Southwark Bridge

Coordinates: 51°30′32″N 0°05′40″W / 51.50889°N 0.09444°W / 51.50889; -0.09444
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Southwark Bridge
Cannon 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; 102 years ago (1921-06-06)
Location
Map

Southwark Bridge (/ˈsʌðərk/ ⓘ SUDH-ərk)[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

Southwark Bridge Transfer Act 1865
Act of Parliament
Commencement
29 June 1865
Text of statute as originally enacted
Completion of Southwark Bridge by John Rennie 1819

A previous bridge, designed by

Bridge House Estates which then made it toll free in 1864.[3]

A new bridge on the site was designed by Ernest George and Basil Mott. It was built by Sir William Arrol & Co. and opened on 6 June 1921.[4]

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

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.[5]

Nearby

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.[6]

The south end is near 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.[7]

Below the bridge on the south side is a pedestrian tunnel, part of the Queen's Walk Embankment, containing a

Thames frost fairs.[8]

Cycle Superhighway 7 runs along the bridge.

Popular culture

  • 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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Southwark Bridge.
  1. ^ "Southwark". The Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer of the World. New York: Columbia University Press. 1952.
  2. ^ Sharpe, John (1855). Sharpe's road-book for the rail, eastern (western) division. London: David Bogue. p. 23.
  3. ^ Howard Roberts; Walter H. Godfrey, eds. (1950). "Survey of London". pp. 88–90. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  4. ^ Where Thames Smooth Waters Glide
  5. ^ Historic England. "Southwark Bridge (1252452)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 27 November 2008.
  6. ^ "Annual Report 2012" (PDF). Vintners Company. p. 35. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  7. ^ "Southwark Bridge". Archived from the original on 15 December 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  8. ^ "City Insights page on Kindersley's frieze". Archived from the original on 28 June 2010. Retrieved 13 July 2010.