Victorian London - Thames - Bridges - Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge - photograph

George Birch, The Descriptive Album of London, c.1896

Tower Bridge - photograph

public opening of Tower Bridge in 1894 from
George Birch, The Descriptive Album of London, c.1896

Victorian London - Publications - History - The Queen's London : a Pictorial and Descriptive Record of the Streets, Buildings, Parks and Scenery of the Great Metropolis, 1896 - The Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge - photograph

THE TOWER BRIDGE.

Further communication across the Thames at this point had been urgently needed for many years. The necessary Act was passed in 1885, the foundation-stone laid by the Prince of Wales on June 21, 1886, and the work completed, at a cost of about a million sterling, in 1894. The bridge, designed by Mr. Wolfe Barry, CB., is of somewhat peculiar construction, the low-level passage being on the "bascule" principle i.e., the centre span of 200 feet is divided into two, each half being pivoted and furnished with a counterpoise, and hauled upward and back against the towers when the waterway is opened; the bridge is shown thus opened in the view. A high-level footway is also carried across nearly at the top of the towers, access to this being afforded by lifts in the latter. The side spans are on the suspension principle.

Victorian London - Publications - History - The Queen's London : a Pictorial and Descriptive Record of the Streets, Buildings, Parks and Scenery of the Great Metropolis, 1896 - View up the river from Tower Bridge (High Level)

View up the river from Tower Bridge (High Level) - photograph

VIEW UP THE RIVER FROM THE TOWER BRIDGE (HIGH LEVEL). 

An ascent of the Tower Bridge to the high-level footways between the towers is well worth making for the sake of the view. These footways, which are accessible by the lifts or by the stairs, are 140 feet above Trinity high-water mark. Our picture shows the panorama looking towards St. Paul's Cathedral, whose dome and towers are conspicuous afar off. Near at hand, to the right, is the Tower, with the Traitors' Gate; beyond it the Customs House, with its stately façade and broad quay, and the Monument rising behind; further on is Billingsgate Fish Market, with the Dutch shrimpers moored off it; then come London Bridge and the South Eastern Railway bridge, and the roof of Cannon Street Station. The towers and steeples of a score of churches, in addition to the Cathedral, may be seen on a clear day.

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Anon., The Premier Photographic View Album of London, 1907