Vauxhall Bridge
Encyclopedia
Vauxhall Bridge is a Grade II* listed steel and granite deck arch bridge in central London. It crosses the River Thames
in a south–east north–west direction between Vauxhall
on the south bank and Pimlico
on the north bank. Opened in 1906, it replaced an earlier bridge, originally known as Regent Bridge but later renamed Vauxhall Bridge, built between 1809 and 1816 as part of a scheme for redeveloping the south bank of the Thames. The original bridge was itself built on the site of a former ferry.
The building of both bridges was problematic, with both the first and second bridges requiring several redesigns from multiple architects. The original bridge, the first iron bridge over the Thames, was built by a private company and operated as a toll bridge
before being taken into public ownership in 1879. The second bridge, which took eight years to build, was the first in London to carry trams and later one of the first two roads in London to have a bus lane
.
In 1963 it was proposed to replace the bridge with a modern development containing seven floors of shops, office space, hotel rooms and leisure facilities supported above the river, but the plans were abandoned because of costs. With the exception of alterations to the road layout and the balustrade, the design and appearance of the current bridge has remained almost unchanged since 1907. The bridge today is an important part of London's road system and carries the A202 road
across the Thames.
mercenary Falkes de Breauté
built a manor house in the then empty marshlands of South Lambeth, across the River Thames
from Westminster
. In 1223–24, de Breauté and others revolted against Henry III
; following a failed attempt to seize the Tower of London
, de Breauté's lands in England were forfeited and he was forced into exile in France and later Rome. The lands surrounding his Lambeth manor house continued to be known as Falkes' Hall, later Vauxhall.The popular belief that the name derives from Guy Fawkes
is based on a misconception; Fawkes' co-conspirator Robert Catesby
owned a house in Lambeth, but Fawkes had no connection with the area.
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With the exception of housing around the New Spring Gardens
(later Vauxhall Gardens) pleasure park, opened in around 1661, the land at Vauxhall remained sparsely populated into the 19th century, with the nearest fixed river crossings being the bridges at Westminster
, 1 miles (1.6 km) downstream, and Battersea
, 2 miles (3.2 km) upstream. In 1806 a scheme was proposed by Ralph Dodd
to open the south bank of the Thames for development, by building a new major road from Hyde Park Corner
to Kennington
and Greenwich
, crossing the river upstream of the existing Westminster Bridge
. The proprietors of Battersea Bridge, concerned about a potential loss of customers, petitioned Parliament against the scheme, stating that "[Dodd] is a well known adventurer and Speculist, and the projector of numerous undertakings upon a large scale most if not all of which have failed",Dodd had been involved in many unsuccessful transport schemes. Between 1799 and 1803 he attempted to drive a tunnel beneath the Thames between Tilbury
and Gravesend
. A plan to dig a canal between London and Epsom
was abandoned after reaching Peckham
, three miles away. He provided the original designs for the new Waterloo
and London
Bridges, both of which were taken over by John Rennie, while his design for Hammersmith Bridge
had to be suspended when the owners of a strip of land blocking the approach road refused to sell it to the bridge company. and the bill was abandoned.
In 1809 a new bill was presented to Parliament, and the proprietors of Battersea Bridge agreed to allow it to pass and to accept compensation. The Bill incorporated the Vauxhall Bridge Company, allowing it to raise up to £300,000 (about £ as of ) by means of mortgages or the sale of shares, and to keep all profits from any tolls raised. From these profits, the Vauxhall Bridge Company was obliged to compensate the proprietors of Battersea Bridge for any drop in revenue caused by the new bridge.
Dodd submitted a scheme for a bridge at Vauxhall of 13 arches. However, soon after the 1809 Act was passed, he was dismissed by the Vauxhall Bridge Company and his design was abandoned. John Rennie was commissioned to design and build the new bridge, and a stone bridge of seven arches was approved. On 9 May 1811, Lord Dundas
laid the foundation stone of the bridge on the northern bank.
The Vauxhall Bridge Company ran into financial difficulties and was unable to raise more than the £300,000 stipulated in the 1809 Act, and a new Act was passed in 1812 permitting the Company to build a cheaper iron bridge. Rennie submitted a new design for an iron bridge of eleven spans, costing far less than the original stone design. Rennie's design was rejected, and instead construction began on a nine arch iron bridge designed by Samuel Bentham
. Concerns were raised about the construction of the piers
, and engineer James Walker
was appointed to inspect the work. Walker's report led to the design being abandoned for the second time, and Walker himself was appointed to design and build a bridge of nine 78 feet (23.8 m) cast-iron arches with stone piers, the first iron bridge to be built across the Thames.
On 4 June 1816, over five years after construction began, the bridge opened, initially named Regent Bridge after George, Prince Regent
but shortly afterwards renamed Vauxhall Bridge. The developers failed to pay the agreed compensation to the owners of Battersea Bridge and were taken to court; after a legal dispute lasting five years a judgement was made in favour of Battersea Bridge, with Vauxhall Bridge being obliged to pay £8,234 (about £ as of ) compensation. As well as the compensation awarded by the courts to Battersea Bridge in 1821, the 1809 Act also obliged the Vauxhall Bridge Company to pay compensation to the operators of Huntley Ferry, the Sunday ferry service to Vauxhall Gardens, with the level to be decided by "a jury of 24 honest, sufficient and indifferent men". The bridge cost £175,000 (about £ as of ) to build; with the costs of approach roads and compensation payments, the total cost came to £297,000 (about £ as of ).
