1842 Blackfriars Bridge foot traffic River Thames London A201 road Portland stone extensive repairs


Blackfriars Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, between Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Railway Bridge, carrying the A201 road. The north end is near the Inns of Court and Temple Church, along with Blackfriars station. The south end is near the Tate Modern art gallery and the Oxo Tower. Although it was built of Portland stone the workmanship was very faulty. Between 1833 and 1840 extensive repairs were necessary, and a good deal of patching-up was done, until at last it was decided to build a new bridge on the same site and this coincided with the creation of the Thames Embankment's junction with the new Queen Victoria Street required a major reconfiguration. This is the present bridge which in 1869 was opened by Queen Victoria. The present bridge is 923 feet long, consisting of five wrought iron arches built to a design by Thomas Cubitt. Cubitt also designed the adjacent rail bridge (now demolished) and it was a condition that the spans and piers of the two bridges be aligned. It was built by Thom & Co. Like its predecessor it is owned and maintained by the Bridge House Estates, a charitable trust overseen by the City of London Corporation. Like London Bridge the full length and its southern end is within the City's borders and not in the adjoining borough of Southwark. Due to the volume of traffic over the bridge, it was widened between 1907–10, from 70 feet (21 m) to its present 105 feet (32 m).


Size: 3761px × 2830px
Photo credit: © SOTK2011 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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