About thirty-five bridges cross the Thames in Greater London, and the city’s whole history can be read off them. Two in particular cause endless confusion, so it is worth settling that first.
Tower Bridge is not London Bridge
Tower Bridge is the famous one: two Gothic towers, a high walkway, and a road deck that splits and lifts. It opened in 1894, stands beside the Tower of London, and is the bridge on every postcard and biscuit tin.
London Bridge is the plain concrete one immediately upstream, opened in 1973, and of no visual interest whatsoever. Visitors regularly arrive at it expecting towers and are visibly disappointed.
Tower Bridge
A bascule bridge — the two halves pivot upward on counterweights — built to let tall ships reach the Pool of London while carrying road traffic across. Originally powered by steam-driven hydraulics; electrified in 1976, though the Victorian engine rooms survive and can be visited.
It still opens around 800 times a year, free of charge, on 24 hours’ notice from any vessel with sufficient mast height. The schedule is published, and catching a lift is one of the better free things to do in London.
The Gothic stone cladding is decorative rather than structural, added at the insistence of the authorities so the bridge would not clash with the Tower next door. Beneath it is a steel frame.
In 1952 a double decker bus was on the bridge when it began to open. The driver accelerated and jumped the widening gap, landing on the far bascule. He was given a bonus of ten pounds.
London Bridge
The oldest crossing point, established by the Romans, and for centuries the only bridge in London. The medieval stone bridge of 1209 carried houses and shops up to seven storeys high, a chapel, and the traitors’ heads displayed on spikes at the southern gatehouse. It stood for over 600 years.
Its replacement of 1831 was sold in 1968 to the American entrepreneur Robert McCulloch for $2.46 million, dismantled, shipped stone by stone and rebuilt at Lake Havasu City, Arizona, where it remains a tourist attraction. The story that he believed he was buying Tower Bridge has been denied by everybody involved and is repeated constantly anyway.
The others worth knowing
- Westminster Bridge — green, matching the benches of the Commons, with the classic view of Big Ben.
- Lambeth Bridge — red, matching the Lords.
- Millennium Bridge — the sleek footbridge from St Paul’s to Tate Modern, which swayed alarmingly on opening in 2000, closed after two days, and was nicknamed the Wobbly Bridge. It reopened, stabilised, two years later.
- Albert Bridge — the prettiest, strung with 4,000 bulbs at night, and carrying a sign asking troops to break step when crossing.
- Hammersmith Bridge — Victorian, beautiful, and structurally so compromised that it has been closed to traffic for years while nobody agrees who should pay to fix it.
The nursery rhyme
London Bridge is falling down is very old and probably refers to genuine repeated collapses — the medieval bridge suffered fires, ice damage and partial failures throughout its life. The darker interpretation, that the “fair lady” refers to a person immured in the foundations, has no evidence behind it at all.