During its first year of operation, Tower Bridge was opened on average 17 times a day. Ships always had priority over land traffic and could request that it be opened as they approached, using semaphore in daytime, lamps at night and gongs during the frequent fogs that plagued London. This system lasted until 1962, by which time river traffic was much reduced, and today a ship must give 24 hours’ notice if it wants to pass through. It had been expected that people would ascend to the high-level walkways, either by hydraulic powered lifts or by climbing the 206 steps to the top, to avoid waiting for the ships to pass. However, most preferred to wait and watch the passing ships, and so little use was made of the walkways. Crime was also a problem. Prostitutes plied their trade and there were frequent muggings. For all these reasons, the walkways were closed from 1910. There is no truth in the story that the walkways were closed because it was a popular jumping-off platform for attempted suicides. In fact, the lattice girders along the sides of the walkways make it difficult to jump down, and there is no record of a suicide attempt from the walkways, although one man did jump for a bet and disappeared never to be seen again.
It is, however, true that the sinisterly named Dead Man’s Hole, situated by the river under the north approach road, was in the past used to retrieve and store bodies found in the river near by until they could be removed for burial. Some of these may have been suicides who jumped from the road bridge. Following the Marchioness disaster of 1989, several inquiries were held into river safety. Eventually, in 2002, coordination of all rescue operations was handed over to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and four Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) stations were set up on the Thames. According to MCA statistics, 28 people lost their lives in the Thames in 2004–5, compared with an average of 40 to 50 in the past. About 80 per cent of these deaths are by suicide, mainly by jumping off one of the Thames bridges. A larger number are rescued from the river.
Historically, Waterloo Bridge was known as the main suicide bridge, but today more attempts are made from Tower Bridge. It is thought that one of the causes of the reduction in suicides is the prevalence of mobile phones, as the police now often receive warnings when a bystander sees a person preparing to jump. Today, if a body is recovered from the Thames, it is taken for identification to the mortuary at Wapping Police Station, near the Thames River Police blue-and-white boathouse, which can be seen on the north bank downstream from the bridge. Most can now be properly identified by use of modern technology, including links to Scotland Yard’s database of missing persons and from DNA, fingerprints or dental records. It is often difficult to establish whether or not death was actually a result of suicide, and in this case an open verdict or a verdict of death by misadventure is recorded. Only if there is clear evidence of intent, such as a letter or the discovery of heavy stones in the person’s clothes, is a verdict of suicide recorded.
During its life, Tower Bridge has changed colour several times. Originally, it was chocolate brown, then battleship grey, before being painted red, white and blue in 1976 in preparation for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977. Today’s light-blue-and-white decoration is therefore not historically correct and may not be the final incarnation.
Several daring exploits are connected with Tower Bridge. In 1912, Frank McClean became the first person to fly under the walkways and between its towers in his Short pusher biplane. He carried on up the Thames and back again, but the police refused to allow him to repeat the performance on his return journey. On 28 December 1952, a number 78 double-decker bus was travelling across the bridge when the northern bascule started to rise. The driver, Mr Albert Gunter from Islington, made an instant decision to accelerate so that the bus successfully jumped over the gap. As reported in The Times, he said: ‘I had to keep going otherwise we would have been in the water. I suddenly saw the road in front of me appeared to be sinking. In fact the bus was being lifted by one half of the bridge.’ Ten people were injured as a result: the driver, the conductor and eight passengers. The experience resulted in Mr Gunter having a nervous breakdown, and for this he received compensation. Normal practice was that a red light should have been on to warn of the raising of the bascules and a hand bell should have been rung. It seems that a relief man was operating the bridge at the time and it is possible that the driver did not receive proper warning. Only one other similar incident has been recorded, when in 1943 a driver did not see the red light, tried to stop when he saw the south bascule rising but skidded into it. Fortunately, no great damage was done.
