Tower Bridge

Wikipedia contributors · CC BY-SA · EN · 04/10/2026

Tower Bridge is a Grade I listed combined bascule, suspension, and, until 1960, cantilever bridge in London, built between 1886 and 1894, designed by Horace Jones and engineered by John Wolfe Barry with the help of Henry Marc Brunel. It crosses the River Thames close to the Tower of London and is one of five London bridges owned and maintained by the City Bridge Foundation, a charitable trust founded in 1282.

The bridge was constructed to connect the 39% of London's population that lived east of London Bridge, equivalent to the populations of "Manchester on the one side, and Liverpool on the other", while allowing shipping to access the Pool of London between the Tower of London and London Bridge. The bridge was opened by Edward, Prince of Wales, and Alexandra, Princess of Wales, on 30 June 1894.

The bridge is 940 feet in length including the abutments and consists of two 213 feet bridge towers connected at the upper level by two horizontal walkways, and a central pair of bascules that can open to allow shipping. Originally hydraulically powered, the operating mechanism was converted to an electro-hydraulic system in 1972. The bridge is part of the London Inner Ring Road and thus the boundary of the London congestion charge zone, and remains an important traffic route with 40,000 crossings every day. The bridge deck is freely accessible to both vehicles and pedestrians, whereas the bridge's twin towers, high-level walkways, and Victorian engine rooms form part of the Tower Bridge Exhibition.

Tower Bridge has become a recognisable London landmark. It is sometimes confused with London Bridge, about 0.5 mi upstream, which has led to a persistent urban legend about an American purchasing the wrong bridge.

History

Inception

By the late 19th century, the population and commercial development in the East End of London was increasing, leading to demand for a new river crossing downstream of London Bridge. A traditional fixed bridge at street level could not be built because it would cut off access by sailing ships to the port facilities in the Pool of London between London Bridge and the Tower of London.

A Special Bridge or Subway Committee chaired by Sir Albert Joseph Altman was formed in December 1875 to find a solution. On 7 December 1876, the Committee presented a report recommending a bridge or subway to the east of London Bridge should be constructed, funds permitting.

More than fifty designs were submitted, including one from civil engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette, which was rejected because of a lack of sufficient headroom. None of the designs gained support and it was not until 24 July 1884 that the Bridge House Estates Committee brought forward a report that proposed "a low level bridge, with mechanical opening or openings" be built. Following a deputation from the Committee visiting Belgium, Holland, and Newcastle Bridge, a proposal was presented on 28 October 1884 to the Court of Common Council for a mechanical bridge built according to one of three models: Design A, a swing bridge; Design B, a variation of that swing bridge; and Design C a bascule bridge. Design C was recommended and a bill was prepared to present to Parliament.

Legislation

The act of Parliament authorising construction received royal assent on 14 August 1885 and is called the Corporation of London (Tower Bridge) Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict. c. cxcv). The act was specific about the design of what it (and contemporary media) named "The Tower Bridge", rather than just "Tower Bridge". Key stipulations were:

The central opening span to be 200 feet clear width with a height of 135 feet above Trinity high water when open, and a height of 29 feet when closed.

The size of the piers to be 185 feet long and 70 feet wide.

The length of each of the two side spans to be 270 feet.

During construction a clear waterway of 160 feet wide had to be maintained for river traffic.

The design of the bridge should be made to accord with the architecture of the Tower of London.

The bridge was to be completed within 4 years from the passing of the act.

The bridge was to be opened at any time for the passage of any vessels, regardless of any delays to land traffic.

Barry later noted that "at one time it was intended that the new works should be made suitable for the mounting of guns and for military occupation." But that "The latter idea was afterwards to a great extent discarded." However, the act provided for "the senior officer commanding in the Tower [of London]...shall at all times have...the right to occupy the Tower Bridge."

The extent of the maritime trade conducted at this time between the site of Tower Bridge and London Bridge (a distance of approximately 0.5 miles) is demonstrated in Schedule B of the act which lists 11 active docks, quays and wharfs operating on the north side of the Thames, and 20 wharfs operating on the south side.

