0:00:06 > 0:00:09The amazing structures that surround us -
0:00:09 > 0:00:12the bridges, towers and great public buildings -
0:00:12 > 0:00:14all have a story to tell.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21Behind nearly every one of these triumphs
0:00:21 > 0:00:24is an untold drama of a world that might have been.
0:00:30 > 0:00:37In this series, I'm exploring ambitious ventures by some of our greatest architects and engineers
0:00:37 > 0:00:40but which ultimately remained on the drawing board.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48Travelling to France, I'll uncover the story of a daring
0:00:48 > 0:00:51engineer who risked his life for a Channel crossing
0:00:51 > 0:00:53but he died having built nothing.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58And I'll discover why events leading up to the First World War
0:00:58 > 0:01:02might have turned the north of Scotland into an off-shore island.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08This is a story of international relations...
0:01:09 > 0:01:14..of canals, tunnels and changing attitude...
0:01:14 > 0:01:19and of an island nation in fear of opening the front door to her neighbours.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23Welcome to the remarkable world of Unbuilt Britain.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41By profession, I'm an architectural historian
0:01:41 > 0:01:44and I spend a lot of time searching for evidence that throws light
0:01:44 > 0:01:46on the buildings of the past.
0:01:47 > 0:01:52My research tells me that history is littered with failed grand designs
0:01:52 > 0:01:57and the archives are full of bold schemes that were never built.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00I want to find out why.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03There are different kinds of unbuilt projects.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06Some are so visionary,
0:02:06 > 0:02:13you can see in later built works where those inspirations came from.
0:02:15 > 0:02:20Tracing this history of the unbuilt leads to some extraordinary engineering schemes.
0:02:20 > 0:02:27There have been countless plans over the years to connect mainland Britain to the outside world.
0:02:27 > 0:02:32In the 19th century, there were proposals for a tunnel to Ireland,
0:02:32 > 0:02:36an idea that has never entirely been taken off the table.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40There was even an idea for a great belt railway
0:02:40 > 0:02:44that would have spanned the world, all the way to Australia.
0:02:44 > 0:02:49Projects on such a grand scale often fall victim to the politics of their age.
0:02:49 > 0:02:56And the two schemes that I want to investigate are typically full of intrigue and beset by xenophobia.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00Before the First World War,
0:03:00 > 0:03:04fear of invasion inspired a bold idea to drive a sea lane
0:03:04 > 0:03:08the size of the Panama Canal through the heart of Scotland.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11Known as the Mid-Scotland Ship Canal,
0:03:11 > 0:03:13it would have cut the country in half.
0:03:15 > 0:03:21But first, I'll discover how early unbuilt plans for a Channel Tunnel
0:03:21 > 0:03:24ultimately helped to make that fixed link
0:03:24 > 0:03:26between Britain and France possible.
0:03:31 > 0:03:35This exploration of unbuilt Britain involves a train journey from London
0:03:35 > 0:03:38through a tunnel under the English Channel to Paris.
0:03:41 > 0:03:4420 years ago, such a trip wouldn't have been possible.
0:03:44 > 0:03:50But now, more than 27,000 people travel between France and Britain by train every day.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55And it's on the other side of the Channel that our story begins.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00Thanks to the Channel Tunnel that opened in 1994,
0:04:00 > 0:04:04we now have a fixed connection from the heart of London to France and beyond.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13We're just approaching the tunnel now.
0:04:18 > 0:04:22These 31 miles of tunnel under the Channel took eight years to build.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27The momentous breakthrough, linking France and Britain,
0:04:27 > 0:04:31came at 11 o'clock on the 1st December 1990,
0:04:31 > 0:04:34when the last wall of rock fell.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37They're through! They're through!
0:04:37 > 0:04:39They're through, hey!
0:04:39 > 0:04:42But it had been a very long time coming.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46For over 200 years, the hopes of engineers and architects
0:04:46 > 0:04:52had been thwarted by a turbulent history and the fear of invasion.
0:04:53 > 0:04:58Curiously, the first known plan for a fixed link across the Channel
0:04:58 > 0:05:02was actually conceived in the middle of a Continental war.
0:05:08 > 0:05:10The year was 1802.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14Napoleon's armies had been ravaging mainland Europe for almost a decade.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20Napoleon had armies at Boulogne and at Cherbourg and at Flushing
0:05:20 > 0:05:23and was planning to invade England. This was the nightmare scenario.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26This was the darkest hour of England's history,
0:05:26 > 0:05:30when we stood alone against this overwhelming enemy.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35To conceive a plan to link the two countries permanently
0:05:35 > 0:05:39at this time required a serious leap of the imagination.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44But the man with that early vision, Albert Mathieu-Favier,
0:05:44 > 0:05:46believed in a better world.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51Taking advantage of a lull in hostilities,
0:05:51 > 0:05:55Mathieu-Favier designed a tunnel that would allow travellers
0:05:55 > 0:05:57to avoid the stormy waters of the Channel
0:05:57 > 0:06:01and speed up the journey time between London and Paris.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07Mathieu-Favier's idea was for a single tunnel dug under the Channel.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12It was designed for use by horse-drawn stagecoaches
0:06:12 > 0:06:16and had tall ventilation chimneys reaching high above the waves.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25Napoleon Bonaparte was said to like the idea,
0:06:25 > 0:06:27but the British were suspicious,
0:06:27 > 0:06:31thoroughly convinced that this was a cunning plan for French invasion.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36Mathieu-Favier undoubtedly had ideas ahead of his time.
0:06:36 > 0:06:41But unlike the buildings behind me, the peace of the day was not built to last.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44By May of 1803, Britain and France were enemies once again
0:06:44 > 0:06:49and his plans, whether drawn up in peace time or otherwise, were forgotten.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57The demise of Mathieu-Favier's plan is an augury
0:06:57 > 0:06:59for the future direction of our tale.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05The very idea of building a tunnel brought out the worst,
0:07:05 > 0:07:09rabid, xenophobic, anti-French reactions imaginable.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13France was an inveterate, long-term, permanent enemy.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17Building a tunnel linking England and France was just inviting trouble.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24The story of the Channel Tunnel is a mirror of European history
0:07:24 > 0:07:28and, in particular, the ever-shifting relations between France and Britain
0:07:28 > 0:07:31through war, enmity and finally peace.
0:07:34 > 0:07:36It would take nearly 200 years
0:07:36 > 0:07:39and dozens of unbuilt plans to realise the dream.
0:07:39 > 0:07:44And Mathieu-Favier was just one in a long line of daring engineers
0:07:44 > 0:07:47who would try to complete this Herculean project.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52If Mathieu-Favier can be marked down as a bit of a visionary,
0:07:52 > 0:07:53then the next man in line,
0:07:53 > 0:07:56Monsieur Louis Joseph Aime Thome de Gamond,
0:07:56 > 0:08:01not only had a grandiloquent name, but he clearly had the ambition to match.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04This man was the original Chunnel pioneer.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12Born in Poitiers in 1807, Thome de Gamond
0:08:12 > 0:08:16was a highly educated man with doctorates in medicine and law.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20But de Gamond's real passion lay under the sea.
0:08:20 > 0:08:25A generation after Mathieu-Favier had dreamt of a tunnel beneath the Channel,
0:08:25 > 0:08:30de Gamond devoted his life to the idea of a permanent link between Britain and France.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36I've come to the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris
0:08:36 > 0:08:40to find out more about de Gamond's pioneering research
0:08:40 > 0:08:42from historian Laurent Bonnaud.