During the Second World War, despite massive bombing raids on the City of London and the docks nearby, Tower Bridge was left virtually intact and, like St Paul’s Cathedral, stood proud amongst the surrounding destruction. Evidently the Luftwaffe decided that the bridge would serve as an excellent navigation aid and so did not want to destroy it. It is indeed amazing that not one of London’s river bridges was destroyed during the war. The reason, according to Tower Bridge engineers, was that Hitler was so confident of victory that he decided to leave them undamaged for use by his invading forces. Sadly, one of the bridge’s service tugs was hit by a doodlebug in 1944, and it sank with all its crew.
Having survived the war, albeit with some minor damage, Tower Bridge was subjected to a further threat – that of post-war architectural whims. It was clear that the drawbridge was now no longer essential, as far fewer ships needed access to the Pool of London. The architect W.F.C. Holden therefore proposed cladding the whole of the bridge in a massive glass and steel canopy so as to provide space for shops and offices, while removing the bridge’s most exciting feature, the moving bascules. Fortunately, this idea was rejected and the bridge was restored with the bascules intact.
Since then, there have been many ceremonial openings of the drawbridge, including the return of the royal yacht Britannia from the Queen’s world tour of 1953–4 and the completion of Sir Francis Chichester’s solo voyage round the world in his diminutive yacht Gipsy Moth IV, which is today on view in Greenwich. Booked openings still give ships priority over road traffic. This nearly led to an international incident when President Clinton and his wife, Hillary, were returning from being entertained to lunch at the Pont de la Tour restaurant, from which they would have had an impressive view of Tower Bridge from the south bank. To the President’s chagrin, when his car approached the bridge a ship was about to pass through and his party had to wait until the bascules had been raised and then lowered.
In 1976, the steam-pumping engines which controlled the bascule-raising machinery were finally replaced by electric engines, marking the end of an era for hydraulic power. In 1982, the high-level walkways were reopened as part of the Tower Bridge Exhibition, where the still magnificent old pumping engines can also be seen in full steam, although they no longer drive any machinery.
The steam engines inside Tower Bridge’s engine house
Today, Tower Bridge stands as a memorial to the wonders of Victorian engineering. However, it would certainly be a very different bridge if it were built today. Barry himself said in his lecture of 1894: ‘as road traffic increases and river traffic goes more into the docks the fate of the bridge will be to become fixed’. This seemingly modest and far-sighted prediction was wrong in two respects. First, river traffic has decreased to such an extent that neither the docks nor the wharves exist today. Telford’s St Katherine’s Dock, just to the east of Tower Bridge on the north bank, has been converted into a marina. The great wharves on the south bank have been converted into shops and restaurants, and the Anchor Brewery which operated on the south bank just to the east of the bridge until 1980 has been converted into penthouses. Second, his bridge still moves. The bascules are opened about 1,000 times a year and provide one of the most exciting views in London. Tower Bridge has become a major tourist attraction. It is London’s most instantly recognisable landmark and as much a symbol of the city as the Leaning Tower is of Pisa or the Eiffel Tower is of Paris.
Many other impressive buildings front
the river here, including the Tower of London, which is seven centuries older, and City Hall, which is a century younger, but there is no doubt that Tower Bridge dominates its surroundings as a major landmark and the eastern river gateway to London.
Richmond Bridge viewed from the south
Richmond Footbridge, Lock and Weir
Chiswick Bridge
Tierney Clark’s Marlow Bridge, modelled on the old Hammersmith Bridge
Ornamental cast-iron shields on a Battersea Bridge pier
Lambeth Palace from Lambeth Bridge
One of Chelsea Bridge’s galleon lamp-posts
Albert Bridge
Lamp-post and view from Westminster Bridge
Embankment Place and Hungerford Bridge
Golden Jubilee Bridge
The headless columns of the former London, Chatham and Dover Railway Bridge with Blackfriars Road Bridge
Insignia of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway by the southern end of Blackfriars Bridge
Millennium Bridge
George III’s coat of arms, salvaged from Old London Bridge
The massive suspension chains of Tower Bridge framing the Tower of London and the ‘Gherkin’
APPENDIX 1
Thames Bridges Summary
Albert Bridge (1873)
710 feet long, 40 feet wide
Twin ornamental cast-iron towers resting on concrete foundations support the carriageway by cable-stayed rods, which fan out from the top of the towers, and by suspension chains. In the 1970s, Albert Bridge had to be strengthened by the installation of two cylindrical concrete river-piers to support the carriageway.