Two further acts of Parliament were required to extend the time allowed to complete the works. On 12 August 1889 the (52 & 53 Vict. c. cxlix) received royal assent to extend the time allowed for construction by a further four years to 1893 and make various adjustments to neighbouring streets that had proved necessary. The work was not yet complete after those four years, and on 29 June 1893 the (56 & 57 Vict. c. xciii) received royal assent extending the time by a further year.

Construction

Construction was funded by the City Bridge Foundation, a charity established in 1282 for maintenance of London Bridge that subsequently expanded to cover Tower Bridge, Blackfriars Bridge, Southwark Bridge and the Millennium Bridge.

Sir John Wolfe Barry was appointed engineer and Sir Horace Jones the architect (who, as the City Architect, was also one of the judges). Jones and Barry designed a bridge with two bridge towers built on piers. The central span was split into two equal bascules or leaves, which could be raised to allow river traffic to pass. The two side spans were suspension bridges, with rods anchored both at the abutments and through rods contained in the bridge's upper walkways.

Construction – overseen by Edward Cruttwell – started on 22 April 1886, with the foundation stone laid by the Prince of Wales on 21 June, and took eight years. The work was divided into eight contracts. Mr (later Sir) John Jackson won three of those contracts and was responsible for the northern approach to the bridge (which started in February 1887), the foundations of the piers and the abutments of the bridge (started February 1887), and the cast iron parapet for the northern approach (December 1887) at a total accepted tender cost of £189,732; Sir W. G. Armstrong, Mitchell, and Co. Ltd, was awarded the hydraulics contract for which they tendered £85,232 (December 1887); Mr William Webster was responsible for the southern approach at £38,383 (July 1888); Sir William Arrol & Co. had the contract for the metalwork of the superstructure at £337,113 (May 1889), which amounted to about 12,100 tons; Messrs Perry & Co won two contracts covering the masonry superstructure (May 1889), and paving and lighting (May 1892) for a total accepted tender of £179,455. The total accepted tender for the eight contracts was £830,005.

On average 432 people worked on the site, although at least 1,200 worked on its construction overall and received invitations to the entertainment provided for the workmen at its opening. Cruttwell was the resident engineer throughout the period of construction (and remained associated with the bridge until his death in 1933). He noted that there were "only" ten fatal accidents during the construction: four in sinking the foundations, one on the approaches, and the remaining five on the superstructure.

Two piers, containing over 70,000 LT of concrete, were sunk into the riverbed to support the construction. The first caisson was started in September 1886 and it was not until January 1890 that both piers were complete. The reason for the long duration of the foundation works was the need to defer excavation of the second pier until the staging for the first pier had been removed to allow 160 feet of clear water-way for shipping.

More than 11,000 LT of steel were used in the framework for the towers and walkways, which were then clad in Cornish granite and Portland stone to protect the underlying steelwork, and achieve the stipulation that the bridge should fit architecturally with the Tower of London.

Jones died in 1887, and Barry took over as architect. Barry later summarised the contributions to the construction of Tower Bridge: "Mr Fyson, who undertook much of the preparation of the detailed drawings; Mr Stevenson, who had been his assistant with the architectural work; and...most of all...Mr Cruttwell, the Resident Engineer, and Mr Homfray, who superintended the machinery." Stevenson replaced Jones's original brick façade with the more ornate Victorian Gothic style, which made the bridge a distinctive landmark and was intended to harmonise the bridge with the nearby Tower of London. The total cost of construction was £1,184,000 (equivalent to £ in).

Opening

Tower Bridge was officially opened on 30 June 1894 by the Prince and Princess of Wales. The opening ceremony was attended by the Lord Chamberlain, the Lord Carrington and the Home Secretary, H. H. Asquith. It was reported that "few [pageants] have been more brilliant or will have a more abiding and historic interest" than the opening of Tower Bridge in the history of the City of London, and it was a "semi-State" occasion.

