BRIDGES

See Also: CANALS Blow-Up Bridge; THE CITY OF LONDON; DISTRICT CHANGE; FRUIT Pineapples, Lambeth Bridge; HAY Bales of Hay; RAILWAYS; ROADS; THE THAMES; TOWNHOUSES, DISAPPEARED Northumberland Avenue; TUNNELS

The Albert Bridge

The Albert Bridge (1872) was designed by the engineer by Rowland Ordish. He used the Franz Josef Bridge in Prague as his model.¹

The structure is known as the Trembling Lady. She has a sign on her that troops must break step whenever they are crossing it in a body. This is because if they did not and continued to march there would be a real danger that it might collapse from the vibrations that would be caused by their boots striking the bridge's road surface.

In 1959 the poet and architectural writer John Betjeman led a successful campaign that opposed a plan that had included the structure's demolition.

Location: Albert Bridge, c.SW3 5TR and c.SW11 4PL (purple, yellow)

See Also: HERITAGE Lost London, The Euston Arch; HOTELS The Midland Grand

¹. Ordish went on to assist William Barlow on the construction of St Pancras Railway Station.

Battersea Bridge

The northern end of Battersea Bridge (1771), a wooden structure, was built on what had been the pier for Sir Thomas More's mansion. The bridge was the subject of a series of paintings by the artist James McNeill Whistler. In 1883 Battersea Bridge was restricted to pedestrian traffic. In 1887 it was dismantled. The successor bridge (1890) was designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette (1819-1891).

Location: Battersea Bridge Road, SW11 3BZ (purple, orange)

Cheyne Walk, SW3 5BB (purple, blue)

Blackfriars Bridge

None of London's bridges are named after a monarch or a prime minister. This is unusual for a capital city. (This is paralleled by the way in which very few of London's major roads are named after an individual.)

The construction of the first Blackfriars Bridge (1769) was paid for by the Bridge House Estates. Officially, the structure was called the William Pitt Bridge. However, people took to referring to it as Blackfriars Bridge. The crossing's name was soon changed to reflect the reality.

Location: Blackfriars Bridge, c.EC4V 4EG and c.SE1 9UD (orange, yellow)

See Also: THE SUSPENDED BANKER

Bow Bridge

One of King Henry I's (d.1135) wives was almost drowned while she was trying to cross a ford that spanned the River Lea. This prompted the monarch to order the construction of Bow Bridge.

Location: Bow Bridge, c.E3 2SP

The City of London Bridges

The City of London looks after Blackfriars Bridge, London Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Southwark Bridge, and Tower Bridge.

Website: www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/architecture/bridges

The City Bridge Trust

The City Bridge Trust, formerly the Bridge House Estate Fund, is one of the financial bodies that the Corporation of the City of London controls. The income that it generates is intended primarily to pay for the maintenance of the bridges that the local authority owns (Blackfriars, London, Southwark, and Tower).

The Trust was established by King John at the start of the 13^thC.¹ The Bridge House Estate was amassed during the Middle Ages through bequests that was left to the body. King Edward I allowed the rent of the market, that subsequently became the Stocks Market, to be assigned to London Bridge s maintenance.

The Bridge House Estates Committee of the Corporation was founded in 1592. It is the senior Corporation committee. Its chairman is the Chief Commoner, who is the leader of the City's Common Council.

The Council agreed in 1995 that the Bridge House Estate Fund's financial surplus could furnish income for a Trust that would make grants to organisations and charitable bodies in greater London that have worthwhile objectives. In 2007 the Fund was renamed The City Bridge Trust.

Location: Aldermanbury, EC2V 7JN (orange, turquoise)

Website: www.citybridgetrust.org.uk

¹. Bad King John, the younger brother of King Richard the Lionheart.

The Freeing of The West

The bridges that were built across the Thames to the west of the City of London were constructed by private companies. Some of the enterprises proved to be financially troubled. This precariousness called into doubt their ability to maintain their structures in a safe condition. The necessity for action was underscored by the fact that when vehicles paid their tolls they stopped. This delay frequently had a knock-on effect that caused traffic to become gridlocked in the districts that abutted the bridges ends. Therefore, the Metropolitan Toll Bridges Act was passed into law in 1877. Two years later Sir Joseph Bazalgette persuaded the Metropolitan Board of Works to use the measure's provisions to buy control of the bridges from Waterloo Bridge to Hammersmith Bridge. The authority made them toll-free. He oversaw a number of improvements to their structures and replaced three of them: Battersea (1886-90), Hammersmith (1883-7), and Putney (1882-6).

