A blue plaque has been installed 40 metres underground to mark the location where the HS2 line passes directly beneath the Brunel family tomb. HS2 Ltd stated that the marker celebrates "one of the world’s greatest engineering dynasties".
The plaque is fitted to the wall of the Euston Tunnel, which is being dug by two machines travelling from Old Oak Common in west London to Euston. The tunnel runs beneath Kensal Green Cemetery, where members of the Brunel family, including Sir Marc Isambard Brunel and his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel, are buried.
Sir Marc Isambard Brunel designed the Thames Tunnel and invented the tunnel shield method, which is still in use today. Isambard Kingdom Brunel's projects included the Great Western Railway’s Box Tunnel and Bristol’s Clifton Suspension Bridge.
HS2 Ltd chief executive Mark Wild said the engineering achievements of Sir Marc and Isambard Kingdom Brunel "cannot be underplayed". Katherine McAlpine, director of London’s Brunel Museum, added that modern tunnelling on the scale of HS2 "would not have been possible" without Sir Marc's work.