In anticipation of the areas surrounding the bridge becoming prosperous suburbs, tolls were set at relatively high rates on a sliding scale, ranging from a penny
for pedestrians to 2s 6d
for vehicles drawn by six horses. Exemptions were granted for mail coaches, soldiers on duty and parliamentary candidates during election campaigns. However, the area around the bridge failed to develop as expected. In 1815 John Doulton
built the Doulton & Watts
(later Royal Doulton) stoneware factory at Vauxhall, and consequently instead of the wealthy residents anticipated by the company, the area began to fill with narrow streets of working class tenement
s to house the factory's workers. Meanwhile, the large Millbank Penitentiary was built near the northern end of the bridge, discouraging housing development. Consequently, toll revenues were initially lower than expected, and the dividends paid to investors were low.
Usage rose considerably in 1838 when the terminus of the London and South Western Railway
was built at nearby Nine Elms
. Nine Elms station proved inconvenient and unpopular with travellers, and in 1848 a new railway terminus was built 1+1/2 mi closer to central London, at Waterloo Bridge station (renamed "Waterloo Station" in 1886), and the terminus at Nine Elms was abandoned.
With the closure of the rail terminus, Vauxhall Bridge's main source of revenue was visitors to the Vauxhall Gardens pleasure park. In addition to people visiting the Gardens themselves, Vauxhall Gardens were used as a launch point for hot air balloon
flights, and large crowds would gather on the bridge and surrounding streets to watch the flights.In the 1990s sightseeing balloon flights from Vauxhall Gardens – by then renamed back to Spring Gardens – were resumed. The service closed in 2001 following the opening of the nearby London Eye
. A large crowd also assembled on the bridge in September 1844 to watch Mister Barry, a clown
from Astley's Amphitheatre
, sail from Vauxhall Bridge to Westminster Bridge
in a washtub towed by geese
.
, Chelsea Bridge
and Albert Bridge
), the rapid urban growth of London made Vauxhall Bridge very profitable. The annual income from tolls rose from £4,977 (about £ as of ) in its first full year of operation, to £62,392 (about £ as of ) in 1877. In 1877 the Metropolis Toll Bridges Act was passed, allowing the Metropolitan Board of Works
(MBW) to buy all London bridges between Hammersmith Bridge
and Waterloo Bridge
and free them from tolls.
In 1879 the bridge was bought by the MBW for £255,000 (about £ as of ) and tolls on the bridge were lifted. Inspections of the bridge by the MBW following the purchase found that the two central piers were badly eroded, exposing the timber cradles on which the piers rested. Large quantities of cement in bags were laid around the wooden cradles as an emergency measure; however, the cement bags themselves soon washed away. The piers were removed, replaced by a single large central arch. By this time the bridge was in very poor condition, and in 1895 the London County Council
(LCC), which had taken over from the MBW in 1889, sought and gained Parliamentary approval to replace the bridge. Permission was granted by Parliament to raise the projected replacement costs of £484,000 (about £ as of ) from rates
across the whole of London rather than only local residents, as a new bridge was considered to be of benefit to the whole of London.
In August 1898 a temporary wooden bridge was moved into place alongside the existing bridge, and the demolition of the old bridge began.
The London County Council's resident engineer, Sir Alexander Binnie
, submitted a design for a steel bridge, which proved unpopular. At the request of the LCC, Binnie submitted a new design for a bridge of five spans, to be built in concrete and faced with granite.
Work on Binnie's design began, but was beset by problems. Leading architects condemned the design, with Arthur Beresford Pite
describing it as "a would-be Gothic architectural form of great vulgarity and stupid want of meaning", and T G Jackson
describing the bridge designs as a sign of "the utter apparent indifference of those in authority to the matter of art". Plans to build large stone abutment
s had to be suspended when it was found that the southern abutment would block the River Effra
, which by this time had been diverted underground to serve as a storm relief sewer and which flowed into the Thames at this point. The Effra had to be rerouted to join the Thames to the north of the bridge.The River Tyburn also joins the Thames near Vauxhall Bridge, 200 yards (182.9 m) upstream of the bridge on the northern bank. After the construction of the foundations and piers it was then discovered that the clay of the riverbed at this point would not be able to support the weight of a concrete bridge. With the granite piers already in place, it was decided to build a steel superstructure
onto the existing piers, and a superstructure 809 feet (246.6 m) long and 80 feet (24.4 m) wide was designed by Binnie and Maurice Fitzmaurice
and built by LCC engineers at a cost of £437,000 (about £ as of ).
The new bridge was eventually opened on 26 May 1906, five years behind schedule, in a ceremony presided over by the Prince of Wales
and Evan Spicer, Chairman of the LCC. Charles Wall, who had won the contract to build the superstructure of the new bridge, paid the LCC £50 for the temporary wooden bridge, comprising 40000 cubic feet (1,132.7 m³) of timber and 580 tons
of scrap metal.
The new bridge was built to a starkly functional design, and many influential architects had complained about the lack of consultation from any architects during the design process by the engineers designing the new bridge. In 1903, during the construction of the bridge, the LCC consulted with architect William Edward Riley regarding possible decorative elements that could be added to the bridge. Riley proposed erecting two 60 feet (18.3 m) pylons
topped with statues at one end of the bridge, and adding decorative sculpture to the bridge piers. The pylons were rejected on grounds of cost, but following further consultation with leading architect Richard Norman Shaw
it was decided to erect monumental bronze statues above the piers, and Alfred Drury
, George Frampton
and Frederick Pomeroy were appointed to design appropriate statues.
