liverpool school children we all received an aluminium medal to commemorate the opening.

The work on the Mersey Tunnel began in Liverpool on 16th December 1925 when the Princess Royal switched on the power for the pneumatic drills on the George’s Dock site and excavation began in Birkenhead on 10th March 1926 by Sir Archibald Salvidge.

The tunnel is circular and it was initially intended that trams would run in the bottom section and in April 1928 the ‘holing through’ ceremony took place when contractors from Liverpool and Birkenhead broke through and met mid-river.

I have driven through the Queensway Mersey Tunnel thousands of times and as I arrive in Liverpool from the dock entrance and am greeted by the stunning and imposing Liver Buildings I am always enthralled that I have travelled through one of the greatest engineering feats in the world.

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This memory was added 10th October 2007

Keywords: Liverpool King George V and Queen Mary Queensway Mersey Tunnel BBC Liverpool

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