A Bridge Too Far!

John's new improved guided London walk

Wandsworth Bridge to Tower Bridge

11:30 Saturday 26 June 1999

This is a brief description of what you will see if you come on my walk, described here.

For more information, contact John Dawson by email, or phone 01462-893410.

  1. Ship Inn (1786)

  2. WANDSWORTH BRIDGE (1940, replacing 1873 original)

  3. Plantation Wharf (1993)

  4. Price's Candle Factory (1830)

  5. London Westland Heliport

  6. BATTERSEA RAILWAY BRIDGE (1863)

  7. Old Battersea House (1899)

  8. Chelsea Harbour (1986-) and bascule bridge

  9. Battersea Old Church (rebuilt 1776). William Blake was married here in 1782

  10. Montevectro Building. 100 apartments on the site of the old Hovis Flour Mill (which should have been preserved and turned into apartments, but was demolished in 1997)

  11. Lots Road Power Station (1905), built to serve the District Line

  12. BATTERSEA BRIDGE (1890), succeeding the original 1771 wooden bridge (which was painted by Turner and Whistler), which replaced a 200-year-old ferry

  13. Chelsea Old Church

  14. ALBERT BRIDGE (1873). The only other rigid chain bridge is in Prague

  15. Chelsea Royal Hospital

  16. Buddhist Peace Pagoda (1985)

  17. Battersea Park (1853), on marshland raised by soil from the Royal Victoria Dock

  18. CHELSEA BRIDGE (?)

  19. Chelsea Bridge bungee jump crane!

  20. Battersea Dogs' Home

  21. Battersea Power Station (?)

  22. Nine Elms Marina

  23. Dolphin Square (1937): Europe's largest block of flats

  24. Elm Quay. Representation of Old Father Time by Stephen Duncan (1988)

  25. VAUXHALL BRIDGE (1900s, replacing 1816 Regent Bridge)

  26. Vauxhall Cross (1993), headquarters of MI6

  27. Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, between 1660 and 1859 this was the place to see and be seen

  28. Confluence with the river Effra (rises in Norwood)

  29. Peninsula Heights (1962)

  30. Tate Gallery (1897)

  31. Fire Service HQ, with pier for fireboats

  32. LAMBETH BRIDGE (1932), replacing the original 1861 bridge, which succeeded the Archbishop's horseferry

  33. Lambeth Palace, official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury since 1197. Gatehouse built 1495

  34. Albert Embankment

  35. St Thomas' Hospital (1871)

  36. Houses of Parliament and Big Ben

  37. WESTMINSTER BRIDGE (1861). Replaces the original 1750 bridge, the first to be built between Putney and London Bridge

  38. County Hall (1933)

  39. Jubilee Gardens (1977)

  40. HUNGERFORD BRIDGE (built by Brunel in 1845)

  41. Cleopatra's Needle

  42. South Bank Centre (1951-)

  43. WATERLOO BRIDGE (late 1930s, replacing original 1817 bridge)

  44. Temple, King's College, and Somerset House

  45. London Television Centre

  46. Oxo Tower (1930). The top contains a very expensive restaurant

  47. Doggett's Coat and Badge (pub) named after the annual rowing race which has passed here since 1715

  48. BLACKFRIARS BRIDGE (1869, replacing original 1769 William Pitt Bridge). The river Fleet emerges under the north side

  49. BLACKFRIARS RAILWAY BRIDGE (1884)

  50. St Paul's Cathedral

  51. Bankside Power Station: to become part of the Tate Gallery

  52. Globe Theatre. Reconstruction (1996) of Shakespeare's theatre which stood behind the Financial Times in Park Street, 1599-1644

  53. Vintner's Hall (north side of bridge), rebuilt in 1992 to a design inspired by St Peter's in Rome

  54. SOUTHWARK BRIDGE (1920s, replacing 1819 toll crossing)

  55. Financial Times Building

  56. Anchor Pub has been here since Shakespeare's time. Samuel Pepys watched the Great Fire of London from here. Dr Johnson and Charles Dickens knew the pub

  57. Winchester Palace (1370), the bishop's house from 1109-1626

  58. Southwark Cathedral, London's oldest gothic church. Cathedral only since 1905. William Shakespeare's brother is buried here

  59. LONDON BRIDGE (1973). The 1831 bridge was exported to Arizona (supposedly, the new owner thought he was buying Tower Bridge!)

    The Romans first built a wooden bridge somewhere near the present London Bridge, probably on the site of a ferry crossing. A considerable standing wave was caused by the bridge at peak tides, making it very dangerous. That bridge vanished at some unknown date.

    Another wooden bridge was built in the middle of the 12th century; this was burnt down in 1163. A stone bridge was constructed from 1176-1209, but this was partly burnt down in 1212, killing about 3000 people who were on the bridge at the time trying to put out the fire. King John ordered the bridge to be repaired in 1213.

    In 1281 a great frost carried away five arches of the bridge. In 1437 the great stone gate and tower on the Southwark side of the bridge fell down, taking with it two of the arches.

    During Jack Cade's rebellion in 1450, the bridge was set on fire and many people were killed.

    In 1635 the bridge was again partly burnt, and the repair ordered that some of the houses on the bridge be removed.

    The bridge arches and piers were always a major river-traffic hazard, with a standing wave of water about 2 feet high caused by the blockage of water. Intrepid boatmen used to row over the standing wave, but many boatmen (and passengers) were drowned!

    In the Great Fire of London in 1666 most of the houses on the bridge were burnt down, but the bridge itself survived.

    In 1725 a great fire burnt about 60 houses, including those on the first and second arches of the bridge, and the old bridge gate was damaged.

    By 1754 the fall of water under the bridge arches had become almost 5 feet, and was exceedingly dangerous at most stages of the tide.

    During the works for repairing the bridge and widening some of the arches in 1758, a temporary wooden bridge was erected adjacent to Old London Bridge. The temporary bridge and part of London Bridge were destroyed by fire; this was thought to have been arson by watermen opposed to the increased traffic which would be able to use the bridge. The widening of the middle arch was finally completed in 1760, and most of the houses on the bridge were removed.

    Several plans for replacing London Bridge completely were presented in 1799, but the Act of Parliament was not passed until 1823. The first pile was driven in 1824, the first stone laid in 1825, and the new bridge finally opened in 1831 by King William IV. This means that Old London Bridge had by that time been in place, though frequently repaired, for 622 years!!

  60. Custom House, and the former Billingsgate Fish Market

  61. Hay's Wharf (1651). The tea clippers used to unload here, from 1862.

  62. HMS Belfast

  63. Tower of London, built by William the Conqueror

  64. TOWER BRIDGE, opened in 1894 and the most downstream bridge until the Dartford Crossing was built. It was raised more than 6000 times in its first year.