See Also: THE THAMES The Embankment and Sir Joseph Bazalgette; TRAFFIC CONTROL

Ha'penny Hatch Bridge

Ha penny Hatch Bridge is a pedestrian bridge that crosses Deptford Creek. Its name reveals its origins as a toll bridge.

Hammersmith Bridge

All of the other bridges across the tidal Thames have markings to indicate to watermen what the clearance. Hammersmith Bridge is the lowest of them. To give watermen time to decided not to try to pass under it there are measuring poles both upriver and downriver of it. The former is on Chiswick Ait and the latter on the Harrods Depositary flats. 1 is highest and 7 lowest.

In 1986 the Conservative government abolished the Greater London Council. Hammersmith Bridge was transferred to Hammersmith & Fulham Council.

In April 2019 cracks appeared in the bridges cast-iron pedestals. The bridge was closed to motor vehicles. The cost of a full repair was estimated to be 141m. Hammersmith & Fulham's annual budget was 140m. The principal users of the bridge live south of the river in the Borough of Richmond. Hammersmith & Fulham had no electoral motivation to resolve the matter. As a result, the matter became subject to squabbling between the two boroughs, the Greater London Authority, and the Department of Transport. The summer of 2020 was particularly. The cracks widened. In August the bridge was also closed to cyclists, pedestrians, and river traffic.

Location: Hammersmith Bridge, c.W6 9DA and c.SW13 9EA

Hornsey Lane Bridge

Hornsey Lane Bridge (1897) in Highgate is better known as Suicide Bridge. John Nash modelled the original structure (1812) on a Roman aqueduct.

Location: Hornsey Lane Bridge, c.N6 5LU

Lambeth Bridge

Lambeth Bridge (1862) replaced a horseferry that operated across the River Thames. The original structure was designed by Peter W. Barlow. Originally, the suspension bridge was a toll bridge. The Metropolitan Board of Works acquired it in 1879 and made it toll-free.

The London County Council (Lambeth Bridge) Act of 1924 enabled the construction of a new, broader bridge. This was designed by the architects Sir Reginald Blomfield and G. Topham Forrest and the engineer Sir George Humphreys. The four-lane structure was opened in 1932.

It has been claimed that Lambeth Bridge was painted red to match the benches of the Lords.

Location: Lambeth Road, SE1 7SG (red, yellow)

London Bridge

Prior to its embankment, the Thames was both broader and shallower. Therefore, it could be forded at certain points - a site just to the east of the present London Bridge was one of these. (Other ones upriver of it included Chelsea, Fulham, and Brentford.)

The Romans availed themselves of the ford's shallowness to build the first London Bridge. This wooden structure was kept in a state of repair until the late 12^thC. It was then replaced by a stone bridge that had nineteen arches.

The moving force in the erection of the new bridge was Peter de Colechurch, a priest. The structure's 30-year-long construction and subsequent maintenance were overseen by the Fraternity of the Brethren of London Bridge, a church-based organisation. In 1282 this body was granted a royal warrant. The bridge stood on Roman piles.

Shops were built on the bridge in order that the income that they generated could be used to defray the cost of the structure's maintenance. The crossing developed a community that resided upon it permanently.¹

In 1581 Pieter Morice attached a waterwheel to London Bridge. This was powered by the rush of water through one of the structure's narrow arches. Sufficient energy was generated that water drawn from the river could be pumped as far as Cornhill.

For many years there was a practice of displaying the heads of executed traitors upon London Bridge. These were heavily salted in order to discourage birds from devouring them.

In 1756 an Act of Parliament sanctioned the demolition of all of the buildings that had been constructed upon London Bridge. Six years later Moorgate, one of the City's gates, was demolished. Its stones were used to mitigate the deleterious effect that the tide had been having upon the crossing.

During some winters the numerous small arches of the medieval bridge enabled the Thames to freeze upriver of the structure. If the ice then proved to be thick enough for people to stand on safely then a frost fair was sometimes held upon it. The last of these took place during the winter of 1813-4. A new crossing was designed by John Rennie the elder, who opted to use Cornish granite. He died in 1821. The five-arch structure was completed by his son Sir John Rennie the younger. The replacement sped the river's current and so made it harder for the watercourse to freeze over. The waterworks waterwheel was not incorporated into the new structure. (Three of the old bridge's alcoves were preserved. One is now in Guy s Hospital, while the other two are to be found at the eastern end of Victoria Park in east London.)

The 19^thC bridge was replaced by a new one in 1972. It is hollow. Its pavements are heated.

