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Southwark Bridge

Coordinates: 51°30′32″N 0°05′40″W / 51.50889°N 0.09444°W / 51.50889; -0.09444
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Southwark Bridge
Coordinates51°30′32″N 0°05′40″W / 51.5089°N 0.0944°W / 51.5089; -0.0944
CarriesA300 road
CrossesRiver Thames
LocaleSouthwark, London
Maintained byBridge House Estates,
City of London Corporation
Heritage statusGrade II listed structure
Preceded byMillennium Bridge
Followed byCannon Street Railway Bridge
Characteristics
Total length800 feet (243.8 m)
Width55 feet (16.8 m)
Longest span240 feet (73.2 m)
History
Opened6 June 1921; 103 years ago (1921-06-06)
Location
Map

Southwark Bridge (/ˈsʌðək/ ⓘ SUDH-ək)[1] is an arch bridge in London, for traffic linking the district of Southwark and the City across the River Thames. Besides when others are closed for temporary repairs, it has the least traffic of the Thames bridges in London.

History

[edit]
Southwark Bridge Act 1811
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act for erecting a Bridge over the River Thames from or near the Three Cranes in the Parishes of Saint James Garlick Hythe and Saint Martin Vintry, in the City of London, to the opposite Bank of the said River, in the Parish of Saint Saviour, in the County of Surrey; and for making proper Streets and Avenues to communicate therewith.
Citation51 Geo. 3. c. clxvi
Dates
Royal assent15 June 1811
Other legislation
Amended by
  • Southwark Bridge 1813
  • Southwark Bridge 1816
  • Southwark Bridge Act 1820
  • Southwark Bridge Act 1823
  • Southwark Bridge Approaches Act 1824
  • Southwark Bridge Approaches Act 1828
Status: Amended
Text of statute as originally enacted
Southwark Bridge Act 1813
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act to amend an Act, passed in the Fifty first Year of His present Majesty, for erecting a Bridge over the River Thames, from the City of London to the opposite Bank in the Parish of Saint Saviour, in the County of Surry.
Citation53 Geo. 3. c. lxxxvii
Dates
Royal assent21 May 1813
Other legislation
Amends
  • Southwark Bridge Act 1811
Amended by
  • Southwark Bridge Approaches Act 1828
Status: Amended
Text of statute as originally enacted
Southwark Bridge Act 1816
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act to amend Two Acts of His present Majesty for erecting a Bridge over the River Thames, from the City of London to the opposite Bank in the County of Surrey.
Citation56 Geo. 3. c. xi
Dates
Royal assent11 April 1816
Other legislation
Amends
  • Southwark Bridge Act 1811
Amended by
  • Southwark Bridge Approaches Act 1828
Status: Amended
Text of statute as originally enacted
Southwark Bridge Act 1818
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act for enabling the Southwark Bridge Company to raise a further Sum of Money, and to amend the Acts for building the said Bridge.
Citation58 Geo. 3. c. lxviii
Dates
Royal assent23 May 1818
Other legislation
Amended by
  • Southwark Bridge Approaches Act 1828
Status: Amended
Text of statute as originally enacted
Southwark Bridge Act 1820
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act to alter and amend several Acts for erecting a Bridge over the River Thames from the City of London to the opposite Bank in the County of Surrey.
Citation1 Geo. 4. c. xlix
Dates
Royal assent8 July 1820
Other legislation
Amends
  • Southwark Bridge Act 1811
Amended by
  • Southwark Bridge Act 1823
  • Southwark Bridge Approaches Act 1828
Status: Amended
Text of statute as originally enacted
Southwark Bridge Act 1823
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act to amend several Acts for erecting a Bridge over the River Thames, from the City of London to the opposite Bank in the Parish of Saint Saviour in the County of Surrey.
Citation4 Geo. 4. c. cxvi
Dates
Royal assent27 June 1823
Other legislation
Amends
  • Southwark Bridge Act 1811
  • Southwark Bridge Act 1820
Amended by
  • Southwark Bridge Approaches Act 1828
Status: Amended
Text of statute as originally enacted
Southwark Bridge Approaches Act 1824
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act to amend the Acts relating to the Southwark Bridge.
Citation5 Geo. 4. c. clv
Dates
Royal assent24 June 1824
Other legislation
Amends
  • Southwark Bridge Act 1811
Amended by
  • Southwark Bridge Approaches Act 1828
Status: Amended
Southwark Bridge Approaches Act 1828
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act to authorize the Relinquishment of the Care and Management of a Road set out by the Southwark Bridge Company to the Trustees of the Surrey and Sussex Roads.
Citation9 Geo. 4. c. cxi
Dates
Royal assent19 June 1828
Other legislation
Amends
  • Southwark Bridge Act 1811
  • Southwark Bridge Act 1813
  • Southwark Bridge Act 1816
  • Southwark Bridge Act 1818
  • Southwark Bridge Act 1820
  • Southwark Bridge Act 1823
  • Southwark Bridge Approaches Act 1824
Status: Current legislation
Text of statute as originally enacted
Completion of Southwark Bridge by John Rennie 1819

In 1811 the private Southwark Bridge Company was formed, and authorised by the Southwark Bridge Act 1811 (51 Geo. 3. c. clxvi) to build a bridge across the Thames.[2][3]

Construction of the first Southwark Bridge, designed by John Rennie the Elder, commenced in 1814, and it opened in 1819, having cost £700,000 to build, equivalent to £67.1 million in 2023.[2][3][4] Fifty people lost their lives during the construction.[5]

