London would not be the same without the Thames running through the heart of our city, however the problem with a river running in the city is the fact you need to be able to cross it somehow! For many years, bridges have been the answer to this and they are part of everyday London life yet they are not celebrated for their integral part to our daily lives. So as a tribute to them here are some fun facts!
Tower Bridge- is 244 metres (800 feet) long, covered in 22,000 litres (5,812gal) of paint and crossed by 40,000 people each day. While now being regarded as beautiful piece of engineering and a busy tourist attraction, in 1909 The Times said: “It looks like a monstrous Gothic toy that ought to be one of the side-shows of an exhibition.”
Millennium Bridge- The Bridge opened to the public on 10 June 2000, but it had a bit of a problem with it wobbling when numbers of people crossed the bridge at one time. The wobble has been fixed now but “the wobbly bridge” name stays with the bridge.
Waterloo Bridge- earned the nickname the “Ladies Bridge” as it was built mainly by women during World War II while many men were away fighting.
Lambeth bridge- Charles Dickens considered the 1862 Lambeth Bridge “on the whole, the ugliest ever built”.
– A Russian delegation which visited the new Vauxhall railway station in the 1840s was so impressed that the word “voksal” entered the Russian language as the word for railway station.