Frampton resigned from the project through pressure of work, and Drury and Pomeroy carried out the project, each contributing four monumental statues, which were installed in late 1907. On the upstream piers are Pomeroy's Agriculture, Architecture, Engineering and Pottery, whilst on the downstream piers are Drury's Science, Fine Arts, Local Government and Education. Each statue weighs approximately two tons
. Despite their size, the statues are little-noticed by users of the bridge as they are not visible from the bridge itself, but only from the river banks or from passing shipping.
across the Thames. Originally built with tram tracks, New Vauxhall Bridge was the first in central London to carry trams. Initially it carried horse-drawn trams, but shortly after the bridge's opening it was converted to carry the electric trams of London County Council Tramways
; it continued to carry trams until the ending of tram services in 1951. In 1968 Vauxhall Bridge and Park Lane
became the first roads in London to have bus lane
s; during weekday evening rush hours, the central lane of the bridge was reserved for southbound buses only.
s and other heavy military equipment. In the event, Vauxhall Bridge survived the war undamaged, and in 1948 Millbank Bridge was dismantled. Its girders were shipped to Northern Rhodesia
and used to span a tributary of the Zambezi
.
commissioned a design for a replacement bridge at Vauxhall, inspired by the design of the Crystal Palace
, to be called the Crystal Span. The Crystal Span was to have been a seven story building supported by two piers in the river, overhanging the river banks at either end. The structure itself would have been enclosed in an air conditioned glass shell. The lowest floor would have contained two three-lane carriageways for vehicles, with a layer of shops and a skating rink in the centre of the upper floors. The southern end of the upper floors was to house a luxury hotel, whilst the northern end was to house the modern art collection of the nearby Tate Gallery
, which at this time was suffering from a severe shortage of display space. The roof was to have housed a series of roof gardens, observation platforms and courtyards, surrounding a large open air theatre. The entire structure would have been 970 feet (295.7 m) long and 127 feet (38.7 m) wide. Despite much public interest in the proposals, the London County Council was reluctant to pay the estimated £7 million (£ as of ) construction costs, and the scheme was abandoned.
's account of crossing the Thames nor by any other Roman author, it is presumed that the structure had been dismantled or destroyed prior to Caesar's expedition to Britain in 55 BC. The posts are still visible at extreme low tides.
Following the closure of a number of the area's industries, in the 1970s and 1980s the land at the southern end of Vauxhall Bridge remained empty, following the failures of multiple redevelopment schemes. The most notable came in 1979 when Keith Wickenden MP
, owner of the land at the immediate southern end of the bridge, proposed a large-scale redevelopment of the site. The development was to contain 300000 square feet (27,870.9 m²) of office space, 100 luxury flats
and a gallery to house the Tate Gallery's modern art collection. The offices were to be housed in a 500 feet (152.4 m) tower of green glass, which was nicknamed the "Green Giant" and met with much opposition. The then Secretary of State for the Environment
, Michael Heseltine
, refused permission for the development and the site remained empty.
In 1988 Regalian Properties
purchased the site, and appointed Terry Farrell
as architect. Farrell designed a self-contained community of shops, housing, offices and public spaces for the site. Regalian disliked the proposals and requested Farrell design a single large office block. Despite containing 50% more office space than the rejected Green Giant proposal, the design was accepted. The government then bought the site and design as a future headquarters for the Secret Intelligence Service
, and the design was accordingly modified to increase security. In 1995 the SIS Building
was opened on the site, and today dominates other buildings in the vicinity of the bridge.
In 2004 the Vauxhall Cross area at the southern end of the bridge was redeveloped as a major transport interchange, combining a large bus station with the existing National Rail
and London Underground
stations at Vauxhall
. Immediately to the east of the southern end of the bridge, a slipway
provides access for amphibious buses between the road and river.
The only significant alteration to the structure of the bridge itself since the addition of the sculptures in 1907 came in 1973, when the Greater London Council
(GLC) decided to add an extra traffic lane by reducing the width of the pavements. To counter the increased load of extra traffic, the GLC announced the replacement of the cast-iron balustrades with low box-girder structures. Despite formal objections from both Lambeth and Westminster Councils, the GLC ignored the objections, giving the bridge the appearance it has today. The bridge was declared a Grade II* listed structure in 2008, providing protection to preserve its character from further alteration.
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
in a south–east north–west direction between Vauxhall
Vauxhall
-Demography:Many Vauxhall residents live in social housing. There are several gentrified areas, and areas of terraced townhouses on streets such as Fentiman Road and Heyford Avenue have higher property values in the private market, however by far the most common type of housing stock within...
on the south bank and Pimlico
Pimlico
Pimlico is a small area of central London in the City of Westminster. Like Belgravia, to which it was built as a southern extension, Pimlico is known for its grand garden squares and impressive Regency architecture....
on the north bank. Opened in 1906, it replaced an earlier bridge, originally known as Regent Bridge but later renamed Vauxhall Bridge, built between 1809 and 1816 as part of a scheme for redeveloping the south bank of the Thames. The original bridge was itself built on the site of a former ferry.
The building of both bridges was problematic, with both the first and second bridges requiring several redesigns from multiple architects. The original bridge, the first iron bridge over the Thames, was built by a private company and operated as a toll bridge
Toll bridge
A toll bridge is a bridge over which traffic may pass upon payment of a toll, or fee.- History :The practice of collecting tolls on bridges probably harks back to the days of ferry crossings where people paid a fee to be ferried across stretches of water. As boats became impractical to carry large...
before being taken into public ownership in 1879. The second bridge, which took eight years to build, was the first in London to carry trams and later one of the first two roads in London to have a bus lane
Bus lane
A bus lane or bus only lane is a lane restricted to buses, and generally used to speed up public transport that would be otherwise held up by traffic congestion...
.
