The Open Guide to London: the free London guide - Differences between Version 9 and Version 1 of Vauxhall Bridge

Version 9 Version 1
== Line 1 == == Line 1 ==
<div style="float:right"><img src="http://stout.rumble.net/albums/London-2004/pc050381.thumb.jpg" style="width: 150px; height: 113px; border: 0" alt="Vauxhall Bridge, copyright 2004 Simon Rumble and licensed under ShareAttribution-ShareAlike 2.0 and GFDL" /></div>
* '''Nearest [[Tube]] stations:''' [[Vauxhall Station|Vauxhall]], [[Pimlico Station|Pimlico]]
The earliest placement of a bridge at Vauxhall dates back to The Middle Bronze Age (between 1750BC and 1285 BC). Little is known about the earliest crossing however it is noted that the Abbot OF Westminster repaired a bridge over a creek at Vauxhall Cross in 1340. The bridge was known as Cox’s Bridge (Cokesbrugge) and ran over The River Effra. The original proprietor of the modern-day bridge was a gentleman named Ralph Dodd.<P>
A parliamentary act of 1809 authorised the building of a bridge across The River Thames from the vicinity of Vauxhall Turnpike in the parish of Saint Mary Lambeth (Surrey) to the opposite shore in The Parish of Saint John in The City of Westminster (Middlesex) and for making convenient roads thereto. The bridge would stretch from Vauxhall Bridge Road to Bridge Foot on the Upper Kennington Lane (now the Albert Embankment). At that time there was no communication between the Middlesex and Surrey sides of The River Thames in this area, except by means of the ferryboat. The construction of the bridge was part of a grand plan for a great new thoroughfare from Hyde Park Corner, over the river (bridge) to Kennington and thence to Greenwich. There were, however, provisions within the act for the financing of the bridge which would soon prove problematic, and the company (The Vauxhall Bridge Company) was very under- funded.
<P>
The first works on Regent’s Bridge (later Vauxhall Bridge) were started on May 9th 1811 to the plans of John Rennie, a civil engineer who had the idea of a stone bridge comprising seven arches
. Lord Thomas Dundas, standing in for The Prince Regent, laid the foundation stone. Financial constraints caused Rennie’s plans problems and the idea of an iron bridge with eleven cast-iron arches was conceived. The first stone of the new bridge was laid in 1813 by Prince Charles, the eldest son of the late Lord Brunswick.<P>
For Rennie though who had disagreements with Ralph Dodd,
this was his departure after his new plans were turned down by the promoters, in particular, the original projector of the bridge – Ralph Dodd, and plans were accepted from Sir Samuel Bentham, a naval architect. J. Grellier was contracted to build the new conception. An immense quantity of good stone was bought and using the materials from Rennie’s works, which had had to be dismantled, Grellier started building. However, The Thames Conservators, on the advice of James Walker, found the methods used by Bentham to be inadequate due to concerns regarding the quality of the work. At a cost of �50,000
Walker’s design (which was altogether less expensive) included ironwork of arches, made at Butterly in Derbyshire. Under Walkers supervision and to his designs (of nine cast-iron arches), with 78 foot span springing from stout stone piers formed by a wooden frame as a foundation and faced with Kentish Ragstone and Roman cement,, the “Southwark” type bridge was constructed. After a number of false starts and problems since its inception, it finally opened officially on 4th June 1816, close to The Millbank Penitentiary which opened that year, the site is now occupied by the Tate Modern Art Gallery.<P>
Now formally called
Vauxhall Bridge, it was 809 feet long and 36 feet wide, and was the first iron bridge to be built over The River Thames. The bridge ended up costing �175,432, which was shouldered by the promoters. Together with compensation for the ferrymen, the improvement of the Upper Kennington Lane (the Albert Embankment), and the construction of Vauxhall Bridge Road, the total cost rose sharply – to an overall sum of �296,988.<P>
Of the three toll bridges over the Thames built by private companies in the early 19th
-Century, (Vauxhall, Waterloo and Southwark) only Vauxhall Bridge was financially sound. It was during this period that Vauxhall Gardens closed (1859) at auction, ending nearly 200-years of existence. In 1862 Lambeth Bridge opened. Soon after, in 1868 Victoria Embankment opened between Temple and Lambeth
Bridge,
shortly after, Lambeth Embankment between Lambeth and Westminster Bridges opened. Albert Bridge and
Wandsworth Bridges opened in 1871.<P>
Initial tolls ranged from ½d
/1d for pedestrians to 1 shilling 6d for heavy wagons. However, the bridge brought only �4,977 in it’s first year. By 1876 the tolls had only reached �12,962 and �13,243 in 1879 when company financial problems forced a takeover by The Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW), around the time of the formation of the nearby Fulham Football Team. 1890 saw the opening of Vauxhall Park. The MBW aimed to make Vauxhall Bridge toll-free like all the other road bridges across the Thames within the board’s remit (Putney to Plumstead). The MBW paid the promoters �255,000 and on 24th may 1879, at a ceremony led by the Prince of Wales who later became King George V (in 1927) and was the first British monarch of the house of Windsor, Vauxhall Bridge ceased to be a toll bridge.<P>
Architectural changes in 1881 were made when the two central piers were removed as they were impending river traffic. They were replaced by one long arch. The MBW’s main problem in maintaining the bridge was the Thames’s vicious water current which scoured the river bed around the foundation of the bridge’s piers. The scouring was increased as a result of MBW’s works in building the embankments which reclaimed the mud banks exposed at low tide and narrowed the channels. Bags of cement and 500 tons of iron slag were placed to protect the channels. Later, in 1898 a temporary wooden bridge was thrown out across The Thames as demolition work on Vauxhall Bridge began.
<P>
Soon after, The London County Council (LCC) took over the MBW’s duties, this is to say that Metropolitan Board of Works was replaced by London County Council. The LCC had to build a replacement bridge, which was done to the designs of their engineers, led by Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice (The LCC’s chief engineer). The new construction began in 1898, opening, with new approaches, on 26th May 1906 by the Prince of Wales. Sources vary on the cost of the bridge, thought to be �484,000 (but also possibly �600,000 or �2,000,000). The new bridge, (the present day construction), was 80 feet wide by 809 feet long and was the first London bridge to carry trams.<P>
The appearance of Vauxhall Bridge is somewhat Spartan in contrast to some of the other more elaborate Thames crossings, however a fine feature on each side of the cutwaters, is a bronze statue – the work of Alfred Drury and F.W. Pomeroy. The statues represent
: Local government; education; science; fine arts; pottery; engineering; agriculture; and architecture.<P>
The present day
Vauxhall Bridge is overlooked by London’s metropolis of high-rise buildings.
At the
Vauxhall end there is Vauxhall Cross or “The Green Giant” which casts an ambiguous shadow over the bridge. Vauxhall Cross is home to The British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). Across the road is a brand new
high-rise apartments block
, The Vauxhall Tower. Having just been completed, at 591 feet high it is the United Kingdom’s largest residential tower.<P>
(By Daniel Devons-Goddard)<P>

