Chelsea Bridge

In the early 1840s Thomas Cubitt and James Pennethorne had proposed a plan to use 150,000 tons of rocks and earth from the excavation of the Royal Victoria Dock to infill the marshy Battersea Fields and create a large public park to serve the growing population of Chelsea.[4][11][12] In 1846 the Commissioners of Woods and Forests purchased the Red House Inn and 200 acres (0.81 km²) of surrounding land, and work began on the development that would become Battersea Park.[4] It was expected that with the opening of the park the volume of cross river traffic would increase significantly, putting further strain on the dilapidated Battersea Bridge.[13]

Consequently, in 1846 an Act of Parliament authorised the building of a new toll bridge on the site of an ancient ford exactly one mile (1.6 km) downstream of Battersea Bridge.[14][n 2] The approach road on the southern side was to run along the side of the new park, while that on the northern side was to run from Sloane Square, through the former Chelsea Waterworks site, to the new bridge.[8] Although previous toll bridges in the area had been built and operated by private companies, the new bridge was to be built and operated by the government, under the control of the Metropolitan Improvement Commission, despite protests in Parliament from Radicals objecting to the Government profiting from a toll-paying bridge.[14] It was intended that the bridge would be made toll-free once the costs of building it had been recouped.[15]

The first Chelsea Bridge as seen from Battersea in 1858, shortly after opening. The Victoria Tower of the Palace of Westminster is shown under construction in the background.

Page's design was typical of suspension bridges of the period, and consisted of a wrought iron deck and four 97-foot (30 m) cast iron towers supporting chains, which in turn supported the weight of the deck.[15][16] The towers rested on a pair of timber and cast iron piers.[15] The towers passed through the deck, meaning that between the towers the road was seven feet (2.1 m) narrower than on the rest of the bridge.[15] Although work had begun in 1851 delays in the closure of the Chelsea Waterworks, which only completed its relocation to Seething Wells in 1856, caused lengthy delays to the project,[8] and the Edinburgh-made ironwork was only transported to the site in 1856.[16]

The Battersea Shield

Victoria Bridge was 703 feet (214 m) long with a central span of 333 feet (101 m),[15] and the roadway was 32 feet (9.8 m) wide with a 7-foot-6-inch (2.29 m) footpath on either side, making a total width of 47 feet (14 m).[15] Large lamps were set at the tops of the four towers, which were only to be lit when Queen Victoria was spending the night in London.[17] The central span was inscribed with the date of construction and the words "Gloria Deo in Excelsis" ("Glory to God in the Highest").[16] It took seven years to build, at a total cost of £90,000 (about £9.64 million in 2023).[13][18] The controversial tolls were collected from octagonal stone tollhouses at each end of the bridge.[16]

As with the earlier construction of nearby Battersea Bridge,[19] during excavations workers found large quantities of Roman and Celtic weapons and skeletons in the riverbed, leading many historians to conclude that the area was the site of Julius Caesar's crossing of the Thames during the 54 BC invasion of Britain.[14] The most significant item found was the Celtic La Tène style bronze and enamel Battersea Shield, one of the most important pieces of Celtic military equipment found in Britain, recovered from the riverbed during dredging for the piers.[8][n 3]

On 31 March 1858 Queen Victoria, accompanied by two of her daughters and en route to the formal opening of Battersea Park, crossed the new bridge and declared it officially open, naming it the Victoria Bridge;[16] it was opened to the public three days later, on 3 April 1858.[13] The design met with great critical acclaim, particularly from the Illustrated London News.[16]

Shortly after its opening, concerns were raised about the bridge's safety. Following an inspection by John Hawkshaw and Edwin Clark in 1861, an additional support chain was added on each side.[15] Despite the strengthening there were still concerns about its soundness, and a weight limit of 5 tons was imposed.[15] At the same time, the name was changed from Victoria Bridge to Chelsea Bridge, as the government was concerned about the reliability of suspension bridges and did not want a potential collapse to be associated with the Queen.[11]

Battersea (top), Victoria (centre) and Vauxhall (bottom) bridges, 1859

Although reasonably well used, it was unpopular with the public, who objected to being obliged to pay tolls to use it. On 4 July 1857, almost a year before the bridge's opening, a demonstration against the tolls attracted 6,000 residents.[11] Concerns were raised in Parliament that poorer industrial workers in Chelsea, which had no large parks of its own, would be unable to afford to use the new park in Battersea.[13] Bowing to public pressure, shortly after the bridge opened Parliament declared it free to use for pedestrians on Sundays, and in 1875 it was also made toll-free on public holidays.[13] Additionally, because the main lights were only turned on when Queen Victoria was staying in London, it was poorly used at night.[17] Despite this, the new Battersea Park was extremely popular, particularly the sporting facilities; on 9 January 1864 the park staged the world's first official game of association football.[12][n 4]

In 1873 the privately owned Albert Bridge, between Chelsea and Battersea bridges, opened.[21] Although Albert Bridge was not as successful as intended at luring customers from Chelsea Bridge and soon found itself in serious financial difficulties,[10] it nonetheless caused a sharp drop in usage of Chelsea Bridge.[22] In 1877 the Metropolis Toll Bridges Act was passed, which allowed the Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) to buy all London bridges between Hammersmith and Waterloo bridges and free them from tolls.[23] Ownership of Chelsea Bridge was transferred to the MBW in 1877 at a cost of £75,000 (about £7.07 million in 2023),[24] and on 24 May 1879 Chelsea Bridge, Battersea Bridge and Albert Bridge were declared toll free by the Prince of Wales in a brief ceremony, after which a parade of Chelsea Pensioners marched across the bridge to Battersea Park.[13][18][25]