0:08:42 > 0:08:47I think what set him apart from his peers was his scientific mind
0:08:47 > 0:08:50and the continuity in his surveying and research.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54He was very early in thinking about cross-Channel fixed links
0:08:54 > 0:08:59and he was extremely scientific in his way of doing things.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02He was systematic. He was very rigorous.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06He really put all his means, all his...everything he had,
0:09:06 > 0:09:08in terms of time,
0:09:08 > 0:09:12finances and even taking physical risks into his project.
0:09:17 > 0:09:23In 1833, Thome de Gamond's lifelong study of a Channel crossing began.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27He didn't just imagine a tunnel linking England and France.
0:09:27 > 0:09:32His initial ideas included a cast iron tube laid along the sea bed.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37The trains would travel simply through this tube,
0:09:37 > 0:09:40but it was not realistic due to the streams,
0:09:40 > 0:09:44the very strong streams, through the Channel.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46After ruling out eight other methods,
0:09:46 > 0:09:50de Gamond was finally convinced that a tunnel was the way forward.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53But to proceed, he had to establish
0:09:53 > 0:09:57if the rocks beneath the waves were suitable for tunnelling.
0:09:59 > 0:10:01What happened next demonstrates
0:10:01 > 0:10:05de Gamond's astonishing level of commitment to his cause.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13Risking all, the 48-year-old Frenchman took a deep breath
0:10:13 > 0:10:17and dropped into the freezing waters of the Channel.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21This was long before modern diving techniques had been developed
0:10:21 > 0:10:24and de Gamond had no means of breathing beneath the waves.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30Weighed down with bags filled with 86 kilos of flint stones,
0:10:30 > 0:10:34and with his ears protected from the immense water pressure
0:10:34 > 0:10:36by pads of buttered lint,
0:10:36 > 0:10:39de Gamond sank to a depth of over 30 metres
0:10:39 > 0:10:44to carry out the first recorded survey of the Channel sea bed.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49There he fought off strong currents and creatures of the deep.
0:10:51 > 0:10:58He used cloth around the neck to protect himself from being bitten
0:10:58 > 0:11:02by conger eels or such fishes, which happened to him, actually.
0:11:02 > 0:11:04It was really not sophisticated at all.
0:11:04 > 0:11:09- And at quite a considerable personal danger.- And it was also very cold.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13Despite these incredibly adverse conditions,
0:11:13 > 0:11:17de Gamond managed to return from the sea bed with rock samples
0:11:17 > 0:11:20that would prove to be hugely important.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24Thome de Gamond discovered that there was a continuity
0:11:24 > 0:11:27of chalk layers from the Jurassic time.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31The tunnel had to follow one of the layers as much as possible
0:11:31 > 0:11:35in order to avoid breakthrough of water.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41De Gamond's discovery was momentous
0:11:41 > 0:11:44and justified the risks he'd taken to get his samples.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50He had proved that the geology of the Straits of Dover
0:11:50 > 0:11:52was perfect for a Channel Tunnel.
0:11:52 > 0:11:58And in 1856, de Gamond drew up a detailed master plan
0:11:58 > 0:12:02based on 20 years of solitary, painstaking research.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07This shows us a section of the tunnel, Laurent.
0:12:07 > 0:12:09What were some of its features?
0:12:09 > 0:12:13It was a single tunnel with brick walls and a double railway track.
0:12:13 > 0:12:17Interestingly enough, the diameter of the tunnel
0:12:17 > 0:12:22was roughly seven metres, which is close to the existing tunnel.
0:12:22 > 0:12:28Obviously, one of the biggest problems was how to ventilate this tunnel.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30How would people breathe, travellers breathe,
0:12:30 > 0:12:32through the nearly 40 kilometres?
0:12:35 > 0:12:40Thome de Gamond came up with a novel solution to the ventilation problem.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43On a sandbank in the Channel called Le Varne,
0:12:43 > 0:12:47he proposed building an artificial island.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50He called it the Etoile de Varne.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54The Etoile de Varne offered the possibility to make a stop,
0:12:54 > 0:12:56to make a break in the middle of the Channel,
0:12:56 > 0:13:01for the travellers, by train, to get out and breathe the fresh air.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05The Etoile de Varne would be the place where travellers from Europe
0:13:05 > 0:13:08would meet, just in the middle of the Channel, and interact.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12So it was not only a technical aspect but also a symbolic one.
0:13:13 > 0:13:18So this was really a breakthrough for the Channel Tunnel studies,
0:13:18 > 0:13:22and that all the subsequent schemes were based at least on things
0:13:22 > 0:13:24that Thome de Gamond had realised.
0:13:26 > 0:13:31Although de Gamond was a daring pioneer, there was just one problem.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34No-one had dug a tunnel under the open sea before.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38But on the other side of the Channel,
0:13:38 > 0:13:42one project had pushed the limits of what was achievable.
0:13:44 > 0:13:49In London, a tunnel had been dug not under the sea but under a river.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53The Thames Tunnel is the only project on which
0:13:53 > 0:13:57two members of the world-renowned Brunel family worked together.
0:13:57 > 0:14:02Amazingly, the product of that pioneering father and son team
0:14:02 > 0:14:05survives intact, and is still in use to this day.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12Anglo-French Marc Isambard and his son,
0:14:12 > 0:14:15the 19-year-old Isambard Kingdom Brunel,
0:14:15 > 0:14:18began digging the world's first underwater tunnel at Rotherhithe
0:14:18 > 0:14:24in 1825, just before Thome de Gamond embarked on his research.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28Brunel Senior and Thome de Gamond knew one another
0:14:28 > 0:14:32and de Gamond avidly followed the progress of the Thames Tunnel.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38I've come to Rotherhithe to meet Robert Hulse,
0:14:38 > 0:14:42the director of the Brunel Tunnel Museum.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45Olivia, hello. Welcome to the eighth wonder of the world.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48- Lovely to be here. - Follow me.
0:14:49 > 0:14:54Robert takes me underground to show me Brunel's remarkable engineering achievement,
0:14:54 > 0:14:56a twin-track tunnel under the river.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01Originally designed for horse-drawn vehicles,
0:15:01 > 0:15:03the tunnel now carries London rail traffic.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10- And there it is. - The world's first underwater tunnel.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15It's tremendously exciting to see the entrance to the two tunnels.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18Yeah, you can see how the tunnel dips under the river,
0:15:18 > 0:15:21cos Brunel is trying to get below the blue clay,
0:15:21 > 0:15:24the strata of blue clay, that's impervious.
0:15:25 > 0:15:30Brunel used a revolutionary technique to excavate the Thames Tunnel.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33Called the tunnel shield, it was an iron cage
0:15:33 > 0:15:36that protected 36 miners working at the digging face.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41Each man dug a few inches of the clay in front of him,
0:15:41 > 0:15:46while a gigantic screw jacked the whole structure forwards inch by inch.
0:15:46 > 0:15:51Behind came the bricklayers, who lined the tunnel to make it safe.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54Tunnel shields were widely adopted
0:15:54 > 0:15:58and were later used extensively to dig the London Underground.
0:16:00 > 0:16:04The Thames Tunnel finally opened in 1843.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07Even with Brunel's innovative tunnelling shield,
0:16:07 > 0:16:09it had taken 18 years to burrow
0:16:09 > 0:16:13a distance of less than a quarter of a mile.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18At that rate, a Channel tunnel would have taken centuries to complete.
0:16:18 > 0:16:22But de Gamond was undaunted. He believed he could dig faster.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26Although the Brunels had planned the tunnel
0:16:26 > 0:16:28to be for the movement of cargo,
0:16:28 > 0:16:31it was initially opened solely as a pedestrian tunnel,
0:16:31 > 0:16:34and earned its keep as a visitor attraction,
0:16:34 > 0:16:35charging a penny to enter.
