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The disaster that befell the original Lambeth Bridge meaning it had to be torn down

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Published date14 April 2024
Publication titleMyLondon (England)
For that reason the bridge is painted red to match the Lords' seats -similarly, Westminster Bridge is painted green to match the seats in the House of Commons. But this was not always the case -Lambeth Bridge looked very different nearly 200 years ago

A bridge was first built on the site in 1862. It was originally an ancient horse ferry crossing dating back to 1367, according to Londonist, a practice commemorated by nearby Horseferry Road. This bridge is not the one you can see today, however, and it actually was a bit of a disaster.

The building of the original bridge, like things in modern Britain, was a shambles. There was an act in place as early as 1737 for permission for a bridge to be constructed at the horse ferry site but it took nearly 130 years for anything to be done about it, Londonist said. Finally, in 1861, the Lambeth Bridge Act prompted construction to start which would cost £48,924 and the bridge opened the next year in November as a toll bridge.

Though if the century-long wait for the new stiffened suspension bridge wasn't bad enough, it was to encounter many fundamental problems on its opening. The first was that it was poorly used because the designer Peter W. Barlow made it too steep and difficult for horse-drawn carriages to use so quickly became almost solely used as a pedestrian crossing.

In 1879, just 17 years after its opening, the bridge was showing signs of disrepair -rusty cables and girders creating problems and further doubts about its safety. The same year the toll was...

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