In 1963 it was proposed to replace the bridge with a modern development containing seven floors of shops, office space, hotel rooms and leisure facilities supported above the river, but the plans were abandoned because of costs. With the exception of alterations to the road layout and the balustrade, the design and appearance of the current bridge has remained almost unchanged since 1907. The bridge today is an important part of London's road system and carries the A202 road
A202 road
The A202 is a primary A road in London. It runs from New Cross Gate to London Victoria station. The section forming part of the London Inner Ring Road is known as Vauxhall Bridge Road.-Camberwell New Road:...
across the Thames.
Background
In the early 13th century, Anglo-NormanAnglo-Norman
The Anglo-Normans were mainly the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the Norman conquest by William the Conqueror in 1066. A small number of Normans were already settled in England prior to the conquest...
mercenary Falkes de Breauté
Falkes de Breauté
Sir Falkes de Breauté was an Anglo-Norman soldier who earned high office by loyally serving first King John and later King Henry III in First Barons' War. He played a key role in the Battle of Lincoln Fair in 1217. He attempted to rival Hubert de Burgh, and as a result fell from power in 1224...
built a manor house in the then empty marshlands of South Lambeth, across the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
from Westminster
Westminster
Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...
. In 1223–24, de Breauté and others revolted against Henry III
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
; following a failed attempt to seize the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
, de Breauté's lands in England were forfeited and he was forced into exile in France and later Rome. The lands surrounding his Lambeth manor house continued to be known as Falkes' Hall, later Vauxhall.The popular belief that the name derives from Guy Fawkes
Guy Fawkes
Guy Fawkes , also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish in the Low Countries, belonged to a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.Fawkes was born and educated in York...
is based on a misconception; Fawkes' co-conspirator Robert Catesby
Robert Catesby
Robert Catesby , was the leader of a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605....
owned a house in Lambeth, but Fawkes had no connection with the area.
Vauxhall Gardens
Vauxhall Gardens was a pleasure garden, one of the leading venues for public entertainment in London, England from the mid 17th century to the mid 19th century. Originally known as New Spring Gardens, the site was believed to have opened before the Restoration of 1660 with the first mention being...
(later Vauxhall Gardens) pleasure park, opened in around 1661, the land at Vauxhall remained sparsely populated into the 19th century, with the nearest fixed river crossings being the bridges at Westminster
Westminster Bridge
Westminster Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames between Westminster on the north side and Lambeth on the south side, in London, England....
, 1 miles (1.6 km) downstream, and Battersea
Battersea Bridge
Battersea Bridge is a cast-iron and granite five-span cantilever bridge crossing the River Thames in London, England. It is situated on a sharp bend in the river, and links Battersea south of the river with Chelsea to the north...
, 2 miles (3.2 km) upstream. In 1806 a scheme was proposed by Ralph Dodd
Ralph Dodd
Ralph Dodd was a late 18th century engineer primarily known, by his detractors, for his attempt, and ultimate failure to produce a tunnel underneath the Thames.-Marine painter:...
to open the south bank of the Thames for development, by building a new major road from Hyde Park Corner
Hyde Park Corner
Hyde Park Corner is a place in London, at the south-east corner of Hyde Park. It is a major intersection where Park Lane, Knightsbridge, Piccadilly, Grosvenor Place and Constitution Hill converge...
to Kennington
Kennington
Kennington is a district of South London, England, mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, although part of the area is within the London Borough of Southwark....
and Greenwich
Greenwich
Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...
, crossing the river upstream of the existing Westminster Bridge
Westminster Bridge
Westminster Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames between Westminster on the north side and Lambeth on the south side, in London, England....
. The proprietors of Battersea Bridge, concerned about a potential loss of customers, petitioned Parliament against the scheme, stating that "[Dodd] is a well known adventurer and Speculist, and the projector of numerous undertakings upon a large scale most if not all of which have failed",Dodd had been involved in many unsuccessful transport schemes. Between 1799 and 1803 he attempted to drive a tunnel beneath the Thames between Tilbury
Tilbury
Tilbury is a town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. As a settlement it is of relatively recent existence, although it has important historical connections, being the location of a 16th century fort and an ancient cross-river ferry...
and Gravesend
Gravesend, Kent
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, on the south bank of the Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. It is the administrative town of the Borough of Gravesham and, because of its geographical position, has always had an important role to play in the history and communications of this part of...
. A plan to dig a canal between London and Epsom
Epsom
Epsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England. Small parts of Epsom are in the Borough of Reigate and Banstead. The town is located south-south-west of Charing Cross, within the Greater London Urban Area. The town lies on the chalk downland of Epsom Downs.-History:Epsom lies...
was abandoned after reaching Peckham
Peckham
Peckham is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Southwark. It is situated south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...
, three miles away. He provided the original designs for the new Waterloo
Waterloo Bridge
Waterloo Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge crossing the River Thames in London, England between Blackfriars Bridge and Hungerford Bridge. The name of the bridge is in memory of the British victory at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815...
and London
London Bridge
London Bridge is a bridge over the River Thames, connecting the City of London and Southwark, in central London. Situated between Cannon Street Railway Bridge and Tower Bridge, it forms the western end of the Pool of London...
Bridges, both of which were taken over by John Rennie, while his design for Hammersmith Bridge
Hammersmith Bridge
Hammersmith Bridge is a crossing of the River Thames in west London, just south of the Hammersmith town centre area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham on the north side of the river. It allows road traffic and pedestrians to cross to Barnes on the south side of the river...
had to be suspended when the owners of a strip of land blocking the approach road refused to sell it to the bridge company. and the bill was abandoned.
In 1809 a new bill was presented to Parliament, and the proprietors of Battersea Bridge agreed to allow it to pass and to accept compensation. The Bill incorporated the Vauxhall Bridge Company, allowing it to raise up to £300,000 (about £ as of ) by means of mortgages or the sale of shares, and to keep all profits from any tolls raised. From these profits, the Vauxhall Bridge Company was obliged to compensate the proprietors of Battersea Bridge for any drop in revenue caused by the new bridge.