0:16:37 > 0:16:42On the first day, there were 50,000 visitors.
0:16:42 > 0:16:47By the end of the third month, when it opened in 1843,
0:16:47 > 0:16:49there were a million visitors.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52- That's half the population of London...- Astonishing!
0:16:52 > 0:16:54..in the first three months.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59The building of the Thames Tunnel was a staggering achievement.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03The ambition required even to conceive of such a project
0:17:03 > 0:17:05being possible was enormous.
0:17:05 > 0:17:12Against all the odds, Brunel father and son managed to achieve what they set out to do -
0:17:12 > 0:17:15to build the world's first ever underwater tunnel.
0:17:19 > 0:17:25Brunel's tunnel under the Thames was absolutely ground-breaking.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29They proved a point that tunnelling under waterways
0:17:29 > 0:17:34was now within the ability of engineers of their time.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37The tunnel was big news.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41And engineers the world over were paying very close attention,
0:17:41 > 0:17:43not least Thome de Gamond.
0:17:47 > 0:17:48Back in France,
0:17:48 > 0:17:52de Gamond was inspired by the example of the Brunels' success.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55Using the techniques they'd pioneered,
0:17:55 > 0:17:59he wanted to forge ahead with his own colossal Channel Tunnel project.
0:18:00 > 0:18:04But he knew that to get a project linking the two nations
0:18:04 > 0:18:08off the ground would require more than engineering vision.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10It needed political support.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14Thome de Gamond had friends in high places.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17By chance, at university, he befriended a certain Prince Louis
0:18:17 > 0:18:20who would later become a very important person.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28De Gamond's student chum had become the first
0:18:28 > 0:18:31president of the French Republic.
0:18:31 > 0:18:36He was none other than Napoleon III, the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40Napoleon was keen on his friend's plans.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43If the English had done it under the Thames,
0:18:43 > 0:18:45why not the French under the Channel?
0:18:48 > 0:18:52Public opinion on both sides was warming to the idea.
0:18:52 > 0:18:58Even the notoriously xenophobic British press began to make encouraging noises.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02It's also said that the famously seasick Queen Victoria
0:19:02 > 0:19:05supported de Gamond's scheme -
0:19:05 > 0:19:09anything to avoid the queasy waters of the Channel.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14Everything was in place. The plans were on the table.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17A tentative trust was growing between the two nations.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21Surely, nothing could stop the tunnel going ahead now?
0:19:28 > 0:19:32Just as it was looking like Napoleon would give the plan the go-ahead,
0:19:32 > 0:19:37an eventful trip to the Paris Opera changed everything.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44Napoleon III was travelling by carriage along Rue Le Peletier
0:19:44 > 0:19:47when he was set upon by a mob
0:19:47 > 0:19:49led by Italian revolutionary, Felice Orsini.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58Orsini's men threw bombs at the imperial carriage,
0:19:58 > 0:20:01killing eight people and injuring more than 100.
0:20:03 > 0:20:06Orsini and his men attempted to assassinate Napoleon
0:20:06 > 0:20:11and in doing so, halted de Gamond's plans for a Channel tunnel once and for all.
0:20:13 > 0:20:15Napoleon emerged unscathed
0:20:15 > 0:20:19and bravely carried on to take his place in his box at the opera house,
0:20:19 > 0:20:23just in time for the curtain to go up on Rossini's William Tell.
0:20:29 > 0:20:33What, you may well ask, had this to do with Thome de Gamond
0:20:33 > 0:20:35and his Channel tunnel?
0:20:35 > 0:20:37Well, rather a lot.
0:20:37 > 0:20:39Because the would-be assassin and his British-made bombs
0:20:39 > 0:20:42had travelled to Paris from England via the Channel.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50If an assassin could travel to France without the aid of a tunnel,
0:20:50 > 0:20:52imagine how much easier it could be
0:20:52 > 0:20:56in the future for enemies of the state to reach French shores.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01Xenophobia and international politics had killed off de Gamond's
0:21:01 > 0:21:06project to link two countries in peace and friendship.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10But as with all good ideas, it wouldn't go away.
0:21:15 > 0:21:19The idea of a Channel tunnel was kept alive
0:21:19 > 0:21:22throughout the 19th century by the expansion of rail travel.
0:21:24 > 0:21:29Across Britain and the Continent there was a civil engineering boom
0:21:29 > 0:21:33and everywhere, new tunnels and bridges were helping to slash journey times.
0:21:33 > 0:21:37Civil engineering in the 19th century was a game-changer.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43The country was developing from, primarily,
0:21:43 > 0:21:47an agricultural economy and was becoming industrialised.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49So civil engineers were at the forefront of all that
0:21:49 > 0:21:53and were recognised as national heroes in their time.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58Here at the Institute of Civil Engineers in London,
0:21:58 > 0:22:02the archives are full to bursting with plans lodged by ambitious
0:22:02 > 0:22:05engineers determined to make their mark on the world.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11Civil engineers like Brunel, Telford and Stevenson
0:22:11 > 0:22:13drove the Industrial Revolution
0:22:13 > 0:22:18and made their names building great civic infrastructure that still remains to this day.
0:22:18 > 0:22:20If you could be the man to come up with a way to make
0:22:20 > 0:22:23the notorious Channel crossing both faster and easier,
0:22:23 > 0:22:26your name would be sure to go down in history.
0:22:31 > 0:22:36I've discovered detailed plans here for all manner of Channel crossings.
0:22:36 > 0:22:42An international floating tunnel, a cast iron tube, a bridge
0:22:42 > 0:22:45and countless designs for tunnels of varying shapes and sizes.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55Amongst all these plans by aspiring British engineers,
0:22:55 > 0:22:58I've uncovered something of an unexpected gem.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05This is a first edition copy of Thome de Gamond's
0:23:05 > 0:23:08plans for the Channel Tunnel.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12But it's a particularly special copy because here at the front,
0:23:12 > 0:23:17just tipped in, is a letter from Thome de Gamond himself,
0:23:17 > 0:23:20presenting this book to the library.
0:23:20 > 0:23:25And in it he talks about his hopes for the project of the Channel Tunnel.
0:23:25 > 0:23:31He describes how he wants the great obstacles that exist to be overcome.
0:23:31 > 0:23:37And he also describes the idea of a tunnel itself as something
0:23:37 > 0:23:41which would be both useful and also glorious.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47Although the assassination attempt on Napoleon had soured relations
0:23:47 > 0:23:50between the governments of France and Britain,
0:23:50 > 0:23:55it hadn't stopped an understanding evolving amongst the engineers of the day.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59Perhaps the international language of science and technology
0:23:59 > 0:24:03could succeed where the politics of suspicion had failed.
0:24:05 > 0:24:11In 1868, the Channel Tunnel baton was passed to a Scottish mining engineer,
0:24:11 > 0:24:15William Lowe, who'd studied de Gamond's plans.
0:24:15 > 0:24:20Recognising their brilliance, Lowe built on the Frenchman's achievements
0:24:20 > 0:24:23and came up with a scheme of his own.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26This is an image of William Lowe's plan.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30It's meticulously drawn, which doubtless helped to sell it
0:24:30 > 0:24:33as a project to the people who looked at it.
