London Trip Guide
Tower Bridge from Tower Wharf, its towers and walkways against a blue sky
THE BASCULE BRIDGE · BESIDE THE TOWER · BETWEEN TOWER HAMLETS AND SOUTHWARK

Tower Bridge

The Victorian bascule and suspension bridge opened on 30 June 1894 beside the Tower of London, its towers joined by high walkways and its roadway able to split in two for ships.

Photo: The wub, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

What you are looking at

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Tower Bridge

What you are looking at

Beside the Tower

Tower Bridge across the Thames from the foreshore at low tide
Tower Bridge across the Thames from the foreshore at low tideOleg Yunakov, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
  1. 1
    The basculesThe central span splits into two leaves, about 1,070 tons each, that lift to let shipping through the roadway.
  2. 2
    The high walkwaysWalkways 143 feet above the river join the towers, now with glass floors and open to the Tower Bridge Exhibition.
  3. 3
    The two towersSteel frames clad in Cornish granite and Portland stone, styled in Victorian Gothic to suit the Tower of London beside them.
  4. 4
    The engine roomsThe original steam engines that powered the lifting gear survive in the Victorian engine rooms beneath the south end.
  5. 5
    The blue and whiteThe bridge was repainted in blue and white after a refurbishment that began in 2008, replacing the 1977 red, white and blue.
The sight in full

Reading the place

The sight in full

Why it matters

Tower Bridge is the picture most people have in mind when they think of the Thames. It is a Grade I listed combined bascule, suspension and, until 1960, cantilever bridge, built between 1886 and 1894 to a design by Horace Jones and the engineer John Wolfe Barry, and it is still a busy crossing, used by more than 40,000 motorists, cyclists and pedestrians every day.

Tower Bridge and its blue suspension chains from the north bank, with a path along the wall
Tower Bridge and its blue suspension chains from the north bank, with a path along the wallOleg Yunakov, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

It is also one of the most confused names in the city. This is not London Bridge, which stands about half a mile upstream, and it is not the Tower of London, which stands at its north end. A popular legend says that an American who bought the old London Bridge in 1968 thought he was buying this one; he denied it, and the man who sold it has debunked it.

Why a bridge that opens

By the late nineteenth century the East End of London was growing fast, and people wanted a crossing downstream of London Bridge. A fixed bridge at street level could not be built, because it would cut sailing ships off from the docks of the Pool of London between London Bridge and the Tower. A committee formed in 1875 collected more than fifty designs, among them one from the engineer Joseph Bazalgette that was rejected for lack of headroom, and in 1884 it settled on a low-level bridge with a mechanical opening.

Tower Bridge seen from the river wall with a clear sky above
Tower Bridge seen from the river wall with a clear sky aboveOleg Yunakov, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The act of Parliament that authorized it, in 1885, was specific. The opening span had to be 200 feet clear, the bridge had to be able to open at any time for any vessel regardless of delays to road traffic, and its design had to accord with the architecture of the Tower of London. That last clause explains the turrets.

Building it

Work began on 22 April 1886 and the Prince of Wales laid the foundation stone on 21 June. It took eight years and an average of 432 people on site at a time, with ten fatal accidents recorded. Two piers holding more than 70,000 tons of concrete were sunk into the riverbed, and more than 11,000 tons of steel made the frames of the towers and walkways, which were then clad in Cornish granite and Portland stone.

Tower Bridge and its approach seen from the water level, with the Thames in front
Tower Bridge and its approach seen from the water level, with the Thames in frontHexapol, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Horace Jones died in 1887 and Wolfe Barry took over as architect. His colleague Stevenson replaced Jones's brick facade with the more ornate Victorian Gothic that gives the bridge its look today. The cost was a little over a million pounds, and the bridge was opened on 30 June 1894 by the Prince and Princess of Wales.

What you see

The bridge is 940 feet long including its abutments. Each side span is a suspension bridge 270 feet long, and between the towers the 200-foot central span is split into two equal leaves. The leaves are counterbalanced so well that they can be raised in five minutes through an arc of eighty-two degrees. The structure was designed to withstand strong winds, a requirement introduced after the Tay Bridge disaster fifteen years before.

A dark plaque reading Tower Bridge on a wall, with the bridge's tower and walkers beyond
A dark plaque reading Tower Bridge on a wall, with the bridge's tower and walkers beyondFikas1, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The walkways high above the road were meant to let pedestrians cross while the roadway was open to ships. They gained a reputation for pickpockets and were closed in 1910, then reopened in 1982 as part of the Tower Bridge Exhibition, which also takes in the Victorian engine rooms. In 2014 the walkway floors were changed to glass in places, so you can see the road and the Thames beneath your feet.

Tower Bridge seen through the trees from inside the Tower of London, with visitors on the paved terrace
Tower Bridge seen through the trees from inside the Tower of London, with visitors on the paved terraceRachelle Haun, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

One detail rewards the eye: a chimney on the bridge is painted to look like a lamppost. It served a fireplace in a guardroom inside one of the piers.

How it works now

The original lifting machinery was powered by pressurized water held in hydraulic accumulators, with four engines to a pier so that the bridge always had a spare. In 1974 it was largely replaced by an electro-hydraulic system that uses oil, and only the final gear wheels are original. The old engines are on show in the engine rooms.

Tower Bridge across a blue evening Thames, its walkways and towers lit by the last of the daylight
Tower Bridge across a blue evening Thames, its walkways and towers lit by the last of the daylightDiego Delso, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

River traffic still has priority over road traffic. In the first year after opening the leaves were raised 6,160 times, an average of seventeen a day; now it happens about a thousand times a year. Vessels give 24 hours' notice and opening times are published in advance, and there is no charge to open the bridge. Pedestrians can walk across the roadway when it is down, so you can cross the Thames on foot and then watch a lift from the bank.

Strange days at the bridge

Few London structures have had stranger moments. In 1912 the pilot Francis McClean flew a floatplane between the bascules and the walkways, and in 1952 a double-decker bus found the roadway starting to rise beneath it; the driver, Albert Gunter, accelerated across a gap of about three feet and dropped onto the other leaf, and no one was seriously hurt.

A tower of Tower Bridge and its blue girders seen from the roadway, looking up at the walkway
A tower of Tower Bridge and its blue girders seen from the roadway, looking up at the walkwayEstitxu Carton from San Sebastián, Spain, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

In 1941 a parachute mine exploded near the bridge during the Blitz and damaged the bascules, towers and engine room; in 1940 the high-level span had taken a direct hit. In 1997 the opening of the bridge split President Clinton's motorcade in two. And in 1999 a Freeman of the City drove two sheep across it to exercise an ancient right.

Seeing it well

For the best view of the whole bridge, stand on the north bank by the Tower of London or walk onto the south bank at the Shard end, where the towers rise clear of the river. The glass floors and the engine rooms need a ticket, and what to book ahead is covered at Booking Ahead.

Tower Bridge and the Tower of London on the far bank, seen along the river from the south
Tower Bridge and the Tower of London on the far bank, seen along the river from the southBybbisch94, Christian Gebhardt, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The bridge anchors the end of the downstream walk that begins at the Palace of Westminster, and the river itself is the subject of the Thames page.

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