Old Vauxhall Bridge
Thomas Dundas, 1st Baron Dundas
Thomas Dundas, 1st Baron Dundas FRS , known as Sir Thomas Dundas, 2nd Baronet, from 1781 to 1794, was a powerful figure in the Kingdom of Great Britain, now remembered for commissioning the Charlotte Dundas, the world's "first practical steamboat".-Biography:Thomas was the only son of Sir Lawrence...
laid the foundation stone of the bridge on the northern bank.
The Vauxhall Bridge Company ran into financial difficulties and was unable to raise more than the £300,000 stipulated in the 1809 Act, and a new Act was passed in 1812 permitting the Company to build a cheaper iron bridge. Rennie submitted a new design for an iron bridge of eleven spans, costing far less than the original stone design. Rennie's design was rejected, and instead construction began on a nine arch iron bridge designed by Samuel Bentham
Samuel Bentham
Sir Samuel Bentham was a noted English mechanical engineer and naval architect credited with numerous innovations, particularly related to naval architecture, including weapons...
. Concerns were raised about the construction of the piers
Pier (architecture)
In architecture, a pier is an upright support for a superstructure, such as an arch or bridge. Sections of wall between openings function as piers. The simplest cross section of the pier is square, or rectangular, although other shapes are also common, such as the richly articulated piers of Donato...
, and engineer James Walker
James Walker (engineer)
James Walker, FRS, was an influential Scottish civil engineer of the first half of the 19th century.Walker was born in Falkirk and was apprenticed to his uncle Ralph Walker in approximately 1800, with whom he gained experience working on the design and construction of the West India and East India...
was appointed to inspect the work. Walker's report led to the design being abandoned for the second time, and Walker himself was appointed to design and build a bridge of nine 78 feet (23.8 m) cast-iron arches with stone piers, the first iron bridge to be built across the Thames.
George IV of the United Kingdom
George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...
but shortly afterwards renamed Vauxhall Bridge. The developers failed to pay the agreed compensation to the owners of Battersea Bridge and were taken to court; after a legal dispute lasting five years a judgement was made in favour of Battersea Bridge, with Vauxhall Bridge being obliged to pay £8,234 (about £ as of ) compensation. As well as the compensation awarded by the courts to Battersea Bridge in 1821, the 1809 Act also obliged the Vauxhall Bridge Company to pay compensation to the operators of Huntley Ferry, the Sunday ferry service to Vauxhall Gardens, with the level to be decided by "a jury of 24 honest, sufficient and indifferent men". The bridge cost £175,000 (about £ as of ) to build; with the costs of approach roads and compensation payments, the total cost came to £297,000 (about £ as of ).
Usage
Penny (British pre-decimal coin)
The penny of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, was in circulation from the early 18th century until February 1971, Decimal Day....
for pedestrians to 2s 6d
Penny (British pre-decimal coin)
The penny of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, was in circulation from the early 18th century until February 1971, Decimal Day....
for vehicles drawn by six horses. Exemptions were granted for mail coaches, soldiers on duty and parliamentary candidates during election campaigns. However, the area around the bridge failed to develop as expected. In 1815 John Doulton
John Doulton
John Doulton was an English businessman and manufacturer of pottery, a founder of the firm that later became known as Royal Doulton. John Doulton married Jane Duneau, a widow from Bridgnorth in Shropshire, who died April 9, 1841...
built the Doulton & Watts
Royal Doulton
The Royal Doulton Company is an English company producing tableware and collectables, dating to 1815. Operating originally in London, its reputation grew in The Potteries, where it was a latecomer compared to Spode, Wedgwood and Minton...
(later Royal Doulton) stoneware factory at Vauxhall, and consequently instead of the wealthy residents anticipated by the company, the area began to fill with narrow streets of working class tenement
Tenement
A tenement is, in most English-speaking areas, a substandard multi-family dwelling, usually old, occupied by the poor.-History:Originally the term tenement referred to tenancy and therefore to any rented accommodation...
s to house the factory's workers. Meanwhile, the large Millbank Penitentiary was built near the northern end of the bridge, discouraging housing development. Consequently, toll revenues were initially lower than expected, and the dividends paid to investors were low.
London and South Western Railway
The London and South Western Railway was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Its network extended from London to Plymouth via Salisbury and Exeter, with branches to Ilfracombe and Padstow and via Southampton to Bournemouth and Weymouth. It also had many routes connecting towns in...
was built at nearby Nine Elms
Nine Elms railway station
Nine Elms Railway Station in the London district of Battersea was opened on 21 May 1838 as the London terminus of the London & Southampton Railway which on the same day became the London and South Western Railway. The building in the neo-classical style was designed by Sir William Tite...
. Nine Elms station proved inconvenient and unpopular with travellers, and in 1848 a new railway terminus was built 1+1/2 mi closer to central London, at Waterloo Bridge station (renamed "Waterloo Station" in 1886), and the terminus at Nine Elms was abandoned.
With the closure of the rail terminus, Vauxhall Bridge's main source of revenue was visitors to the Vauxhall Gardens pleasure park. In addition to people visiting the Gardens themselves, Vauxhall Gardens were used as a launch point for hot air balloon
Hot air balloon
The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology. It is in a class of aircraft known as balloon aircraft. On November 21, 1783, in Paris, France, the first untethered manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a hot air...
flights, and large crowds would gather on the bridge and surrounding streets to watch the flights.In the 1990s sightseeing balloon flights from Vauxhall Gardens – by then renamed back to Spring Gardens – were resumed. The service closed in 2001 following the opening of the nearby London Eye
London Eye
The London Eye is a tall giant Ferris wheel situated on the banks of the River Thames, in London, England.It is the tallest Ferris wheel in Europe, and the most popular paid tourist attraction in the United Kingdom, visited by over 3.5 million people annually...