0:24:33 > 0:24:37And what's astonishing is that even though this was produced in 1868,
0:24:37 > 0:24:40it's essentially the same type of scheme
0:24:40 > 0:24:42that we have for the Channel Tunnel today.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49Lowe's plan was beautifully simple.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53It involved two single-bore tunnels, each with a railway track.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56The two were interconnected by a ventilation system
0:24:56 > 0:24:59based on those he'd developed for mining tunnels.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03His tunnel was to run 23 miles
0:25:03 > 0:25:05from Dover to Calais,
0:25:05 > 0:25:09right through the layer of chalk discovered by Thome de Gamond.
0:25:13 > 0:25:19Before his death in 1876, de Gamond actually wrote to Lowe.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21He gave the Scotsman his blessing,
0:25:21 > 0:25:24saying he'd always hoped to collaborate
0:25:24 > 0:25:26with a colleague from across the Channel.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33Lowe was undoubtedly a brilliant engineer,
0:25:33 > 0:25:35but for his plan to succeed where others had failed,
0:25:35 > 0:25:37he needed money and influence.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44Step in Sir Edward Watkin.
0:25:44 > 0:25:46The Richard Branson of his day,
0:25:46 > 0:25:50Watkin was a flamboyant rail entrepreneur and MP.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54An ambitious man with powerful allies in government.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58Sir Edward Watkin was the last of the railway kings.
0:25:58 > 0:26:00A very vigorous man
0:26:00 > 0:26:01and he called a spade a spade.
0:26:01 > 0:26:06He was a Mancunian and...he was a very imaginative man
0:26:06 > 0:26:09in the sense of, like a lot of Victorians,
0:26:09 > 0:26:15he thought that if a thing was sound in theory, it would work in practice.
0:26:17 > 0:26:21Watkin was a shrewd businessman with an eye on the next big thing.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24William Lowe's Channel Tunnel design
0:26:24 > 0:26:27was just what he was after.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30He's looking at building a railway link that essentially goes
0:26:30 > 0:26:32from the Midlands and further North,
0:26:32 > 0:26:35all the way through Southern England,
0:26:35 > 0:26:39through a tunnel into France and tapping a massive market,
0:26:39 > 0:26:41and thinks that it's a goer.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47This is Abbot's Cliff between Dover and Folkestone.
0:26:48 > 0:26:52I've come to see for myself how the unbuilt almost happened.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59Here in 1880, thanks to Lowe's vision and Watkin's money,
0:26:59 > 0:27:03the business of tunnelling started for the first time
0:27:03 > 0:27:06in the project's history. They began to dig.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13Edward Watkin employed a team of Welsh miners.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16Carving through the white chalk,
0:27:16 > 0:27:20they began to sink the first shaft for a tunnel to France.
0:27:20 > 0:27:25Joining me is foreign policy expert, Professor Amelia Hadfield,
0:27:25 > 0:27:27who understands the politics of the day.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31So we're off to find the spot
0:27:31 > 0:27:34where they actually started digging in 1880.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37What had enabled them to begin that at that point?
0:27:37 > 0:27:40Well, you have a blossoming, I think, of relationships
0:27:40 > 0:27:43based on diplomatic agreements between, between England and France,
0:27:43 > 0:27:47and, fundamentally, you have the English Channel Tunnel Company Bill,
0:27:47 > 0:27:52being set before the, the House of Commons, and also the French National Assembly.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57Just a few yards further along the shore line,
0:27:57 > 0:27:59under the famous White Cliffs,
0:27:59 > 0:28:04is the place where Watkin's men set to work on this epic undertaking.
0:28:06 > 0:28:12This doesn't look like a site of huge historical significance, does it, Amelia?
0:28:12 > 0:28:14But, but this is actually the point
0:28:14 > 0:28:17where they started tunnelling, here, at Abbot's Cliff.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20And inside there, is the beginning of the tunnel.
0:28:20 > 0:28:24Yes, exactly. I know it looks a little unprepossessing,
0:28:24 > 0:28:27but this is, in fact, a very historical place in British history,
0:28:27 > 0:28:30in French history as well, to the point.
0:28:30 > 0:28:32This is where, this is where it all began,
0:28:32 > 0:28:36so you have to, I think, try to imagine beyond the door.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39Although Watkin's tunnel remains within the cliffs,
0:28:39 > 0:28:43a recent collapse means it's too dangerous for us to go inside.
0:28:43 > 0:28:46But a valuable newsreel gives an insight
0:28:46 > 0:28:48into what lies behind the door.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52'Near Dover, the old workings are still regularly inspected.
0:28:52 > 0:28:56'This was the start of the pilot tunnel, begun about 1880.'
0:29:01 > 0:29:05This tunnel was excavated by Watkin's team using a boring machine
0:29:05 > 0:29:08based on the same principle as Brunel's tunnelling shield.
0:29:10 > 0:29:12At the same time,
0:29:12 > 0:29:15a French team on the other side of the Channel dug to meet them.
0:29:18 > 0:29:21Conscious of sensitive public opinion,
0:29:21 > 0:29:22Watkin promoted the project,
0:29:22 > 0:29:25throwing banquets and arranging underground visits
0:29:25 > 0:29:28for the VIPs and celebrities of the day.
0:29:31 > 0:29:34He certainly had a PR, a savvy streak in him,
0:29:34 > 0:29:37which would seem very contemporary to us now.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40He was smart enough to, to bring a few of the great and the good,
0:29:40 > 0:29:43like Gladstone, for example, the Prince of Wales
0:29:43 > 0:29:44and also the Archbishop of Canterbury,
0:29:44 > 0:29:46and give them private tours,
0:29:46 > 0:29:49and I think, in that sense, sort of an inculcator,
0:29:49 > 0:29:52a degree of legitimacy about the whole project.
0:29:54 > 0:29:57But while Watkin and his friends were partying below the Channel,
0:29:57 > 0:29:58things above ground were beginning to take a turn for the worse.
0:30:03 > 0:30:05The War Office got involved
0:30:05 > 0:30:07and realised perhaps the security implications,
0:30:07 > 0:30:09obviously, the strategic implications,
0:30:09 > 0:30:12and you just have to look around here to get a sense, obviously,
0:30:12 > 0:30:16that you're boring into, to the side of the cliff of a sovereign state
0:30:16 > 0:30:20with the intention of constructing a subterranean tunnel
0:30:20 > 0:30:21to another sovereign state.
0:30:21 > 0:30:23More to the point, I think,
0:30:23 > 0:30:27is the public outcry that you get surprisingly quickly,
0:30:27 > 0:30:30and with a very sort of poisonous feel to it.
0:30:30 > 0:30:35In 1882, the front windows of the British Channel Tunnel Company are smashed,
0:30:35 > 0:30:40because of the problems that the British population at this point feel
0:30:40 > 0:30:44with regards to building a tunnel that can in no way guarantee the security of the island.
0:30:44 > 0:30:51And Watkin, whose tunnel this is in many ways, is demonised.
0:30:53 > 0:30:56And when the upper classes joined the voices of opposition,
0:30:56 > 0:30:59it seemed that Watkin had at last met his match.
0:31:01 > 0:31:05A powerful petition was mounted against the project.
0:31:05 > 0:31:08In this petition, you see a gathering together of public opinion
0:31:08 > 0:31:11stretching from the Cabinet right down to the man on the Clapham omnibus,
0:31:11 > 0:31:14and all them voice opposition and, in some sense, real venom
0:31:14 > 0:31:17with regards to the problems that could arise
0:31:17 > 0:31:20should relations between the two countries turn sour at any point.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27Faced with a groundswell of opposition
0:31:27 > 0:31:30and grave warnings from the War Office,
0:31:30 > 0:31:34the government gave in and, in 1882, digging was stopped.
