Building    From 1769 

Blackfriars Bridge

Categories: Transport

The first bridge on this site (shown in the picture) was designed by Robert Mylne and added a third crossing point to those already provided by London Bridge and Westminster Bridge. The plaque says 1760 but it took so long to build that it did not open until 1769, just at the end of Pitt the Elder's term as PM so it was named after him.

The location was chosen because there was available a wide route leading from the river up to what is now Ludgate Circus. This was the River Fleet with its disused wharves on both banks. It became the wide New Bridge Street. The equivalent road on the south bank crossed mainly open fields to the new St George's Circus.

Faulty workmanship meant the bridge needed replacing and this new bridge was opened by Queen Victoria on 1869. The bridge is dedicated to her, hence the statue on the north bank. Stone carvings of water birds by John Birnie Philip. Bridge designed by Joseph Cubitt, son of Sir William. Joseph also designed the sister rail bridge. The road bridge was widened 1907–10.

In Google Satellite view you can see, reading left to right: Cubitt's road bridge, Cubitt's 1864 railway bridge piers (the bridge itself was removed 1985), the 1886 bridge which has recently (2014) been converted to carry Blackfriars Station platforms. Note how the piers on all three bridges line up, presumably to ease passage for shipping.

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Blackfriars Bridge

Commemorated ati

Blackfriars Bridge - plaque

Corporation of London Blackfriars Bridge, standing on the site of the origina...

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Blackfriars Bridge - underpass

{Each print is labelled. The one we have chosen for illustration is:} Her Ma...

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Other Subjects

West Brompton Station

West Brompton Station

A station was first opened here as part of the West London Extension Joint Railway (WLER). In 1869 the Metropolitan District Railway (MDR) opened its own station (pictured, still in use and now Lis...

Building, Transport

1 memorial
Thames Navigation Commission

Thames Navigation Commission

Created in 1751 with responsibility for locks on the river down to Staines.  Subsumed into the Thames Conservancy in 1866. Three generations of the Treacher family held senior positions in the Tha...

Group, Transport

2 memorials
National Maritime Museum

National Maritime Museum

One of a trio of Greenwich museums, the others being the Royal Observatory and the Queen's House.

Group, Armed Forces, History, Museums / Libraries, Transport

3 memorials
Nina Bawden

Nina Bawden

Writer of novels for adults and children, and late in life, campaigner for railway safety. Born Nina Mary Mabey in Ilford, Essex. As a child she was evacuated during the blitz, giving her memories...

Person, Literature, Transport

1 memorial