. A large crowd also assembled on the bridge in September 1844 to watch Mister Barry, a clown
Clown
Clowns are comic performers stereotypically characterized by the grotesque image of the circus clown's colored wigs, stylistic makeup, outlandish costumes, unusually large footwear, and red nose, which evolved to project their actions to large audiences. Other less grotesque styles have also...
from Astley's Amphitheatre
Astley's Amphitheatre
Philip Astley opened Astley's Amphitheatre in London in 1773. * The structure was burned in 1794, then rebuilt. With increasing prosperity and rebuilding after successive fires, it grew to become Astley's Royal Amphitheatre and this was the home of the circus...
, sail from Vauxhall Bridge to Westminster Bridge
Westminster Bridge
Westminster Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames between Westminster on the north side and Lambeth on the south side, in London, England....
in a washtub towed by geese
Goose
The word goose is the English name for a group of waterfowl, belonging to the family Anatidae. This family also includes swans, most of which are larger than true geese, and ducks, which are smaller....
.
Public ownership
Despite early setbacks and the construction nearby in the 19th century of three competing bridges (Lambeth BridgeLambeth Bridge
Lambeth Bridge is a road traffic and footbridge crossing the River Thames in an east-west direction in central London, England; the river flows north at the crossing point...
, Chelsea Bridge
Chelsea Bridge
Chelsea Bridge is a bridge over the River Thames in west London, connecting Chelsea on the north bank to Battersea on the south bank. There have been two Chelsea Bridges, on the site of what was an ancient ford....
and Albert Bridge
Albert Bridge, London
Albert Bridge is a Grade II* listed road bridge over the River Thames in West London, connecting Chelsea on the north bank to Battersea on the south bank...
), the rapid urban growth of London made Vauxhall Bridge very profitable. The annual income from tolls rose from £4,977 (about £ as of ) in its first full year of operation, to £62,392 (about £ as of ) in 1877. In 1877 the Metropolis Toll Bridges Act was passed, allowing the Metropolitan Board of Works
Metropolitan Board of Works
The Metropolitan Board of Works was the principal instrument of London-wide government from 1855 until the establishment of the London County Council in 1889. Its principal responsibility was to provide infrastructure to cope with London's rapid growth, which it successfully accomplished. The MBW...
(MBW) to buy all London bridges between Hammersmith Bridge
Hammersmith Bridge
Hammersmith Bridge is a crossing of the River Thames in west London, just south of the Hammersmith town centre area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham on the north side of the river. It allows road traffic and pedestrians to cross to Barnes on the south side of the river...
and Waterloo Bridge
Waterloo Bridge
Waterloo Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge crossing the River Thames in London, England between Blackfriars Bridge and Hungerford Bridge. The name of the bridge is in memory of the British victory at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815...
and free them from tolls.
In 1879 the bridge was bought by the MBW for £255,000 (about £ as of ) and tolls on the bridge were lifted. Inspections of the bridge by the MBW following the purchase found that the two central piers were badly eroded, exposing the timber cradles on which the piers rested. Large quantities of cement in bags were laid around the wooden cradles as an emergency measure; however, the cement bags themselves soon washed away. The piers were removed, replaced by a single large central arch. By this time the bridge was in very poor condition, and in 1895 the London County Council
London County Council
London County Council was the principal local government body for the County of London, throughout its 1889–1965 existence, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today known as Inner London and was replaced by the Greater London Council...
(LCC), which had taken over from the MBW in 1889, sought and gained Parliamentary approval to replace the bridge. Permission was granted by Parliament to raise the projected replacement costs of £484,000 (about £ as of ) from rates
Rates (tax)
Rates are a type of property tax system in the United Kingdom, and in places with systems deriving from the British one, the proceeds of which are used to fund local government...
across the whole of London rather than only local residents, as a new bridge was considered to be of benefit to the whole of London.
In August 1898 a temporary wooden bridge was moved into place alongside the existing bridge, and the demolition of the old bridge began.
New Vauxhall Bridge
Alexander Binnie
Sir Alexander Richardson Binnie was a civil engineer responsible for several major engineering projects, including several associated with crossings of the River Thames in London....
, submitted a design for a steel bridge, which proved unpopular. At the request of the LCC, Binnie submitted a new design for a bridge of five spans, to be built in concrete and faced with granite.
Work on Binnie's design began, but was beset by problems. Leading architects condemned the design, with Arthur Beresford Pite
Arthur Beresford Pite
Arthur Beresford Pite was a British architect.-The early years:Arthur Beresford Pite was born on 2 September 1861 in Newington, London to Alfred and Hephzibah. The Pite lineage originated from Woodbridge, Suffolk and has been traced back to the late 17th century...
describing it as "a would-be Gothic architectural form of great vulgarity and stupid want of meaning", and T G Jackson
Thomas Graham Jackson
Sir Thomas Graham Jackson, 1st Baronet RA was one of the most distinguished English architects of his generation...
describing the bridge designs as a sign of "the utter apparent indifference of those in authority to the matter of art". Plans to build large stone abutment
Abutment
An abutment is, generally, the point where two structures or objects meet. This word comes from the verb abut, which means adjoin or having common boundary. An abutment is an engineering term that describes a structure located at the ends of a bridge, where the bridge slab adjoins the approaching...
s had to be suspended when it was found that the southern abutment would block the River Effra
River Effra
The River Effra is a river in south London, England. It is now mainly underground. The name cannot be traced back much earlier than 1840 , so speculation that it came from a Celtic word for torrent is unwarranted...