0:31:39 > 0:31:43Watkin and Lowe's dream of a tunnel under the Channel was at an end.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54It would be almost a century before a Channel Tunnel project
0:31:54 > 0:31:57was seriously considered again.
0:32:02 > 0:32:07Yet again, Britain's xenophobic instincts had won the day.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10The fraught relationship between Britain and the continent
0:32:10 > 0:32:14had stymied the cross-Channel accord between engineers.
0:32:16 > 0:32:21Deep underground, there's a telling footnote to this unbuilt project.
0:32:21 > 0:32:27An inscription by one of Watkin's men notes the date when the project was begun,
0:32:27 > 0:32:31except the word "begun" is hard to decipher.
0:32:31 > 0:32:33Would it ever become clear?
0:32:35 > 0:32:40Britain and, in particular, England, was not yet mentally prepared
0:32:40 > 0:32:43for such a brutal incursion into her shores
0:32:43 > 0:32:46that would put an end, once and for all,
0:32:46 > 0:32:49to the splendid isolation of her natural fortress.
0:32:55 > 0:32:57Britons instinctively believed
0:32:57 > 0:33:01that the sea surrounding them guaranteed British security.
0:33:01 > 0:33:03Anything that compromised this
0:33:03 > 0:33:07threatened their cherished island independence and identity.
0:33:12 > 0:33:15Perversely, fears of invasion
0:33:15 > 0:33:18that had once scuppered the plans for a Channel Tunnel
0:33:18 > 0:33:20would later prove to be the driving force
0:33:20 > 0:33:24behind one of the most ambitious schemes of unbuilt Britain.
0:33:28 > 0:33:32Hundreds of miles north of the White Cliffs of Dover,
0:33:32 > 0:33:35it was proposed to cut an enormous battleship canal
0:33:35 > 0:33:37through the heart of Scotland,
0:33:37 > 0:33:39just to keep us British.
0:33:48 > 0:33:50By the turn of the 20th century,
0:33:50 > 0:33:53Britain had a new and dangerous rival.
0:33:55 > 0:33:57Germany, under Kaiser Wilhelm II,
0:33:57 > 0:34:01was intent on becoming a dominant imperial power,
0:34:01 > 0:34:03but Britain had long ruled the waves
0:34:03 > 0:34:06and wasn't about to give that up lightly.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11To ensure the global supremacy of the Royal Navy,
0:34:11 > 0:34:15the country embarked on a massive shipbuilding programme.
0:34:15 > 0:34:17The first and last line of defence,
0:34:17 > 0:34:20not just for Britain, but the Empire, is the Navy.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25The question for English governments wasn't, "Do we need a Navy?"
0:34:25 > 0:34:28It was, "Have we got enough Navy to do the job?"
0:34:28 > 0:34:31Not to fight anybody, but to make sure
0:34:31 > 0:34:34that nobody would even think about fighting the British.
0:34:35 > 0:34:40At the time, the Navy was glamorous and its admirals celebrities.
0:34:43 > 0:34:48The man driving the transformation of the Royal Navy was a bona fide star.
0:34:48 > 0:34:53First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Jackie Fisher.
0:34:56 > 0:34:59Fisher's determination to win the naval arms race with Germany
0:34:59 > 0:35:03would lead to another tale of unbuilt Britain.
0:35:03 > 0:35:05This began in 1906
0:35:05 > 0:35:09with a momentous development in the history of shipbuilding.
0:35:10 > 0:35:13The launch of HMS Dreadnought.
0:35:16 > 0:35:20HMS Dreadnought is a revolutionary vessel.
0:35:20 > 0:35:25The world's first all big-gun, turbine-powered battleship.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28It changed the technology of propulsion,
0:35:28 > 0:35:31it changed the speed at which battleships moved
0:35:31 > 0:35:34and it more than doubled their heavy gun armament.
0:35:34 > 0:35:38It was a "raise you and double the stakes" motion
0:35:38 > 0:35:40in a game of high-stakes poker.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48Dreadnought changed shipbuilding technology for ever.
0:35:48 > 0:35:50And the Admiralty felt sure
0:35:50 > 0:35:53this huge battleship was the answer to keeping the peace.
0:35:55 > 0:35:58But intelligence began to reach Britain
0:35:58 > 0:36:01of a significant development across the North Sea.
0:36:04 > 0:36:08The Germans had begun enlarging their Kiel Canal.
0:36:10 > 0:36:12This was a huge waterway
0:36:12 > 0:36:14which allowed their battleships
0:36:14 > 0:36:15to pass between the Baltic
0:36:15 > 0:36:17and the North Sea.
0:36:17 > 0:36:21The very arena of a likely future war.
0:36:21 > 0:36:25The Kiel Canal is of enormous strategic importance to Germany.
0:36:25 > 0:36:31It allows them to concentrate their naval assets in one place,
0:36:31 > 0:36:34in total secrecy, at will.
0:36:34 > 0:36:38And there is an argument that we could benefit from something similar.
0:36:39 > 0:36:42If the Germans were enlarging their canal,
0:36:42 > 0:36:45it could mean only one thing.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48They, too, had a ship on the scale of Dreadnought.
0:36:50 > 0:36:52The British Navy could not be undermined.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55Britain needed its very own Kiel Canal.
0:36:58 > 0:37:01The idea of a British battleship canal was born.
0:37:02 > 0:37:05This was a plan that would cut a huge trench
0:37:05 > 0:37:07straight through the country.
0:37:07 > 0:37:09A plan that would make Britain war-ready,
0:37:09 > 0:37:11if it could be built in time.
0:37:15 > 0:37:20That plan was known as the Mid-Scotland Ship Canal.
0:37:20 > 0:37:22It was a proposal for a huge canal
0:37:22 > 0:37:25on the scale of Suez or Panama,
0:37:25 > 0:37:28the largest man-made waterways in the world.
0:37:28 > 0:37:32The problem in Scotland was that many people wanted
0:37:32 > 0:37:36to build it here, by the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.
0:37:38 > 0:37:41Cutting right through the heart of Scotland,
0:37:41 > 0:37:45it would have provided swift passage for enormous ships
0:37:45 > 0:37:48sailing between the North Sea and the Atlantic.
0:37:50 > 0:37:53The one obvious attraction of the Mid-Scotland Canal
0:37:53 > 0:37:58was the link between the east coast and the west coast for strategic purposes.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02The ability to move warships from one side of Britain to the other,
0:38:02 > 0:38:04from the North Sea into the Atlantic,
0:38:04 > 0:38:06without having to go up round the North of Scotland.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11A canal on the scale of the one being proposed
0:38:11 > 0:38:14would allow British battleships to avoid the navigation
0:38:14 > 0:38:17of one of the most treacherous stretches of water
0:38:17 > 0:38:18in the British Isles -
0:38:18 > 0:38:20the Pentland Firth,
0:38:20 > 0:38:22at Scotland's northern-most tip.
0:38:22 > 0:38:25This canal would not just save time,
0:38:25 > 0:38:26but countless lives.
0:38:26 > 0:38:30It seemed just what Britain needed to defend her hallowed shores.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37But the idea of building a massive shipping artery
0:38:37 > 0:38:40through the stunning landscape wasn't new.
0:38:40 > 0:38:44And profit, not defence, had been the motive.
0:38:44 > 0:38:47In fact, the route had already been proposed
0:38:47 > 0:38:49by a group of Scottish merchants
0:38:49 > 0:38:52keen to expand trade with the Empire.
0:38:53 > 0:38:58And it was to their blueprints that Naval attentions now turned.