Location: London Bridge, c.EC4R 3AE (orange, purple)

See Also: COLUMNS The Monument; EXECUTIONS Post-Execution, Traitors Heads; FAIRS; FOOD MARKETS Borough Market; PASTIES IN THE DESERT; ROMAN REMAINS; THE THAMES The Pool of London; WALLS & GATEWAYS The Demolition of The Wall and Gateways; WATER SUPPLY The London Bridge Waterworks

Website: www.golakehavasu.com/london-bridge http://oldlondonbridge.com (London Bridge Museum & Educational Trust)

¹. The only bridge in Britain on which people still live is Pulteney Bridge in Bath.

St Magnus's Model

There is a 4m model of the old London Bridge in St Magnus the Martyr.

Location: St Magnus the Martyr, Lower Thames Street, EC3R 6DN (orange, white)

Website: www.stmagnusmartyr.org.uk

London's Shape

London is longer east-to-west than it is north-to-south. On the outer sections of the Thames's bends the water is deeper. It was easier to berth ships in such places. Therefore, a series of settlements were established. These grew into a string of townships along the river's course.

Initial north-south growth was hampered by the limited number of river crossings.

See Also: EXPLORATION The Centre of London

The Metropolitan Board of Works

Some of the companies that had developed the bridges to the west of the City of London proved to be financially troubled business. The Metropolitan Toll Bridges Act passed into law in 1877. Two years later the Metropolitan Board of Works bought control of the bridges from Waterloo Bridge to Hammersmith Bridge made them toll-free.

Location: 10 Spring Gardens, SW1A 2BN (orange, yellow)

The Millennium Bridge

The idea for a footbridge between St Paul's and the Southbank was created by the architect Theo Crosby (d.1994) and his wife the polymath Polly Hope (n e June Stockwell) (1933-2013). The couple were involved in the recreation of The Globe theatre. They presented the idea at a meeting of the Globe council in 1991. At the time, the theatre project was at its nadir. As a result, Crosby was challenged about this extension of a project that did not appear to be progressing. He replied My dear chap, we can t get bogged down by the petty present. We have to look to the future.

The design of the bridge was a collaboration between the archirectural firm Foster + Partners, the design and engineering consultancy Arup, and the sculptor Sir Anthony Caro (1924-2013).

In 1996 it was announced that a pedestrian bridge was going to be built across the Thames in order to link St Paul's Cathedral to the Tate Britain at Bankside. The structure's designer was Sir Norman Foster. When the Millennium Bridge opened four years later, it was discovered to possess a pronounced wobble ; it was promptly dubbed the Wobbly Bridge . The lateral oscillations were induced whenever a large number of pedestrians were walking on the structure at the same time. The phenomenon was eventually countered by a technique that involved unobtrusive passive dampers being added to the bridge. The work took twenty months, during which the crossing was closed.

Upon occasion strong winds prompt the Metropolitan Police to temporarily close the crossing.

Location: The Millennium Bridge, c.EC4V 3AL (red, orange)

See Also: EXHIBITING GALLERIES The Hayward Gallery, Archigram; GEOLOGY Earthquakes

Putney Bridge

In 1671 Parliament considered a Bill for the construction of a bridge at Putney. The watermen lobbied against the measure. It did not pass into law. In 1729 Thomas Phillips linked Fulham and Putney with a wooden, toll bridge. It was located a hundred yards downriver from the present bridge, which completed in 1886. It incorporates an already extant aqueduct.

Location: Putney Bridge Approach, SW6 3LA

Putney Bridge Road, SW15 1SL.

St James's Park Footbridge

Eric Bedford, the Ministry of Works's Chief Architect, designed modernist bridge that crosses the lake in St James's Park. From it there is a very picturesque eastwards view towards Whitehall. Bedford's other designs included the BT Tower (1964).

Southwark Bridge

The original cast-iron bridge was built for the Southwark Bridge Company, a private concern, in 1819. In 1868 the Corporation of the City of London bought the bridge.

Location: Queen Street Place, c.EC4R 1QS

Southwark Bridge Road, c.SE1 9HL (red, pink)

Website: www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/architecture/bridges/southwark-bridge

Stinkhouse Bridge

Stinkhouse Bridge in Poplar crosses the Limehouse Cut, which links River Lee from Bromley by Bow to Limehouse. The structure s name derives from the proximity of Frederick Allen & Son, a business that was involved in array of chemicals industries including potash.

Location: Bow Common Lane, E3 4AX

Three Bridges

Great Western & Brentford Railway wanted a railway line to connect Southall to Brentford Dock. The route was surveyed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It included Three Bridges, where the line crossed both Windmill Lane and the canal. Three Bridges consists of the road bridge at the top, the canal in an iron trough in the middle, and the railway cutting at the bottom. It was the civil engineer s last major project.