On the 1818 Cary map of London, it was labelled as Queen Street Bridge. All subsequent maps label it as Southwark Bridge.[citation needed] The bridge consisted of three large cast-iron spans supported by granite piers. The bridge was notable for having the longest cast iron span, 240 feet (73 m), ever made. Unsurprisingly, it became known colloquially as "The Iron Bridge" as mentioned inter alia in Charles Dickens' "Little Dorrit". The iron spans were cast in Masbrough, Rotherham.[6]

Southwark Bridge Transfer Act 1865
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act authorizing the Sale or Transfer of Southwark Bridge.
Citation28 & 29 Vict. c. cxcvi
Dates
Royal assent29 June 1865
Commencement29 June 1865
Status: Current legislation
Text of statute as originally enacted
Southwark Bridge Company Act 1872
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act for distributing the remaining Assets and finally winding up the affairs of the South wark Bridge Company, and dissolving the Company; and for other purposes.
Citation35 & 36 Vict. c. cl
Dates
Royal assent25 July 1872
Status: Current legislation
Text of statute as originally enacted

It was a commercial tolled operation which was trying to compete with the toll free Blackfriars and London bridges nearby, but the company became bankrupt. From 1864 the bridge was rented by the City of London Corporation, and made toll-free.[2] Following the passage of the Southwark Bridge Transfer Act 1865 (28 & 29 Vict. c. cxcvi) it was purchased outright by the corporation in 1868 for £218,868, equivalent to £24.9 million in 2023, about a third of the construction cost.[2][3][4] The Southwark Bridge Company was subsequently wound-up by the Southwark Bridge Company Act 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. cl).

In 1912 the City of London Corporation decided a wider replacement bridge was required, to accommodate increased traffic. A new bridge on the site was designed by Ernest George and Basil Mott. A contract was awarded to Sir William Arrol & Co. in 1913 to construct the bridge for the Bridge House Estates. War delayed progress, and the bridge was eventually opened for use on 6 June 1921 by King George V.[7][8]

Halfway along the bridge on the Western side is a plaque which is inscribed:

Re-built by the Bridge House Estates Committee
of the Corporation of London
1913-1921
Opened for traffic by their Majesties
King George V and Queen Mary
6th June 1921
Sir Ernest Lamb CMG, JP Chairman
Basil Mott, CB Engineer
Sir Ernest George RA Architect

The bridge provides access to Upper Thames Street on the north bank and, due to the ring of steel, there is no further road access to the City and the north. The bridge is owned and maintained by Bridge House Estates, a charitable trust overseen by the City of London Corporation. The current bridge was given Grade II listed structure status in 1995.[9]

Nearby

[edit]

At the north-west side is Vintners' Court, a 1990s office block which has a classical façade of columns and pediment; this was developed on the site owned by the Worshipful Company of Vintners whose hall is behind it on Upper Thames Street.[10]

The south end is near the Tate Modern, the Clink Prison Museum, the Globe Theatre, and the Financial Times and Ofcom buildings. Below the bridge on the south side are some old steps, which were once used by Thames watermen as a place to moor their boats and wait for customers.[11]

Below the bridge on the south side is a pedestrian tunnel, part of the Queen's Walk Embankment, containing a frieze depicting the Thames frost fairs.[12]

Cycle Superhighway 7 runs along the bridge.

[edit]
  • Southwark Bridge appears in many films, including Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007).
  • The cream painted houses on the south side of the bridge, Anchor Terrace, just after the FT building, were used for the exterior shots of the shared house in This Life.
  • The 1819-1920 "Iron Bridge" is mentioned in the first sentence of "Our Mutual Friend" by Charles Dickens, and several times in his "Little Dorrit", where in Chapter 24 he identifies the toll as being one penny.
  • In the 1964 Disney film Mary Poppins, the Banks family mistakenly think that George W. Banks has committed suicide by jumping off the bridge after he is fired from his job at the bank.
  • DCI Luther and Alice Morgan meet at Southwark Bridge in the season 3 finale of the BBC crime drama Luther.
  • The bridge appears in the final scene of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels with Tom leaning over the bridge with his cell phone in his mouth set to drop antique guns in the Thames River.

References

[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Southwark Bridge.
  1. ^ "Southwark". The Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer of the World. New York: Columbia University Press. 1952.
  2. ^ a b c d Roberts, Howard; Godfrey, Walter H., eds. (1950). Survey of London. Vol. 22: Bankside. London: London County Council. pp. 88–90. Retrieved 5 September 2013 – via British History Online.
  3. ^ a b c "The original Southwark Bridge". The History of London.
  4. ^ a b UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  5. ^ Brown, Matt. "The Day Part Of Southwark Bridge Exploded". Londonist.
  6. ^ Sharpe, John (1855). Sharpe's Road-book for the Rail, Eastern Division. London: David Bogue. p. 23 – via Internet Archive.
  7. ^ "Where Thames Smooth Waters Glide".
  8. ^ Hayes, Ken. "Remembering when..." Southwark Business Today. Benham Publishing. pp. 28–29.
  9. ^ Historic England. "Southwark Bridge (1252452)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 27 November 2008.
  10. ^ "Annual Report 2012" (PDF). Vintners Company. p. 35. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  11. ^ "Southwark Bridge". Archived from the original on 15 December 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  12. ^ "City Insights page on Kindersley's frieze". Archived from the original on 28 June 2010. Retrieved 13 July 2010.

51°30′32″N 0°05′40″W / 51.50889°N 0.09444°W / 51.50889; -0.09444

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