Most know Tower Bridge opens to let vessels through, but now we unravel how it really works. In 1962, London Bridge was falling down. This London Bridge was built out of granite which was quarried on Dartmoor. 1894 - Tower Bridge was opened by the Prince and Princess of Wales with great celebrations, on 30 June. History Edit. 1912 - During a stunt, Frank McClean flew between the bascules and the high-level Walkways in his Short seaplane. Sir John Rennie’s London Bridge John Rennie designed the new bridge, but died before it was built, so it was left to his sons, Sir John and George, to carry out his plans. The energy created was stored in six massive accumulators, meaning that as soon as power was required to lift the Bridge, it was always readily available. There has been a bridge on this site for almost as long as there has been a city of London. A bridge has existed at or near the present site over the period from the Roman occupation of the area, nearly 2,000 years ago. A close up of the Southwark end of Old London Bridge showing a building called ‘Bridge House’ and the newly styled, ‘Traitor’s Gate’ H owever, during the Elizabethan period, Drawbridge Gate was dismantled and replaced by a spectacular prefabricated building shipped to England from Holland – Nonsuch House, which was built in 1577. The modern bridge has sleek lines and is adorned with red lights. In an effort to reclaim the English… Facts about London Bridge 2: the stone arched bridge. For over 600 years this bridge was the key crossing point of the Thames in London, ferrying people, goods and livestock across the river. The bridge was sold to an American in 1968 for $2,460,000 who moved it piece by piece to Arizona and had it rebuilt. The first few London Bridges were wooden bridges, these were eventualy replaced with a stone bridge, the first one being started in 1176. Throughout its history, London bridge has been a busy thoroughfare, and was once lined with shops. The Current London Bridge is widest of all its iterations. Dan Cruickshank explores the mysteries and secrets of the bridges that have made London what it is. It took eight years, five major contractors and the relentless labour of 432 construction workers each day to build Tower Bridge. London Bridge Facts. The original pumping engines, accumulators and boilers are now on display within Tower Bridge’s Engine Rooms. In its now more than 125 years, Tower Bridge has been the location of a number of feats, from a bus jumping its bascules in 1952 to Frank Miller flying a plane through it an year earlier, in 1951. The first was erected over 2,000 years ago, with successive bridges built by the Romans, William the Conqueror and King John. Work began on the bridge in 1824, and the first stone was laid on 15 June 1825. Between Southwark and the City of London on the north shore the river estuary is much shallower so this was a natural place for the Romans to build a bridge to consolidate their new city, Londinium, which was where the City of London is now. The bridge was completed in 1894. A bridge has existed at or near the present site over the period from the Roman occupation of the area, nearly 2,000 years ago. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. The first phase - Southwark Bridge, Millennium Bridge, London Bridge and Cannon Street Bridge - was switched on on 17 July 2019. London Bridge was sold to Robert P McCulloch, a businessman from Missouri (United States). Lord Holford designed the current London Bridge. 1976 - Tower Bridge switches to electrified hydraulics, rather than the steam-driven system it was originally powered by. Built between 1176 and 1209, it was the first to be built in stone and masterminded by Peter of Colechurch. Two massive piers were sunk into the riverbed to support the construction, and over 11,000 tons of steel provided the framework for the Towers and Walkways. In the year 1209, the London Bridge was demolished and rebuilt by a stone bridge lined with houses and shops next to its side. London Bridge is a bridge in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. The three major iterations of London Bridge … London Bridge first was only constructed from concrete and steel when it was opened in 1973 for traffic. 1886 - The construction of Tower Bridge began on 22 April. Built by John Rennie the new bridge was opened in 1831 by King William IV but by 1896 it was back to being the most congested place in London, with over 8,000 pedestrians using it per hour. It replaced a 19th-century stone-arched bridge, which in turn superseded a 600-year-old stone-built medieval structure. The first, in 1633, severely damaged the structure and weakened it to some degree. There were at least eight great fires in London between 1018 and 1133, and it seems likely that the bridge was affected by some of these. The bridge is featured in the traditional nursery rhyme London Bridge is Falling Down. Traitors and outlaws’ heads would be put on pikes at either end. McCulloch had exterior granite blocks from the original bridge numbered and transported to the United States to construct the present bridge in Lake Havasu Ci… He then proceeded to followed by fly under at least three other bridges on his way to Westminster. The most famous and longstanding of these was the “Old” Medieval bridge, finished in 1209 during the reign of King John. The history of the London Bridge structure in place today began in 1967 and was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on March 17, 1973. Facts and History of Tower Bridge in London. In 1014 the Danes had seized London. Millions of Londoners cross these bridges every week. This was preceded by a succession of timber bridges, the first of which was built by the Roman founders of London. We know that William the Conqueror's son, William Rufus (1087-1100) had to rebuild the bridge. It was from here that pilgrims would set off for Canterbury cathedral. Tower Bridge is owned, funded and managed by the City of London. Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. It was a stone arched bridge in 19th century, which replaced the timber bridge. It was constructed by contractors John Mowlem and Co from 1967 to 1972, and opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 17 March 1973. Tower Bridge is one of five London bridges owned and maintained by the Bridge House Estates, a charitable … It goes back to 43 A.D. when the first London Bridge was built. It was dismantled in 1967 and relocated to Arizona. The bridge was only a box girder. Despite the complexity of the system, the bascules only took about a minute to raise to their maximum angle of 86 degrees. Today’s London Bridge, constructed between 1968 and 1972, is a two-pier cantilever structure of pressed concrete. Like the Millennium Bridge, it too had structural problems when it was first built in 1873 and had to undergo a great deal of renovation work. London Bridge is not the one you’re probably thinking of, that’s, © S M / Flickr © Dun.can / Flickr © Michael Jefferies / Flickr, © S M / Flickr | Dun.can / Flickr | Michael Jefferies / Flickr. London Bridge was made of concrete and steel. Today, the bascules are still operated by hydraulic power, but since 1976 they have been driven by oil and electricity rather than steam. We clear the mix up between Tower Bridge and London Bridge, and share facts you probably did not know about the former. Built by John Rennie the new bridge was opened in 1831 by King William IV but by 1896 it was back to being the most congested place in London, with over 8,000 pedestrians using it per hour. The accumulators fed the driving engines, which drove the bascules up and down. Built between 1774 and 1777 as a replacement for a ferry crossing, it is now the oldest surviving Thames bridge in London. Illumination is by LEDs and replaces former less efficient forms of lighting in … History Roman bridge. Several parts of the bridge collapsed over the years, leading to the famous nursery rhyme, “London Bridge is Falling Down”. Looking to find out more about the Bridge? Construction was carried out using the cantilever method, with segments being built outward from two piers, each segment tied to the previous one by high-strength steel tendons. 1910 - The high-level Walkways, which were designed so that the public could still cross the Bridge when it was raised, were closed due to lack of use. Connecting Chelsea and Battersea, Albert Bridge – named after Prince Albert (husband of Queen Victoria) – is one of the most famous landmarks in West London. Its twin towers rise 61 metres (200 feet) above the Thames. A stone bridge was erected in the 12th century – it took 33 years to build and had a chapel dedicated to Thomas Beckett, the Archbishop of Canterbury, placed in the centre. These bascules were operated by hydraulics, using steam to power the enormous pumping engines. What next? The Great Fires of London. Between the towers stretch a pair of glass-covered walkways that are popular among tourists. Most of them hardly give it a second thought. 2. It was not the earliest station in the London metropolitan area, as the London and Greenwich Railway had opened stations at Spa Road (in Bermondsey) and Deptford on 8 February 1836. London Bridge station was opened on 14 December 1836, making it the oldest London railway terminus that is still running. Tower Bridge, one of the London’s most famous landmarks, is a bascule and suspension bridge on River Thames.It has two towers, in Victorian Gothic style, that are connected with two walkways that are constructed so they can resist horizontal forces from suspended parts of the bridge. The bridge was officially opened on … The London Bridge was first built from wood. The original colour of the Bridge was a chocolate brown colour. 2012 - Playing a focal point in the London Olympics, this year saw the Olympic rings suspended from the Walkways and James Bond and ‘the Queen’ fly through in a helicopter during the Opening Ceremony. In 1969, M. M. Sundt’s heavy civil construction division was already working in the Lake Havasu area on a project to improve Arizona State Route 95, so the company bid on the London Bridge job, and was successful. Albert Bridge. As a result, it is sometimes confused with London Bridge, about half a mile upstream. Building work started in 1967 and was completed in 1972. The new bridge, wide and spacious was busy at once and even more so when the railways came to London, and London Bridge Station opened just south of London Bridge. 1952 - The number 78 London bus driven by Albert Gunter on its way across the Bridge, had to leap from one bascule to the other when the Bridge began to rise. When London declined after the Romans left, the river went back to being a natural border between the Anglo Saxon regions of Mercia and Wessex. 3. It is about 240 metres (800 feet) in length and provides an opening 76 metres (250 feet) wide. The current London Bridge, built between 1968 and 1972, replaced Rennie’s stone arches with beams of prestressed concrete reaching 340 feet (104 metres) in the central span. 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