Blackfriars Bridge
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Missing image Blackfriars_Bridge_-_London_-_England_-_240404.jpg Blackfriars Bridge viewed from upstream, looking south |
Missing image Blackfriars.road.bridge.arp.750pix.jpg Blackfriars Bridge, seen from Waterloo Bridge. Beyond there is a glimpse of the green-edged Southwark Bridge. In the hazy distance are the towers of Canary Wharf, dominated by the pyramidal-topped Canary Wharf Tower (1 Canada Square) |
Missing image Temperance_-_Statue_-_Blackfriers_Bridge_north_end_-_London_-_240404.jpg Temperance, a statue atop a drinking water fountain at the north end of Blackfriars Bridge |
Blackfriars Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, between Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Railway Bridge. The north end is near the Inns of Court, and Temple Church, along with Blackfriars station. The south end is near the Tate Modern art gallery and the Oxo Tower.
The first fixed crossing at Blackfriars was a 995-foot (303 m) long toll bridge designed in an Italianate style by Robert Mylne and constructed with nine semi-elliptical arches of Portland stone. Beating designs by John Gwynn and George Dance, it took nine years to build, opening to the public in 1769. It was originally named William Pitt Bridge (after the Prime Minister William Pitt) but was soon renamed after Blackfriars Monastery, a Dominican priory which once stood nearby.
The current bridge was completed in 1869 and consists of five wrought iron arches built to a design by Joseph Cubitt. It is owned and maintained by the Corporation of London. Due to the volume of traffic over the bridge, it was widened between 1907-1910, from 70 feet (21 m) to its present 105 feet (32 m).
The bridge became internationally notorious in 1982, when the Italian banker Roberto Calvi was found hanged below one of its arches in what was originally believed to be a suicide, but is now officially regarded as a murder.
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| Bridges of Central London, west to east |
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| Chelsea Bridge | Grosvenor Bridge | Vauxhall Bridge | Lambeth Bridge | Westminster Bridge |
| Hungerford Bridge | Waterloo Bridge | Blackfriars Bridge | Blackfriars Railway Bridge |
| Millennium Bridge | Southwark Bridge | Cannon Street Railway Bridge | London Bridge | Tower Bridge |
| See also: Crossings of the River Thames | Bridges of the United Kingdom |