The first bridge crossing the river here was constructed in wood and opened in November 1729. Badly damaged by a boat in 1870 it was repaired but then completely replaced, with the stone structure we have today, in 1886, designed by Joseph Bazalgette, and sited a little further upstream from the old, replacing an aqueduct that was there. The picture shows the old wooden bridge in 1875. The new bridge was widened twice: 1909 and 1934.
In 1795 Mary Wollstonecraft, in distress at her unfaithful common-law husband, threw herself from the bridge, and was rescued.
Bonus fact: it is the only bridge in Britain with a church at each end, both medieval in origin - St Mary's Putney and All Saints Fulham. This comes from Wikipedia and we quote it as a claim to be challenged, by bridge-church proximity experts.