0:38:58 > 0:39:02At the time, two competing plans were drawn up.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05One by the merchant traders of Glasgow,
0:39:05 > 0:39:09and a second, rival plan by a group of Edinburgh businessmen.
0:39:12 > 0:39:14The first, linked the River Clyde
0:39:14 > 0:39:16and Glasgow to the Firth of Forth
0:39:16 > 0:39:19and was known as the Direct Route.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23The rival plan linked the sea lochs of the Clyde Estuary
0:39:23 > 0:39:27to Loch Lomond and on to the east coast.
0:39:27 > 0:39:28Accordingly, it was known
0:39:28 > 0:39:30as the Loch Lomond Route.
0:39:33 > 0:39:36I've come to the archives of the University of Glasgow
0:39:36 > 0:39:40to look at the only surviving drawings based on proposals
0:39:40 > 0:39:42for the Loch Lomond scheme.
0:39:42 > 0:39:44It is incredibly detailed.
0:39:44 > 0:39:47'I'm joined here by Professor George Fleming,
0:39:47 > 0:39:50'an experienced civil engineer.'
0:39:50 > 0:39:52From a civil engineering point of view,
0:39:52 > 0:39:56how viable was the Loch Lomond scheme?
0:39:56 > 0:39:58It was a massive cut from Grangemouth
0:39:58 > 0:40:00through the Forth Valley, into Loch Lomond.
0:40:00 > 0:40:03And that's the plan that we can see here, the Loch Lomond.
0:40:03 > 0:40:06The plan you see is the line of the canal crossing the Forth Valley
0:40:06 > 0:40:08and coming out into Loch Lomond.
0:40:08 > 0:40:13And out from the top end of Loch Lomond, from Tarbet to Arrochar.
0:40:15 > 0:40:20The proposed sea lane through Loch Lomond would have been enormous.
0:40:20 > 0:40:24At 120 feet wide and 26 feet deep,
0:40:24 > 0:40:26it was equal in size to one of the largest
0:40:26 > 0:40:30and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken -
0:40:30 > 0:40:32the Panama Canal,
0:40:32 > 0:40:35which took 23 years to complete.
0:40:35 > 0:40:41The Loch Lomond scheme promised to be an equally complex undertaking.
0:40:41 > 0:40:43In this section here,
0:40:43 > 0:40:45the canal would be running through
0:40:45 > 0:40:48but the landmass is much higher.
0:40:48 > 0:40:52That would involve a cross-section cut shown here,
0:40:52 > 0:40:58where you're cutting through up to 280 feet down into the base.
0:40:58 > 0:41:03So you had a 280-feet sheer drop on either side of the canal.
0:41:03 > 0:41:05And in other parts,
0:41:05 > 0:41:07your cut would be about a 120 feet
0:41:07 > 0:41:09through solid schist, mica-schist.
0:41:12 > 0:41:15The unique mountainous landscape around Loch Lomond
0:41:15 > 0:41:19would have proved enormously challenging to excavate.
0:41:19 > 0:41:22Cutting hundreds of feet through solid rock
0:41:22 > 0:41:25to carve a trench as deep as most tower blocks are high
0:41:25 > 0:41:27is a dizzying thought
0:41:27 > 0:41:30and would have wrought havoc for miles around.
0:41:32 > 0:41:37This scheme represented a massive cut through the centre of Scotland.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40Environmentally, not acceptable today.
0:41:40 > 0:41:45Civil engineers essentially build things to service society.
0:41:45 > 0:41:47And the more complicated a thing,
0:41:47 > 0:41:50the more excited the civil engineer becomes.
0:41:50 > 0:41:55And, at that time, environmental considerations didn't enter into it.
0:41:59 > 0:42:01The evidence from the plans I've studied
0:42:01 > 0:42:03enables modern 3D graphics
0:42:03 > 0:42:06to show in dramatic detail
0:42:06 > 0:42:08the impact of this colossal scheme
0:42:08 > 0:42:11on the beautiful landscape around Loch Lomond.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15Dreadnought sailing through a vast cut into the sea,
0:42:15 > 0:42:20head to an enormous docking area at the south of the loch,
0:42:20 > 0:42:24from here, they sail on to the Firth of Forth and the North Sea.
0:42:27 > 0:42:30The initial price tag of the Loch Lomond scheme
0:42:30 > 0:42:31was around £8 million,
0:42:31 > 0:42:36the equivalent today of £2.7 billion.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39But the arrival of the enormous Dreadnought
0:42:39 > 0:42:43had an expensive knock-on effect for the canal
0:42:43 > 0:42:46and all the other naval facilities.
0:42:46 > 0:42:50Shipyards across Britain were already being overhauled
0:42:50 > 0:42:52to accommodate her.
0:42:52 > 0:42:54The ships get bigger and bigger.
0:42:56 > 0:43:01That means the costs of building a canal go up and up and up,
0:43:01 > 0:43:03because you have to make it bigger.
0:43:04 > 0:43:07There was a cheaper alternative.
0:43:07 > 0:43:11The Direct Route was almost 20 miles shorter than the Loch Lomond Route
0:43:11 > 0:43:16which, on paper at least, meant it looked more affordable.
0:43:16 > 0:43:20It was further argued that this route had much greater potential
0:43:20 > 0:43:23to pay its way by earning commercial fees,
0:43:23 > 0:43:25as it flowed directly into Glasgow,
0:43:25 > 0:43:27then, the second city of Empire.
0:43:31 > 0:43:36The financial viability of the proposed scheme had already been demonstrated by an earlier canal.
0:43:40 > 0:43:42This is the Forth and Clyde Canal,
0:43:42 > 0:43:44opened in 1790 for the same reason
0:43:44 > 0:43:47that the ship canal was now desired -
0:43:47 > 0:43:52to provide a shipping shortcut between the Firth of Clyde, on the west coast,
0:43:52 > 0:43:54and the Firth of Forth, on the east.
0:43:59 > 0:44:03I'm joined on the Forth and Clyde by historian Guthrie Hutton,
0:44:03 > 0:44:06an authority on Scotland's canals.
0:44:06 > 0:44:12Why was it that this canal couldn't be adapted to take larger shipping?
0:44:12 > 0:44:14Er...main reason was the depth.
0:44:14 > 0:44:16When it was first opened in 1790,
0:44:16 > 0:44:19the vessels that would be using it were relatively small.
0:44:19 > 0:44:21It would have been possible to widen it,
0:44:21 > 0:44:23but not to deepen it.
0:44:23 > 0:44:25That was the real difficulty.
0:44:25 > 0:44:29The surveyors of the ship canal quickly ruled out the idea
0:44:29 > 0:44:32of doing away with the smaller canal
0:44:32 > 0:44:35and instead decided to build alongside the existing waterway.
0:44:37 > 0:44:41The Direct Route would have been quite devastating.
0:44:41 > 0:44:44The excavation for a Direct Route Canal
0:44:44 > 0:44:46ran just, just beside this canal.
0:44:46 > 0:44:49You can see the countryside there, where it would have gone.
0:44:49 > 0:44:55It would have been an absolutely enormous chasm across the country.
0:44:56 > 0:45:00Although the Direct Route was shorter than the Loch Lomond scheme,
0:45:00 > 0:45:02it wasn't without its own costly problems.
0:45:04 > 0:45:09The infrastructure of Central Scotland had kind of built up around the canal.
0:45:09 > 0:45:12There were a lot of tunnels, for example, going under the canal,
0:45:12 > 0:45:17railway tunnels, road, the aqueducts going over roads and so on,
0:45:17 > 0:45:19very, very big structures,
0:45:19 > 0:45:22which would all have had to have been taken down and rebuilt
0:45:22 > 0:45:24in order to get the greater depth.