== Line 3 ==
Vauxhall Bridge connects [[Pimlico]] with [[Vauxhall]], and is composed of five steel arches resting on granite piers. Its sides are decorated with figures representing arts, science and industry.

The next bridges along the [[Thames]] are [[Grosvenor Bridge]] to the WSW, and [[Lambeth Bridge]] to the NNE.

== History ==

The bridge was designed by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Binnie Sir Alexander Binnie] (who also designed the [[Greenwich Foot Tunnel]]) and opened in 1906. See also: [http://www.victorianlondon.org/thames/vauxhallbridge.htm Victorian references to Vauxhall Bridge].
== Line 11 == == Line 19 ==
category='Bridges,River,Stub Pages'
category='Bridges in London'
== Line 14 == == Line 22 ==
formatted_website_text=''
host='80.42.44.17'
hours_text='24-hours'
locale='Lambeth,Pimlico,Vauxhall,Westminster'
major_change='1
'
formatted_website_text='http://www.vauxhallbridge.co.uk '
host='194.81.153.8'
hours_text='24'
locale='Vauxhall, London'
== Line 20 == == Line 28 ==
opening_hours_text='24-hours'
phone=''
opening_hours_text='24'
phone='07811325370'
== Line 31 == == Line 31 ==
website='http://www.vauxhallbridge.co.uk' summary='' website='http://www.vauxhallbridge.co.uk' summary=''

The earliest placement of a bridge at Vauxhall dates back to The Middle Bronze Age (between 1750BC and 1285 BC). Little is known about the earliest crossing however it is noted that the Abbot OF Westminster repaired a bridge over a creek at Vauxhall Cross in 1340. The bridge was known as Cox’s Bridge (Cokesbrugge) and ran over The River Effra. The original proprietor of the modern-day bridge was a gentleman named Ralph Dodd.

A parliamentary act of 1809 authorised the building of a bridge across The River Thames from the vicinity of Vauxhall Turnpike in the parish of Saint Mary Lambeth (Surrey) to the opposite shore in The Parish of Saint John in The City of Westminster (Middlesex) and for making convenient roads thereto. The bridge would stretch from Vauxhall Bridge Road to Bridge Foot on the Upper Kennington Lane (now the Albert Embankment). At that time there was no communication between the Middlesex and Surrey sides of The River Thames in this area, except by means of the ferryboat. The construction of the bridge was part of a grand plan for a great new thoroughfare from Hyde Park Corner, over the river (bridge) to Kennington and thence to Greenwich. There were, however, provisions within the act for the financing of the bridge which would soon prove problematic, and the company (The Vauxhall Bridge Company) was very under- funded.