, which by this time had been diverted underground to serve as a storm relief sewer and which flowed into the Thames at this point. The Effra had to be rerouted to join the Thames to the north of the bridge.The River Tyburn also joins the Thames near Vauxhall Bridge, 200 yards (182.9 m) upstream of the bridge on the northern bank. After the construction of the foundations and piers it was then discovered that the clay of the riverbed at this point would not be able to support the weight of a concrete bridge. With the granite piers already in place, it was decided to build a steel superstructure
Superstructure
A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships...
onto the existing piers, and a superstructure 809 feet (246.6 m) long and 80 feet (24.4 m) wide was designed by Binnie and Maurice Fitzmaurice
Maurice Fitzmaurice
Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice CMG was an Irish civil engineer. He was apprenticed to Benjamin Baker and worked with him on the Forth Railway Bridge before going to Egypt to build the Aswan Dam for which he was appointed both a member of the Ottoman Order of the Mejidiye and a companion of the British...
and built by LCC engineers at a cost of £437,000 (about £ as of ).
The new bridge was eventually opened on 26 May 1906, five years behind schedule, in a ceremony presided over by the Prince of Wales
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
and Evan Spicer, Chairman of the LCC. Charles Wall, who had won the contract to build the superstructure of the new bridge, paid the LCC £50 for the temporary wooden bridge, comprising 40000 cubic feet (1,132.7 m³) of timber and 580 tons
Long ton
Long ton is the name for the unit called the "ton" in the avoirdupois or Imperial system of measurements, as used in the United Kingdom and several other Commonwealth countries. It has been mostly replaced by the tonne, and in the United States by the short ton...
of scrap metal.
Sculpture
Pylon (architecture)
Pylon is the Greek term for a monumental gateway of an Egyptian temple It consists of two tapering towers, each surmounted by a cornice, joined by a less elevated section which enclosed the entrance between them. The entrance was generally about half the height of the towers...
topped with statues at one end of the bridge, and adding decorative sculpture to the bridge piers. The pylons were rejected on grounds of cost, but following further consultation with leading architect Richard Norman Shaw
Richard Norman Shaw
Richard Norman Shaw RA , was an influential Scottish architect from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings.-Life:...
it was decided to erect monumental bronze statues above the piers, and Alfred Drury
Alfred Drury
Alfred Briscoe Drury, was an English architectural sculptor and figure in the New Sculpture movement.Born in London, Drury studied under Edouard Lanteri and Jules Dalou, with whom he worked between 1881 and 1885, and then became assistant to Joseph Boehm.Drury is best represented at the Victoria...
, George Frampton
George Frampton
Sir George James Frampton, RA was a notable British sculptor and leading member of the New Sculpture movement.-Early life and career:...
and Frederick Pomeroy were appointed to design appropriate statues.
Long ton
Long ton is the name for the unit called the "ton" in the avoirdupois or Imperial system of measurements, as used in the United Kingdom and several other Commonwealth countries. It has been mostly replaced by the tonne, and in the United States by the short ton...
. Despite their size, the statues are little-noticed by users of the bridge as they are not visible from the bridge itself, but only from the river banks or from passing shipping.
Usage
The new bridge soon became a major transport artery and today carries the A202A202 road
The A202 is a primary A road in London. It runs from New Cross Gate to London Victoria station. The section forming part of the London Inner Ring Road is known as Vauxhall Bridge Road.-Camberwell New Road:...
across the Thames. Originally built with tram tracks, New Vauxhall Bridge was the first in central London to carry trams. Initially it carried horse-drawn trams, but shortly after the bridge's opening it was converted to carry the electric trams of London County Council Tramways
London County Council Tramways
The London County Council Tramways was an extensive network of public street tramways that was operated by the council throughout the County of London, UK, from 1899 to 1933, when they were taken over by the London Passenger Transport Board....
; it continued to carry trams until the ending of tram services in 1951. In 1968 Vauxhall Bridge and Park Lane
Park Lane (road)
Park Lane is a major road in the City of Westminster, in Central London.-History:Originally a country lane running north-south along what is now the eastern boundary of Hyde Park, it became a fashionable residential address from the eighteenth century onwards, offering both views across Hyde Park...
became the first roads in London to have bus lane
Bus lane
A bus lane or bus only lane is a lane restricted to buses, and generally used to speed up public transport that would be otherwise held up by traffic congestion...
s; during weekday evening rush hours, the central lane of the bridge was reserved for southbound buses only.
Millbank Bridge
During the Second World War the government was concerned that Axis bombers would target the bridge, and a temporary bridge known as Millbank Bridge was built parallel to Vauxhall Bridge, 200 yards (182.9 m) downstream. Millbank Bridge was built of steel girders supported by wooden stakes; however, despite its flimsy appearance it was a sturdy structure, capable of supporting tankTank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
s and other heavy military equipment. In the event, Vauxhall Bridge survived the war undamaged, and in 1948 Millbank Bridge was dismantled. Its girders were shipped to Northern Rhodesia
Northern Rhodesia
Northern Rhodesia was a territory in south central Africa, formed in 1911. It became independent in 1964 as Zambia.It was initially administered under charter by the British South Africa Company and formed by it in 1911 by amalgamating North-Western Rhodesia and North-Eastern Rhodesia...
and used to span a tributary of the Zambezi
Zambezi
The Zambezi is the fourth-longest river in Africa, and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. The area of its basin is , slightly less than half that of the Nile...
.
