TOWER BRIDGE HOW TO

The nearest tube station is Tower Hill, a 7 minute walk away. The main entrance to visit Tower Bridge is located at the North West Tower, Tower Bridge Road. The nearest car park is Tower Hill Coach and Car Park in Lower Thames Street, but as with all London sites, it’s best to come by public transport.

It can even be hired for private functions. Tower Bridge offers a wonderful exhibition on its structure and engineering, including a high glass floor walkway between the two towers. The cost for opening Tower Bridge has always been completely free. Ships must book a Bridge lift in writing at least 24 hours in advance, and be more than 9 metres tall. River traffic has always had priority on this stretch of the Thames. Tower Bridge is still very much in use – over 40,000 people cross Tower Bridge each day, and it opens to allow tall ships to pass through an average of twice a day – roughly between 700-1,000 times each year. They were reopened in 1982, along with a permanent exhibition inside called The Tower Bridge Experience. The walkways, much used by the population, were closed to the public from 1910-1982 as many ‘undesirables’ were using it. When it was built, Tower Bridge was the largest and most sophisticated bascule bridge ever completed (‘ bascule‘ comes from the French word for ‘seesaw’). Tower Bridge was built between 1886-1894, and opened on 30 June 1894 by the then Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII). The solution is what you see today, except that the once steam powered mechanisms are now electric. Thus, Tower Bridge was designed as a drawbridge so that it would not obstruct the shipping passing up or downstream. The main concern was that the location of this new bridge meant that it could not be built in a traditional style as it had to allow access to ships to the port of London (which in the Victorian era was the busiest port in the world). A competition was launched for the design of this new bridge, as a result of which city architect Horace Jones and engineer John Wolfe Barry were chosen to collaborate on the project. The impetus to build Tower Bridge began gaining momentum in 1876, when it was decided that there was a need for a bridge to the east of London Bridge to accommodate the increasing commercial development in that part of the city. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Melissa Petruzzello.Tower Bridge is an iconic 19th century bridge which stands over the River Thames in London. Because of the reduction in shipping at the London Docklands, however, the leaves are now seldom raised. The Tower Bridge was operated by hydraulic pumps driven by steam until 1976, when electric motors were put into operation the steam power system is still kept (in good repair) as a tourist display. The walkways were originally designed to allow pedestrians to cross even while the bridge was raised, but they became hangouts for prostitutes and thieves and so were closed from 1909 to 1982. Between the towers stretch a pair of glass-covered walkways that are popular among tourists. Its twin towers rise 61 metres (200 feet) above the Thames. It is about 240 metres (800 feet) in length and provides an opening 76 metres (250 feet) wide. See how the Tower Bridge mimics the Tower of London's architecture and learn about its steam-powered past See all videos for this article SpaceNext50 Britannica presents SpaceNext50, From the race to the Moon to space stewardship, we explore a wide range of subjects that feed our curiosity about space!.Learn about the major environmental problems facing our planet and what can be done about them! Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century.Britannica Beyond We’ve created a new place where questions are at the center of learning.

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TOWER BRIDGE HOW TO

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