Engineer: R.M. Ordish. Contractor: Messrs Williamson & Co.
Barnes Railway Bridge (1895)
Replaced Joseph Locke’s cast-iron railway bridge of 1849.
360 feet long
Three spans of wrought-iron bowstring girders carry two railway tracks across the river. Locke’s original structure still stands, unused, on the upstream side.
Engineers: London and South Western Railway. Contractor: Head, Wrightson & Co.
Battersea Bridge (1890)
Replaced Henry Holland’s wooden bridge of 1771, immortalised in Whistler’s painting Nocturne: Blue and Gold.
670 feet long, 55 feet wide
Five spans, each consisting of seven cast-iron arched ribs, support the 40-foot-wide roadway and two footpaths, which are cantilevered out from the main structure. Ornamental shields in the spandrels and Moorish-style arches on the parapet enhance the bridge’s appearance.
Engineer: Joseph Bazalgette
Battersea Railway Bridge (1863)
670 feet long
Five iron arched spans are supported by four stone-faced river-piers.
Engineer: William Baker
Blackfriars Bridge (1869)
Replaced Robert Mylne’s elegant stone bridge of 1769.
963 feet long, 105 feet wide
Five wrought-iron spans rest on massive river-piers ornamented with red polished-granite columns. The capitals of the columns are carved with interlaced birds and plants, and support pedestrian refuges. Widened from 75 feet to 105 feet in 1909.
Engineer: Joseph Cubitt. Contractor: Messrs P. & A. Thorn & Co.
Blackfriars Railway Bridge (1886)
933 feet long
Five spans of wrought-iron arched ribs support the railroad, which provides seven tracks.
Engineers: John Wolfe Barry and H.M. Brunel. Contractor: Messrs Lucas & Aird
Cannon Street Railway Bridge (1866)
855 feet long
Five utilitarian spans of wrought-iron plate girders supported by cast-iron columns carry ten rail tracks across the river to the once magnificent Victorian train shed of Cannon Street Station.
Engineer: John Hawkshaw. Contractor: South Eastern Railway
Chelsea Bridge (1937)
Replaced Thomas Page’s much-admired suspension bridge of 1858.
698 feet long, 83 feet wide
Two 55-foot-tall plain, square towers support the suspension chains from which the roadway is hung. At either end, lampposts decorated with golden galleons relieve the otherwise unexciting design.
Architects: G. Topham Forrest and E.P. Wheeler. Engineers: Rendel, Palmer and Triton. Contractor: Messrs Holloway Bros (London) Ltd
Chiswick Bridge (1933)
450 feet long, 70 feet wide
Three flat ferro-concrete arches are faced with Portland stone.
Architect: Herbert Baker. Engineer: Alfred Dryland. Contractor: Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Co. Ltd
Golden Jubilee Bridge (2002)
325 metres long, 4.7 metres wide
Two footbridges on either side of Hungerford Railway Bridge are supported by white-painted steel rods which fan out from slanting steel pylons.
Architect: Lifschutz Davidson. Engineer: WSP Group. Contractor: Costain/Norwest Holst
Grosvenor Railway Bridge (1860)
700 feet long
Originally, the four wrought-iron spans carried four rail tracks across the river. In 1965, the bridge was reconstructed in steel and now provides a crossing for ten tracks. In fact, the steel structure consists of ten separate bridges joined together.
Engineer: John Fowler
Hammersmith Bridge (1887)
Replaced Tierney Clark’s elegant structure of 1827, which was the first suspension bridge to cross the Thames.