In addition to the official opening, the City of London Corporation gave an "entertainment", at a cost of £300, to 1,200 workmen and their wives. Edward Cruttwell, who had been in charge of the building of the bridge from the beginning, presided. After dinner, each workman was presented with a commemorative pipe and packet of tobacco, and each workman's wife with a box of sweetmeats.

An Act of Parliament stipulated that a tug boat should be on station to assist vessels in danger when crossing the bridge, a requirement that remained in place until the 1960s.

The bridge connected Iron Gate, on the north bank of the river, with Lane, on the south – now known as Tower Bridge Approach and Tower Bridge Road, respectively. Until the bridge was opened, the Tower Subway – 400 m to the west – was the shortest way to cross the river from Tower Hill to Tooley Street in Southwark. Opened in 1870, Tower Subway was among the world's earliest underground ("tube") railways, but it closed after just three months and was reopened as a tolled pedestrian foot tunnel. Once Tower Bridge was open, the majority of foot traffic transferred to using the bridge, as there was no toll to cross. Having lost most of its income, the tunnel was closed in 1898.

The high-level open-air walkways between the towers gained a reputation for prostitutes and pickpockets. Since they were only accessible by stairs, the walkways were seldom used by regular pedestrians and were closed in 1910. The walkway reopened in 1982 as part of the Tower Bridge Exhibition.

20th century

After its opening, the City of London provided some funding to the police to pay for the policing of Tower Bridge, under an informal "compact". The Corporation of London (Blackfriars and other Bridges) Act 1906 (6 EdwVII c.clxxx) formally placed the bridge under the City of London's policing jurisdiction.

During the Second World War, Tower Bridge was seen as a major transport link to the Port of London, and consequently was a target for enemy action. In 1940, the high-level span took a direct hit, severing the hydraulic mechanism and taking the bridge out of action. In April 1941, a parachute mine exploded close to the bridge, causing serious damage to the bascule, towers, and engine room. In 1942, a third engine was installed in case the existing ones were damaged by enemy action. It was a 150 hp horizontal cross-compound engine, built by Vickers Armstrong Ltd. at their Elswick works in Newcastle upon Tyne. It was fitted with a flywheel having a 9 ft diameter and weighing 9 tons, and was governed to a speed of 30 rpm. The engine became redundant when the rest of the system was modernised in 1974 and was donated to the Forncett Industrial Steam Museum by the City of London Corporation.

The southern section of the bridge, in the London Borough of Southwark, was Grade I listed on 6 December 1949. The remainder of the bridge, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, was listed on 27 September 1973.

On 30 December 1952, a number 78 double-decker bus was crossing Tower Bridge. The process of stopping traffic when the bridge was getting raised failed while a relief watchman was on duty.

The bus was near the edge of the south bascule when it started to rise. Driver Albert Edward Gunter (1906–1968) made a split-second decision to accelerate the bus, clearing a 1.8 m (6 ft) drop onto the north bascule, which had not started to rise. The conductor broke his leg and twelve of the twenty passengers aboard received minor injuries. The driver was later rewarded with a £10 bonus (about £246.81 in 2025) for his quick thinking.

In 1960, the upper bridges of the two pedestrian walkways that connected the two main towers were converted from being cantilever bridges, projecting horizontally out into space, to suspension bridges when suspension cables were added. This was to reinforce the strength of the walkways.

In 1974, the original operating mechanism was largely replaced by a new electro-hydraulic drive system, designed by Geoffrey Beresford Hartwell, of BHA Cromwell House, with the original final pinions driven by modern hydraulic motors.

In 1982, the Tower Bridge Exhibition opened, housed in the bridge's twin towers, the long-closed high-level walkways, and the Victorian engine rooms. The latter still houses the original steam engines and some of the original hydraulic machinery.

Source and attribution

Adapted from “Tower Bridge” by English Wikipedia contributors. Main paragraphs and sections are retained; tables, reference markers and technical markup are omitted. This is an encyclopedic adaptation, not a personal review. Original revision and contributor history ↗. Text is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗. Check current visitor access, tickets and transport with the relevant operator.