Tower Bridge London Quick Facts
Place | London, United Kingdom) |
Built in | 1886 to 1894 |
Architect | George D. Stevenson and Horace Jones |
Type | Traffic Bridge |
Engineer | John Wolfe Barry |
Tower Bridge London Overview
Different types of bridges exist in many places in the world, but a unique and wonderful bridge like Tower Bridge will hardly be anywhere else in the world. The unique structure of this bridge would separate it from many bridges in the world. This bridge enhances the beauty of Britain even more.
Tower Bridge London History
Tower Hamlets and Southwark, the two areas of the City of London, could not be connected to each other due to the River Thames, as this river was used for the movement of ships, if a permanent bridge was built over it, it would block the movement of ships.
To find a solution to this problem, a special bridge committee was formed in 1877 under the chairmanship of Sir Albert Joseph Altman, in which there was a debate on the design of more than 50 bridges but no design was finalized. George D. Stevenson, Horace Jones and John Wolfe Barry suggested a unique bascule bridge which was accepted and ordered the bridge to be built in Gothic style. The construction of the bridge began in 1886 and was completed by 1894.
Tower Bridge London Interesting Facts
- It took about 8 years to build this bridge. Its construction was started on 21 June 1886 and it was built and opened to the public by 30 June 1894.
- It is one of the largest bridges in the world. Its total length is 244 meters and its total height is 65 meters.
- More than 400 workers were employed for the construction of this bridge.
- More than 70,000 tons of concrete was poured into the River Thames to build the base of the bridge.
- The bridge is one of the busiest in London with over 40,000 people using it each day.
- About 11,000 tonnes of steel were used to build the towers and side path structures of this bridge.
- The bridge, built over the River Thames, connects Tower Hamlets in the north of London with Southwark in the south of London.
- The Tower Bridge Exhibition was opened to the public for the first time since 1910 with a permanent exhibition in 1982.