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Article: View from a bridge. (London, England's Tower Bridge)
- Article from:
- History Today
- Article date:
- May 1, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 History Today Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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* Tower Bridge is 100-years-old in June. The most impressive of an bridges across the Thames, its neo-Gothic appearance has come to symbolise London all over the world. Had various alternative suggestions for the bridge succeeded, the distinctive outline could easily have been a floating roadway suspended on chains or a bridge resplendent with a paddle wheel.
What few people realise is that Tower Bridge is the unfulfilled brainchild of a little-known captain in the Royal Navy. Even as work began on Rennie's new London Bridge in March 1824, it was clear to the captain that a second bridge further down river would be needed if traffic congestion caused by the new ...