0:45:26 > 0:45:30Amid claims that the simplicity of the Direct Route had been overstated,
0:45:30 > 0:45:36a Royal Commission into Britain's canals was asked to examine both schemes.
0:45:36 > 0:45:41It concluded that the cost of both routes had been underestimated,
0:45:41 > 0:45:43having failed to take into account
0:45:43 > 0:45:47at least 20 road and rail bridges needed to cross the canal.
0:45:52 > 0:45:55Both routes now came with an estimated price tag
0:45:55 > 0:45:57of more than £20 million,
0:45:57 > 0:46:00or £6.7 billion in today's money.
0:46:03 > 0:46:06But despite rising costs,
0:46:06 > 0:46:08supporters of the project still insisted
0:46:08 > 0:46:11that the canal was something the country had to invest in
0:46:11 > 0:46:13to ensure national security.
0:46:15 > 0:46:19Britain is now locked into a competitive race
0:46:19 > 0:46:24for naval power with Germany and seeing who blinks first.
0:46:25 > 0:46:29By 1909, the naval arms race had reached fever pitch.
0:46:29 > 0:46:33And the public were demanding more money to be spent on defence.
0:46:35 > 0:46:39The strategic case for the ship canal is made quite forcefully
0:46:39 > 0:46:43and there is a point when Fisher likes the idea.
0:46:43 > 0:46:46It would allow movement between the two coasts,
0:46:46 > 0:46:49in total secrecy and absolutely safety,
0:46:49 > 0:46:52and being able to use the shipyard facilities on the Clyde,
0:46:52 > 0:46:55because you can get there freely.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00As war with Germany grew ever closer,
0:47:00 > 0:47:04the prospect of creating a backdoor to these great shipyards of the Clyde
0:47:04 > 0:47:07made the canal more urgent in the eyes of some.
0:47:10 > 0:47:13But Fisher was also pushing the government
0:47:13 > 0:47:16to build eight more battleships.
0:47:16 > 0:47:20The country was once again in the grip of a xenophobic terror.
0:47:20 > 0:47:24A fearful public got behind him, coining the slogan,
0:47:24 > 0:47:26"We want eight and we won't wait!"
0:47:28 > 0:47:31Admiral Fisher used his connections with the press
0:47:31 > 0:47:34to generate a naval armament scare in which he managed to argue
0:47:34 > 0:47:38the Germans were close to the British in their numbers of battleships.
0:47:38 > 0:47:41And the government eventually caved in
0:47:41 > 0:47:43and they ordered eight battleships in one year.
0:47:45 > 0:47:48This huge shipbuilding programme would cost the country
0:47:48 > 0:47:51a staggering £16 million.
0:47:51 > 0:47:55The case for a canal across the country,
0:47:55 > 0:47:57through which these new vessels could sail,
0:47:57 > 0:47:59appeared stronger than ever.
0:48:01 > 0:48:03But this time, Fisher had gone too far.
0:48:05 > 0:48:09His additional eight Dreadnoughts had effectively bankrupted the country.
0:48:09 > 0:48:11Something had to give.
0:48:14 > 0:48:17You can say, "Well, we can have a ship canal
0:48:17 > 0:48:19"or we can have more Dreadnoughts...
0:48:19 > 0:48:21"We'll have more Dreadnoughts, thank you."
0:48:21 > 0:48:25The arms race, which had been the driving force behind the canal,
0:48:25 > 0:48:27would prove to be its undoing.
0:48:28 > 0:48:32You don't get the same agitation for the ship canal
0:48:32 > 0:48:34as you do for building more ships.
0:48:34 > 0:48:38You can't sail the ship canal round the world flying the flag.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41It's a sort of invisible accretion of extra strength.
0:48:43 > 0:48:47The Mid-Scotland Ship Canal had missed its moment.
0:48:47 > 0:48:50It was simply deemed too expensive
0:48:50 > 0:48:53at a time when the pull on resources was enormous.
0:48:56 > 0:49:00Great engineering schemes are born of trying to solve great problems.
0:49:00 > 0:49:02But in the face of war,
0:49:02 > 0:49:05spending a couple of extra days getting from coast to coast
0:49:05 > 0:49:08was deemed a relatively insignificant inconvenience.
0:49:08 > 0:49:13Whereas Panama and Suez had shown that they would change the world,
0:49:13 > 0:49:16the Mid-Scotland Ship Canal failed to convince those in power
0:49:16 > 0:49:19that it was anything more than a shortcut.
0:49:26 > 0:49:28Like many unbuilt plans,
0:49:28 > 0:49:31the Mid-Scotland Ship Canal lingered on,
0:49:31 > 0:49:33like a ghost of what might have been.
0:49:33 > 0:49:38But, ultimately, the stars never aligned to allow it to go ahead.
0:49:41 > 0:49:46Today, Loch Lomond thankfully remains free of warships.
0:49:46 > 0:49:50The crowning glory of Scotland's first national park.
0:49:55 > 0:49:58If war and the threat of invasion
0:49:58 > 0:50:01had been behind the rise and fall of the canal,
0:50:01 > 0:50:03perhaps even greater schemes might be possible
0:50:03 > 0:50:05with the outbreak of peace.
0:50:07 > 0:50:12But, as it transpired, it would take two world wars and seven decades
0:50:12 > 0:50:14before Britain finally felt ready
0:50:14 > 0:50:18to entertain a more physical relationship with the continent.
0:50:20 > 0:50:21The Channel Tunnel was long a dream of its advocates,
0:50:22 > 0:50:24the joke of its detractors.
0:50:24 > 0:50:26Now the project is revived
0:50:26 > 0:50:27as something much wanted.
0:50:27 > 0:50:29Thoroughly practicable.
0:50:29 > 0:50:30In this rocket age,
0:50:30 > 0:50:33defence and security objections are much out of date.
0:50:41 > 0:50:45In a new era of peace and co-operation across Europe,
0:50:45 > 0:50:47the idea of a tunnel gained momentum.
0:50:47 > 0:50:52And in 1974, there was one last thwarted attempt.
0:50:57 > 0:50:59In an echo of the 1880 dig,
0:50:59 > 0:51:02the tunnellers bored nearly a mile under the sea
0:51:02 > 0:51:05before a change of government called the project to a halt.
0:51:08 > 0:51:12But as European, economic and political integration gathered pace,
0:51:12 > 0:51:15the case for a fixed link seemed irrefutable.
0:51:17 > 0:51:21Even the naturally Euro-sceptic Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
0:51:21 > 0:51:23was eventually persuaded
0:51:23 > 0:51:27and, in 1985, her government announced a competition
0:51:27 > 0:51:28for a fixed link to Europe.
0:51:33 > 0:51:35This sparked a clutch of grand designs,
0:51:35 > 0:51:38including Eurotunnel's twin bore rail tunnel
0:51:38 > 0:51:41and the incredibly ambitious EuroRoute,
0:51:41 > 0:51:44a combined bridge and tunnel scheme.
0:51:46 > 0:51:48For a time in the early part of the competition,
0:51:48 > 0:51:51it did appear that...UK government,
0:51:51 > 0:51:55Margaret Thatcher and the Cabinet, favoured the EuroRoute,
0:51:55 > 0:51:57the part-bridge, part-tunnel solution.
0:51:57 > 0:52:02Possibly because that gave full flexibility for car users
0:52:02 > 0:52:09to simply drive onto the bridge and carry on into France hassle-free.