Location: Windmill Lane, Southall, c.UB2 4LR

Tower Bridge

The idea of a crossing that would provide some relief for London Bridge was mooted in 1876. The bridge was designed by the City of London architect Sir Horace Jones and the engineer Sir John Wolfe Barry. Its construction was started in 1886.

At the time of its completion Tower Bridge (1894) was widely disliked. There was a widely held view that its design was out of character with the surroundings; the structure's towers had been intended to blend in with the Tower of London. The bridge is now probably a better-known icon of London than the fortress-prison is.

Between the two towers is a walkway. Soon after the structure's opening it was noted that there was a tendency for undesirable elements to gather there. As a result, it was closed and remained so for many years.

The bridge's road sections can be lifted up to enable maritime vessels to pass. On some days they are raised and lowered several times. Tower Bridge s original hydraulic machinery was replaced by an electrified system in 1976.

Location: Tower Bridge Road, c.E1W 1LD (purple, blue)

Tower Bridge Road, SE1 2UP

See Also: FLAGS The White Ensign, Tower Bridge; TEA An Ig Nobel Preparation of A Liquor of Tea

Website: www.towerbridge.org.uk

The 78

On 30 December 1952 the driver of a southbound No. 78 double-decker bus suddenly appreciated that the bridge's road sections were being raised. He was presented with the predicament of either braking, in which case the vehicle might not stop in time and would therefore fall off into the Thames, or of accelerating, in the hope that it would be able to make it over the opening gap, again facing the prospect that his charge might still end up in the river. He chose the latter course and succeeded in landing his charge on the other portion of the rising roadway.

See Also: BUSES

Vauxhall Bridge

At low tide the remains of a Bronze Age bridge can sometimes be seen slightly upstream of the southern end of Vauxhall Bridge.

Location: Vauxhall Bridge c.SW1V and SW8 2FD (orange, yellow)

Waterloo Bridge

When the construction of the John Rennie the elder-designed Waterloo Bridge (1817) started in 1811, it had been intended that the structure should be known as the Strand Bridge. However, the Duke of Wellington's defeat of Napoleon intervened. An Act of Parliament was passed in 1816 that changed the crossing's name to Waterloo Bridge. What is now Waterloo was Lambeth Marsh. The Strand Bridge Company bought most of the land prior to the opening of the bridge s completion.

In 1900-1 the French Impressionist artist Claude Monet stayed in The Savoy hotel. He painted a series of paintings of Waterloo Bridge.

The original bridge was demolished in 1934, a temporary structure having been put in place beside it. The construction of its replacement was started in 1937. However, the process was retarded by the outbreak of Second World War. The new crossing was not completed until 1945. It is known as the Women s Bridge to watermen because the workforce that finished it was largely composed of women. The stones of the original bridge were used to build part of the foundations of Heathrow Airport.

From the central section of the bridge, it is possible to see one of the best views of London.

Location: Waterloo Bridge, c.WC2E 7ED and c.SE1 8XT (purple, pink)

See Also: ASSASSINATIONS & ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS Foreign State Sponsored, Georgi Markov; GALLERIES The Royal Spanish Art Collection; UNDERGROUND LINES The Metropolitan Line

Waterloo Sunset

Originally, the lyrics of Ray Davies's pop song Waterloo Sunset (1967) were about Liverpool; the dirty old river was the Mersey. The Beatles release of Penny Lane prompted the songwriter to adapt his composition so as to give it a London setting. It went on to become the city s de facto anthem.

It has been reputed that Mr Davies has declared that the day that he finished Waterloo Sunset was the saddest one of his life. This was because he appreciated that he would never compose a better song than the one he had just written.

The Terry referred to in the lyric was almost certainly the movie actor Terence Stamp. His brother Chris, who co-managed The Who, was a friend of Davies.

See Also: POP & ROCK

Westminster Bridge

The Horseferry ferry was the property of the Archbishops of Canterbury, who resided on the southern side of the river in Lambeth Palace. The first recorded reference to the ferry dates from the 16^thC. The first Westminster Bridge was opened in 1750. It had a negative impact upon the watermen's trade.

It has been claimed that Westminster Bridge was painted green to match the benches of the Commons and Lambeth Bridge red to match those of the Lords.

Location: Westminster Bridge, c.SW1A 2JR and c.SE1 7PB (red, turquoise)

See Also: ELEPHANTS The Elephant & Castle

David Backhouse 2024