The Crystal Span
In 1963 the Glass Age Development CommitteeGlass Age Development Committee
The Glass Age Development Committee was established in 1937 by Pilkington to promote the use of glass as a building material in the United Kingdom. It commissioned designs for many large-scale schemes, none of which were ever built...
commissioned a design for a replacement bridge at Vauxhall, inspired by the design of the Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the Palace's of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technology developed in...
, to be called the Crystal Span. The Crystal Span was to have been a seven story building supported by two piers in the river, overhanging the river banks at either end. The structure itself would have been enclosed in an air conditioned glass shell. The lowest floor would have contained two three-lane carriageways for vehicles, with a layer of shops and a skating rink in the centre of the upper floors. The southern end of the upper floors was to house a luxury hotel, whilst the northern end was to house the modern art collection of the nearby Tate Gallery
Tate Gallery
The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
, which at this time was suffering from a severe shortage of display space. The roof was to have housed a series of roof gardens, observation platforms and courtyards, surrounding a large open air theatre. The entire structure would have been 970 feet (295.7 m) long and 127 feet (38.7 m) wide. Despite much public interest in the proposals, the London County Council was reluctant to pay the estimated £7 million (£ as of ) construction costs, and the scheme was abandoned.
Recent history
In 1993, the earliest known bridge-like structure in London was discovered alongside Vauxhall Bridge, when shifting currents washed away a layer of silt which had covered it. Dating to between 1550 BC and 300 BC, it consists of two rows of wooden posts, which it is believed would originally have carried a deck of some kind. It is believed that it did not cross the whole river, but instead ran to an island in the river, possibly used for burial of the dead. As no mention of this or similar structures in the area is made in Julius CaesarJulius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
's account of crossing the Thames nor by any other Roman author, it is presumed that the structure had been dismantled or destroyed prior to Caesar's expedition to Britain in 55 BC. The posts are still visible at extreme low tides.
Following the closure of a number of the area's industries, in the 1970s and 1980s the land at the southern end of Vauxhall Bridge remained empty, following the failures of multiple redevelopment schemes. The most notable came in 1979 when Keith Wickenden MP
Keith Wickenden
Keith David Wickenden was a Conservative Party politician.Wickenden was Member of Parliament for Dorking from 1979 to 1983, when the seat was abolished in boundary changes. One month after the 1983 general election, Wickenden was killed in an air crash at the age of 50.- External links :...
, owner of the land at the immediate southern end of the bridge, proposed a large-scale redevelopment of the site. The development was to contain 300000 square feet (27,870.9 m²) of office space, 100 luxury flats
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...
and a gallery to house the Tate Gallery's modern art collection. The offices were to be housed in a 500 feet (152.4 m) tower of green glass, which was nicknamed the "Green Giant" and met with much opposition. The then Secretary of State for the Environment
Secretary of State for the Environment
The Secretary of State for the Environment was a UK cabinet position, responsible for the Department of the Environment . This was created by Edward Heath as a combination of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Public Building and Works on 15...
, Michael Heseltine
Michael Heseltine
Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, CH, PC is a British businessman, Conservative politician and patron of the Tory Reform Group. He was a Member of Parliament from 1966 to 2001 and was a prominent figure in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major...
, refused permission for the development and the site remained empty.
Regalian Properties
Pegalian Properties plc is a British property development company. It was the developer of the SIS Building near Vauxhall Bridge....
purchased the site, and appointed Terry Farrell
Terry Farrell (architect)
Sir Terry Farrell, CBE, RIBA, FRSA, FCSD, MRTPI is a British architect.-Life and career:Farrell was born in Sale, Cheshire. As a youth he moved to Newcastle upon Tyne, where he attended St Cuthbert's High School. He graduated with a degree from Newcastle University, followed by a Masters in urban...
as architect. Farrell designed a self-contained community of shops, housing, offices and public spaces for the site. Regalian disliked the proposals and requested Farrell design a single large office block. Despite containing 50% more office space than the rejected Green Giant proposal, the design was accepted. The government then bought the site and design as a future headquarters for the Secret Intelligence Service
Secret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
, and the design was accordingly modified to increase security. In 1995 the SIS Building
SIS Building
The SIS Building, also commonly known as the MI6 Building, is the headquarters of the British Secret Intelligence Service . It is known within the intelligence community as Legoland and also as "Babylon-on-Thames" due to its resemblance to an ancient Babylonian ziggurat...
was opened on the site, and today dominates other buildings in the vicinity of the bridge.
National Rail
National Rail is a title used by the Association of Train Operating Companies as a generic term to define the passenger rail services operated in Great Britain...
and London Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
stations at Vauxhall
Vauxhall station
Vauxhall station is a National Rail, London Underground and London Buses interchange station in central London. It is at the Vauxhall Cross road junction opposite the southern approach to Vauxhall Bridge over the River Thames in the London district of Vauxhall...
. Immediately to the east of the southern end of the bridge, a slipway
Slipway
A slipway, boat slip or just a slip, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats. They are also used for launching and retrieving small boats on trailers and flying boats on their undercarriage. The...
provides access for amphibious buses between the road and river.
The only significant alteration to the structure of the bridge itself since the addition of the sculptures in 1907 came in 1973, when the Greater London Council
Greater London Council
The Greater London Council was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council which had covered a much smaller area...
(GLC) decided to add an extra traffic lane by reducing the width of the pavements. To counter the increased load of extra traffic, the GLC announced the replacement of the cast-iron balustrades with low box-girder structures. Despite formal objections from both Lambeth and Westminster Councils, the GLC ignored the objections, giving the bridge the appearance it has today. The bridge was declared a Grade II* listed structure in 2008, providing protection to preserve its character from further alteration.