0:52:12 > 0:52:15EuroRoute was the only scheme to offer the freedom
0:52:15 > 0:52:18to drive straight to France.
0:52:18 > 0:52:21Vehicles would cross a four-lane suspension bridge
0:52:21 > 0:52:22to an artificial island,
0:52:22 > 0:52:27recalling Thome de Gamond's early idea of building on the Varne Bank.
0:52:27 > 0:52:30Here, shops and restaurants would cater
0:52:30 > 0:52:32for the needs of cross-Channel motorists.
0:52:35 > 0:52:39From the island, traffic would drive into a submerged tube tunnel,
0:52:39 > 0:52:44linked to another island and bridge to France.
0:52:44 > 0:52:46Running parallel to the road
0:52:46 > 0:52:48would be a continental rail link.
0:52:50 > 0:52:56In 1984, this gigantic, awe-inspiring vision was futuristic.
0:52:56 > 0:52:58It almost seemed too bold.
0:52:58 > 0:53:02But since then, other bridges have used the same techniques.
0:53:02 > 0:53:06The famous Oresund Bridge, for example, between Denmark and Sweden,
0:53:06 > 0:53:09is a hybrid bridge and tunnel
0:53:09 > 0:53:13linking two countries by road and rail.
0:53:13 > 0:53:16EuroRoute would have been three times longer.
0:53:16 > 0:53:19It's a breathtaking thought.
0:53:19 > 0:53:22And in the 1980s, when manufacturing was in steep decline,
0:53:22 > 0:53:26this was just the type of major project
0:53:26 > 0:53:28to get industry working again.
0:53:28 > 0:53:30But it didn't happen.
0:53:30 > 0:53:33EuroRoute probably failed
0:53:33 > 0:53:36because it was almost double the price
0:53:36 > 0:53:39of the, the rail tunnel option.
0:53:39 > 0:53:44It gave more flexibility, it had some major backers behind it,
0:53:44 > 0:53:47but ultimately it was the economics
0:53:47 > 0:53:50that made it a riskier proposition all round.
0:53:50 > 0:53:56In 1985, Margaret Thatcher announced the winner of the competition.
0:53:56 > 0:53:58Eurotunnel got the gig.
0:53:58 > 0:54:02EuroRoute and all the other plans became part of unbuilt history.
0:54:02 > 0:54:07However, their legacy lives on in the tunnel we use today.
0:54:09 > 0:54:13I've come to Folkestone to find out how the early unbuilt plans
0:54:13 > 0:54:16helped to bring the tunnel to fruition.
0:54:16 > 0:54:17Meeting me at the terminal
0:54:17 > 0:54:21is Eurotunnel's Communications Director, John Keefe.
0:54:21 > 0:54:24- Hello, John. Good to meet you. - Lovely to meet you.
0:54:24 > 0:54:27John, I've spent so long looking at plans for the tunnel
0:54:27 > 0:54:30which never were realised.
0:54:30 > 0:54:32But it's still something of a revelation to me
0:54:32 > 0:54:35that you can get on a train and be in France in half an hour.
0:54:35 > 0:54:37Absolutely. If we got on this one,
0:54:37 > 0:54:41we would be on the platform, on the other side, in 30 minutes.
0:54:43 > 0:54:46Eurotunnel is a rail shuttle service
0:54:46 > 0:54:48using two running rail tunnels
0:54:48 > 0:54:52and a third service tunnel, which is the one John's taking me into now.
0:54:56 > 0:55:01John, this is tremendously exciting to be travelling through the tunnel.
0:55:01 > 0:55:06That moment when the two shook hands through a hole in the rock,
0:55:06 > 0:55:08that was actually at that point
0:55:08 > 0:55:12the crossing between Britain and France,
0:55:12 > 0:55:16a land crossing that hadn't been there since before the last Ice Age.
0:55:16 > 0:55:18You know, that's how big it was.
0:55:20 > 0:55:22Four years later,
0:55:22 > 0:55:25the first passengers travelled under the Channel,
0:55:25 > 0:55:28just as Mathieu-Favier, Thome de Gamond,
0:55:28 > 0:55:30William Lowe and Edward Watkin
0:55:30 > 0:55:33had envisaged more than a century before.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44John's brought me to a point in the tunnel
0:55:44 > 0:55:47where all the efforts of the past come together.
0:55:47 > 0:55:49Well, this is where we have the crossover
0:55:49 > 0:55:54of all of the different attempts to dig a Channel Tunnel.
0:55:54 > 0:55:55If we go back to 1882,
0:55:55 > 0:56:00we would have had tunnellers coming through from our left-hand side,
0:56:00 > 0:56:03going right the way through here and heading out to sea.
0:56:03 > 0:56:09In 1974, the tunnellers dug down from a shaft
0:56:09 > 0:56:10and headed out to sea.
0:56:10 > 0:56:12And you can see up here,
0:56:12 > 0:56:17got "1974" on all of the segments along here.
0:56:17 > 0:56:21So where we're standing is a sort of crossroads in history.
0:56:21 > 0:56:24We've got 1882 going this way,
0:56:24 > 0:56:27we've got 1974 all around us
0:56:27 > 0:56:31and then, we've got 1986 going off into the distance
0:56:31 > 0:56:32and eventually to France.
0:56:32 > 0:56:34So this is absolutely the point
0:56:34 > 0:56:38where those aborted projects of the past come together,
0:56:38 > 0:56:42where the unbuilt and the built meet and join?
0:56:42 > 0:56:47That's it. If we could go either side through these iron segments,
0:56:47 > 0:56:50we would find the unbuilt Channel Tunnel.
0:56:50 > 0:56:53Those early tunnel pioneers,
0:56:53 > 0:56:58how close did they come to a practical solution for the tunnel?
0:56:58 > 0:57:00They were bang on.
0:57:00 > 0:57:02I think all of the engineers who had anything to do
0:57:02 > 0:57:07with previous attempts to build a Channel Tunnel would be fascinated to come down here,
0:57:07 > 0:57:09and I think they'd be very proud to know
0:57:09 > 0:57:15that parts of their thinking is here, right here, right now,
0:57:15 > 0:57:19inside the modern realisation that they dreamt of so many years ago.
0:57:22 > 0:57:24There's no doubt that the Channel Tunnel
0:57:24 > 0:57:27is one of the wonders of the modern world.
0:57:27 > 0:57:29It's a marvel of engineering,
0:57:29 > 0:57:34carrying thousands of passengers for 31 miles under the sea every day.
0:57:37 > 0:57:39It's also a perfect example
0:57:39 > 0:57:43of how attitudes to our continental neighbours
0:57:43 > 0:57:47have helped write the history of our greatest engineering projects.
0:57:49 > 0:57:52The political and economic climate was finally right
0:57:52 > 0:57:56for the Channel Tunnel project to go ahead in the late 1980s.
0:57:56 > 0:57:59The Mid-Scotland Ship Canal, by contrast,
0:57:59 > 0:58:01never quite gained sufficient momentum
0:58:01 > 0:58:02to convince the governments of the times.
0:58:04 > 0:58:08To this day, it remains just one of a wealth of ideas
0:58:08 > 0:58:11that make up the world of unbuilt Britain.
0:58:16 > 0:58:18Join me on my next investigation
0:58:18 > 0:58:21when I'll discover how the Great Fire of London
0:58:21 > 0:58:25inspired the most beautiful unbuilt city in Britain,
0:58:25 > 0:58:27and how the city of Glasgow was nearly demolished
0:58:27 > 0:58:30by a visionary with a grand plan.
0:58:47 > 0:58:50Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd