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Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge was completed in 1894, after 8 years of construction. However,many people don’t realise why it was even uilt in the !rst place, or why it isso di"erent from #ondon’s other ridges. The information elow will !ll you in

on some of Tower Bridge’s fascinating history. The need for a new ridge

$riginally, #ondon Bridge was the only crossing over the Thames. %s #ondongrew, so more ridges were added, ut these were all to the west of #ondonBridge, since the area east of #ondon Bridge had ecome a usy port. &n the19th century, the east end of #ondon ecame so densely populated thatpu lic pressure mounted for a ridge to the east of #ondon Bridge, as

'ourneys for pedestrians and vehicles were eing delayed literally y hours.

(inally in 18)*, the +orporation of #ondon, who were responsi le for that partof the Thames, decided that the pro lem could e put o" no longer.

How a design was chosen

The ig pro lem for the +orporation of #ondon was how to uild a ridgedownstream from #ondon Bridge without disrupting river tra c activities. Toget as many ideas as possi le, the - pecial Bridge or u way +ommittee-was formed in 18)*, and opened the design of the new crossing to pu liccompetition.

$ver /0 designs were put forward for consideration, some of which you can

see when you visit the Tower Bridge 2hi ition. However, it wasn’t until$cto er 1884 that Horace 3ones, the +ity %rchitect, in colla oration with 3ohn

olfe Barry, o"ered the chosen design for Tower Bridge as a solution.

The uilding of the ridge

&t too5 8 years, / ma'or contractors and the relentless la our of 467construction wor5ers to uild Tower Bridge.

Two massive piers had to e sun5 into the river ed to support theconstruction, over 11,000 tons of steel provided the framewor5 for the Towersand al5ways. This was then clad in +ornish granite and ortland stone, othto protect the underlying steelwor5 and to give the Bridge a more pleasingappearance.

ou can !nd out more a out the uilding of Tower Bridge and the peopleinvolved in its construction when you visit The Tower Bridge 2hi ition.

How it wor5s : then and now

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hen it was uilt, Tower Bridge was the largest and most sophisticatedascule ridge ever uilt ;- ascule- comes from the (rench for -see:saw-espite the comple2ity of the system, the ascules

only too5 a out a minute to raise to their ma2imum 8* degrees.

?owadays, the ascules are still operated y hydraulic power, ut since 19)*they have een driven y oil and electricity rather than steam. The originalpumping engines, accumulators and oilers are on show as part of the TowerBridge 2hi ition, and you can also see the current machinery and controlca ins when you come on a -Behind The cenes Tour-. ;Behind The cenes

Tours must e pre: oo5ed<

&nteresting facts

Tower Bridge has a fascinating history, which is e2plored in full in the TowerBridge 2hi ition. Here are a few interesting facts you may not have 5nown@

&nteresting facts a out the Tower Bridge

1910 he high:level wal5ways, which were designed so that the pu lic couldstill cross the Bridge when it was raised, were closed down due to lac5 of use.Aost people preferred to wait at the ottom and watch the ascules rise up

1917 >uring an emergency, (ran5 Ac+lean had to Cy etween the asculesand the high:level al5ways in his hort iplane, to avoid an accident.

19/7 % #ondon us had to leap from one ascule to the other when theBridge egan to rise with the us still on it.

19)) Tower Bridge was painted red, white and lue to cele rate the Dueen’silver 3u ilee. ;Before that, it was painted a chocolate rown colour

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