688 feet long, 33 feet wide
Two river-towers of wrought iron clad in highly ornamental cast iron support steel suspension chains from which the narrow carriageway is hung. The footways are cantilevered out from the main structure.
Engineer: Joseph Bazalgette. Contractor: Messrs Dixon, Appleby and Thorne
Hungerford Railway Bridge (1864)
Replaced Brunel’s suspension footbridge, the chains of which were removed for use in the Clifton Suspension Bridge.
1,200 feet long
Nine wrought-iron girders are supported on cast-iron cylinders and on the two arched brick river-piers preserved from Brunel’s suspension bridge. The bridge was widened in 1886 to increase the number of railway tracks from four to eight.
Engineer: John Hawkshaw. Contractor: South Eastern Railway
Kew Bridge (1903)
Replaced Robert Tunstall’s wooden bridge of 1759 and James Paine’s stone bridge of 1789.
360 feet long, 56 feet wide
Three rough granite elliptical arches are enhanced by the ornamental shields of the counties of Middlesex and Surrey carved into the walls.
Engineer: John Wolfe Barry. Contractor: Easton Gibbs
Kew Railway Bridge (1869)
575 feet long
Five wrought-iron lattice-girder spans supported on cast-iron columns with ornate capitals carry two railway tracks across the river.
Engineer: W.R. Galbraith
Lambeth Bridge (1932)
Replaced P.W. Barlow’s suspension bridge of 1862.
776 feet long, 60 feet wide
The five arches of the bridge, supported by granite-faced river-piers, are faced with flat steel plating to disguise the steel skeleton that lies behind. The red colour scheme is intended to reflect the red furnishings of the nearby House of Lords. Pineapple obelisks stand at the approaches.
Architect: Reginald Blomfield. Engineer: George W. Humphreys. Contractor: Dorman, Long & Co. Ltd
London Bridge (1973)
Replaced John Rennie’s London Bridge of 1831, which itself replaced the inhabited Old London Bridge of 1209.
860 feet long, 105 feet wide
Three cantilevered high-strength concrete arches have spans of 260 feet, 340 feet and 260 feet. The only decorative features are the granite obelisks on the river-piers and the polished-granite facing of the parapet walls.
Architect: Lord Holford. Engineers: Mott, Hay and Anderson. Contractor: John Mowlem & Co.
London, Chatham and Dover Railway Bridge (1864)
933 feet long
Five sp
ans of wrought-iron lattice girders were supported by massive cast-iron columns. The superstructure was removed in 1985, leaving just the headless columns.
Engineer: Joseph Cubitt. Contractor: Kennards of Monmouthshire
Millennium Bridge (2002)
325 metres long, 4.7 metres wide
The flat steel suspension bridge carries pedestrians over the river between Tate Modern and St Paul’s Cathedral. Also known as the ‘Wobbly Bridge’ because of the swaying that occurred at its official opening in 2000. The bridge was closed while the problem was solved using a system of dampers.
Architect: Foster and Partners. Engineer: Ove Arup & Partners. Contractors: Monberg & Thorsen/Sir Robert McAlpine
Putney Bridge (1886)
Replaced the wooden Fulham Bridge of 1729.
700 feet long, 74 feet wide
Five segmental granite arches span the river with All Saints Church, Fulham, at the northern end and St Mary’s Church, Putney, at the southern end.
Engineer: Joseph Bazalgette. Contractor: John Waddell
Putney Railway Bridge (1889)
750 feet long
Five turquoise wrought-iron lattice girders supported by pairs of cast-iron cylinders provide two railway tracks for the District Line.
Engineer: William Jacomb. Contractor: Head, Wrightson & Co.
Richmond Bridge (1777)
280 feet long, 36 feet wide
Five segmental arches are constructed in masonry faced with Portland stone. Widened on the upstream side in 1939.
Crossing the River: The History of London's Thames River Bridges From Richmond to the Tower Page 28