The first works on Regent’s Bridge (later Vauxhall Bridge) were started on May 9th 1811 to the plans of John Rennie, a civil engineer who had the idea of a stone bridge comprising seven arches. Lord Thomas Dundas, standing in for The Prince Regent, laid the foundation stone. Financial constraints caused Rennie’s plans problems and the idea of an iron bridge with eleven cast-iron arches was conceived. The first stone of the new bridge was laid in 1813 by Prince Charles, the eldest son of the late Lord Brunswick.

For Rennie though who had disagreements with Ralph Dodd, this was his departure after his new plans were turned down by the promoters, in particular, the original projector of the bridge – Ralph Dodd, and plans were accepted from Sir Samuel Bentham, a naval architect. J. Grellier was contracted to build the new conception. An immense quantity of good stone was bought and using the materials from Rennie’s works, which had had to be dismantled, Grellier started building. However, The Thames Conservators, on the advice of James Walker, found the methods used by Bentham to be inadequate due to concerns regarding the quality of the work. At a cost of �50,000 Walker’s design (which was altogether less expensive) included ironwork of arches, made at Butterly in Derbyshire. Under Walkers supervision and to his designs (of nine cast-iron arches), with 78 foot span springing from stout stone piers formed by a wooden frame as a foundation and faced with Kentish Ragstone and Roman cement,, the “Southwark” type bridge was constructed. After a number of false starts and problems since its inception, it finally opened officially on 4th June 1816, close to The Millbank Penitentiary which opened that year, the site is now occupied by the Tate Modern Art Gallery.

Now formally called Vauxhall Bridge, it was 809 feet long and 36 feet wide, and was the first iron bridge to be built over The River Thames. The bridge ended up costing �175,432, which was shouldered by the promoters. Together with compensation for the ferrymen, the improvement of the Upper Kennington Lane (the Albert Embankment), and the construction of Vauxhall Bridge Road, the total cost rose sharply – to an overall sum of �296,988.

Of the three toll bridges over the Thames built by private companies in the early 19th-Century, (Vauxhall, Waterloo and Southwark) only Vauxhall Bridge was financially sound. It was during this period that Vauxhall Gardens closed (1859) at auction, ending nearly 200-years of existence. In 1862 Lambeth Bridge opened. Soon after, in 1868 Victoria Embankment opened between Temple and Lambeth Bridge, shortly after, Lambeth Embankment between Lambeth and Westminster Bridges opened. Albert Bridge and Wandsworth Bridges opened in 1871.

Initial tolls ranged from ½d/1d for pedestrians to 1 shilling 6d for heavy wagons. However, the bridge brought only �4,977 in it’s first year. By 1876 the tolls had only reached �12,962 and �13,243 in 1879 when company financial problems forced a takeover by The Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW), around the time of the formation of the nearby Fulham Football Team. 1890 saw the opening of Vauxhall Park. The MBW aimed to make Vauxhall Bridge toll-free like all the other road bridges across the Thames within the board’s remit (Putney to Plumstead). The MBW paid the promoters �255,000 and on 24th may 1879, at a ceremony led by the Prince of Wales who later became King George V (in 1927) and was the first British monarch of the house of Windsor, Vauxhall Bridge ceased to be a toll bridge.

Architectural changes in 1881 were made when the two central piers were removed as they were impending river traffic. They were replaced by one long arch. The MBW’s main problem in maintaining the bridge was the Thames’s vicious water current which scoured the river bed around the foundation of the bridge’s piers. The scouring was increased as a result of MBW’s works in building the embankments which reclaimed the mud banks exposed at low tide and narrowed the channels. Bags of cement and 500 tons of iron slag were placed to protect the channels. Later, in 1898 a temporary wooden bridge was thrown out across The Thames as demolition work on Vauxhall Bridge began.

Soon after, The London County Council (LCC) took over the MBW’s duties, this is to say that Metropolitan Board of Works was replaced by London County Council. The LCC had to build a replacement bridge, which was done to the designs of their engineers, led by Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice (The LCC’s chief engineer). The new construction began in 1898, opening, with new approaches, on 26th May 1906 by the Prince of Wales. Sources vary on the cost of the bridge, thought to be �484,000 (but also possibly �600,000 or �2,000,000). The new bridge, (the present day construction), was 80 feet wide by 809 feet long and was the first London bridge to carry trams.

The appearance of Vauxhall Bridge is somewhat Spartan in contrast to some of the other more elaborate Thames crossings, however a fine feature on each side of the cutwaters, is a bronze statue – the work of Alfred Drury and F.W. Pomeroy. The statues represent: Local government; education; science; fine arts; pottery; engineering; agriculture; and architecture.

The present day Vauxhall Bridge is overlooked by London’s metropolis of high-rise buildings. At the Vauxhall end there is Vauxhall Cross or “The Green Giant” which casts an ambiguous shadow over the bridge. Vauxhall Cross is home to The British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). Across the road is a brand new high-rise apartments block, The Vauxhall Tower. Having just been completed, at 591 feet high it is the United Kingdom’s largest residential tower.

(By Daniel Devons-Goddard)


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