Southwark Bridge

51.508888888889 - 0.094166666666667Koordinaten: 51 ° 30 '32 "N, 0 ° 5' 39 " W

F1

Main road A300

Thames

The Southwark Bridge is a road bridge over the River Thames in London. It connects the City of London on the north side with the Borough of Southwark in the London Borough of Southwark on the south side. The bridge is 197.5 meters long and consists of five steel arches. The turret -shaped pillars give the bridge a rather old-fashioned look. On the northern shore is the Cannon Street Station, on the southern shore the Bankside Power Station ( Tate Modern), the Globe Theatre and the building of the Financial Times. About the bridge carries the main road A300.

The Southwark Bridge Company was founded in 1813 commissioned the engineer John Rennie with the construction of a new bridge. It was the subject of much controversy: the mighty Corporation of London was opposed in principle to a toll bridge and the boatmen feared dangerous whirlpool. Nevertheless, the bridge of cast iron was opened in 1819. She had three arches, of which the average a considerable span of 73 m had - the largest span ever built of cast iron arches. However, it was only little used. Reasons were next to the toll the lack of access roads and the bumpy road.

After the takeover of the bridge by Bridge House Estates, a charitable organization of the Corporation of London, the toll in 1864 was repealed. This led to such a strong increase in traffic that a new building was needed. 1913 began the demolition work; However, the opening of the new bridge was delayed because of World War II until 1921.