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Description: | TfL
LONDON BRIDGE, AS ORIGINALLY CONSTRUCTED, LOOKING CITYWARDS, 1887.
On left, Fishmongers' Hall; in middle distance, King William St. and the tower of St. Michael, Cornhill; on right, the Pearl Insurance Office, on corner of Adelaide Place, with the Monument and the tower of St. Magnus-the-Martyr; to right, the tower of St. Andrew Undershaft.
The bridge and its north and south approaches were constructed 1825-1831; opened by William IV., August I, 1831. The bridge, which is a short distance west of the site of Old London Bridge (the tower of St. Magnus marks the line of the latter), was designed by John Rennie, senr., who drew the general plans and proportions, and constructed by his son, Sir John Rennie, who made the working drawings. Rennie, senr., died before the bridge was begun. With its approaches, the bridge cost nearly £2,000,000. The width between parapets was about 53 feet.
Photograph by Valentine & Sons, who own the copyright.
THE NEW LONDON BRIDGE IMPROVEMENT.
The construction of the New London Bridge and its approaches constituted the greatest and most important scheme in the way of street improvements that has ever been carried out in the city. The Holborn Valley Improvement immeasurably improved traffic facilities at a certain point, the cutting of Queen Victoria St. provided a wide and lengthy new thoroughfare to the Thames Embankment on the west; but in magnitude and importance neither could be compared with the New London Bridge Improvement.
Old London Bridge stood a little east of the present structure. From the north the line of approach was Fish St. Hill, which joined the bridge with Gracechurch St., the beginning of the North Road (through Shoreditch, Tottenham, Waltham Cross, etc.). East of the junction of Fish St. Hill with Gracechurch St. was Little Eastcheap - the Eastcheap of to-day; west was Great Eastcheap, connecting with Cannon St. South of Great Eastcheap was St. Michael's Lane, leading down to Thames St., with a block of buildings of various kinds between it and Fish St. Hill on the east. Between Great Eastcheap and Lombard St. was a region of closely-packed houses, crossed from south to north by narrow lanes. From the old bridge to the Bank there was no direct thoroughfare. Prince's St. ran down on the west side of the Bank to Lothbury - a dead end; the route from the eastern end of Cheapside to London Wall being formed by Old Jewry and Coleman St. - Moorgate St. did not exist.
To build the new bridge was one thing, to construct adequate approaches was another. As a continuation of the bridge road itself Adelaide Place was formed, raised to the bridge level and thus at a considerable height above the line of the approach - Fish St. Hill to the old bridge. The southern section of King William St. was constructed and so brought the bridge road out to Eastcheap. Great Eastcheap was swept away altogether, and the northern section of King William St. was cut diagonally through the compact block of houses above-mentioned, emerging at the Bank. The existing Prince's St. prolonged the line of the northern approach. To extend the line to the City Road, Moorgate St. was formed and Finsbury Pavement was widened. Thus the new bridge was connected with the centre of the City at the Bank, and, by means of Moorgate St., a new artery formed for traffic from the northern parts of London. On crossing Old London Bridge one was confronted by a single line of route - Gracechurch St.; crossing the present London Bridge, one is confronted by two lines of route - Gracechurch St. and King William St., with the widened Cannon St. providing a thoroughfare to the west.
Labour was cheap a hundred years ago, so was material; and property was not so valuable as it is now; but, even so, some of the improvements carried out in the days of our great-grandfathers - the New London Bridge Improvement and Regent St., to wit - were executed on a scale that would appeal to the most ambitious town-planner and street improvement specialist of our own spacious age.
London Bridge, City of London EC4
Streets and buildings
London Bridge, as originally constructed. The Bridge is crowded with many horse-drawn vehicles and several pedestrians. There are some boats on the River.
crowded, london, pedestrians
1 | Publisher: | http://www.ltmcollection.org/ | Source: | London Transport Museum | Identifier: | ltmcollection.org/1998/84464 | Go to resource |
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