By the early 20th century, Chelsea Bridge was in poor condition. It was unable to carry the increasing volume of traffic caused by the growth of London and the increasing popularity of the automobile; between 1914 and 1929 use of the bridge almost doubled from 6,500 to 12,600 vehicles per day.[12] In addition, parts of its structure were beginning to work loose,[13] and in 1922 the gilded finials on the towers had to be removed because of concerns that they would fall off.[12][26] Architectural opinion had turned heavily against Victorian styles and Chelsea Bridge was now deeply unpopular with architects; former President of the Royal Institute of British Architects Reginald Blomfield spoke vehemently against its design in 1921,[11] and there were few people supporting the preservation of the old bridge.[26] In 1926 the Royal Commission on Cross-river Traffic recommended that Chelsea Bridge be rebuilt or replaced.[26]

Being self-anchored, the bridge uniquely in London has no anchoring abutments.

In 1934 a temporary footbridge which had previously been used during rebuilding works on Lambeth Bridge was moved into place alongside Chelsea Bridge, and demolition began.[28] The new bridge, also called Chelsea Bridge, was designed by LCC architects G. Topham Forrest and E. P. Wheeler and built by Holloway Brothers (London). Much wider than the older bridge at 64 feet (20 m) wide, it has a 40-foot (12 m) wide roadway and two 12-foot (3.7 m) wide pavements cantilevered out from the sides of the bridge.[13] Uniquely in London, Chelsea Bridge is a self-anchored suspension bridge, the first of the type to be built in Britain.[29] The horizontal stresses are absorbed by stiffening girders in the deck itself and the suspension cables are not anchored to the ground, relieving stress on the abutments which are built on soft and unstable London clay.[28] The piers of the new bridge were built on the site of the old bridge's piers, and are built of concrete, faced with granite above the low-water point.[28] Each side of the bridge has a single suspension cable, each made up of 37 7⁄8-inch (23mm) diameter wire ropes bundled to form a hexagonal cable.[28][29] As was agreed with the Ministry of Transport, all materials used in the bridge came from the British Empire; the steel came from Scotland and Yorkshire, the granite of the piers from Aberdeen and Cornwall, the timbers of the deck from British Columbia and the asphalt of the roadway from Trinidad.[17]

As a self-anchored bridge, the suspension cables attach directly to the deck and do not extend to the ground.

Because the self-anchored structure relies on the roadway itself to absorb stresses, the suspension cables could not be installed until the roadway was built; however, until the cables were in place the roadway could not be supported. To resolve this problem, Topham had the roadway built in sections, supported on very tall barges. The barges were floated into place at low tide, and the rising tide was used to lift the sections above the height of the piers. As the tide ebbed, the roadway dropped into place.[13][17]

The recently built Battersea Power Station then dominated most views of the area, so it was decided that the bridge's appearance was unimportant.[27] Consequently, in contrast to the heavily ornamented 1858 bridge, the new bridge has a starkly utilitarian design and the only ornamentation consists of two ornamental lamp posts at each entrance.[27] Each features a gilded galleon on top of a coat of arms. The outward facing sides of all four posts show the LCC coat of arms of the Lion of England, St George's Cross and the barry wavy lines representing the Thames; the inward faces on the south side show the dove of peace of the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea, that on the northwest corner shows the winged bull, lion, boars' heads and stag of the Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea, and that on the northeast corner the portcullis and Tudor roses of the Metropolitan Borough of Westminster.[30]

Coat of arms of the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea on a Chelsea Bridge lamp post

The new bridge was completed five months ahead of schedule and within the £365,000 budget.[30] It was opened on 6 May 1937 by the Prime Minister of Canada, William Lyon Mackenzie King, who was in London for the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.[30][n 5]

Two years after the bridge's opening the Second World War broke out. Because of their close proximity to Chelsea Barracks it was expected that enemy bombers would target the three road bridges in the area, and a temporary bridge was built parallel to Chelsea Bridge. As with the four other temporary Thames bridges built in this period, it was built of steel girders supported by wooden stakes; however, despite its flimsy appearance it was a sturdy structure, capable of supporting tanks and other heavy military equipment.[31] As it turned out, no enemy action took place in the area, and all three bridges survived the war undamaged. The temporary bridge was dismantled in 1945.[31]

Beginning in the 1950s, Chelsea Bridge became a favourite meeting place for motorcyclists, who would race across the bridge on Friday nights.[30] On 17 October 1970 a serious confrontation took place on Chelsea Bridge between the Essex and Chelsea chapters of the Hells Angels, and rival motorcycle gangs the Road Rats, Nightingales, Windsor Angels and Jokers.[31][32] Around 50 people took part in the fight; weapons used included motorcycle chains, flick knives and at least one spiked flail. One member of the Jokers was shot with a sawn-off shotgun and fatally wounded,[32] and 20 of those present were sentenced to between one and twelve years' imprisonment.[31]

Battersea footbridge curves beneath Chelsea Bridge.

To link the new developments around Battersea Power Station to Battersea Park, in 2004 a curved footbridge was built beneath the southern end of Chelsea Bridge.[38] The footbridge was built offsite in four sections, transported by road to the King George V Dock where it was assembled, and the completed structure floated down the river and hoisted into position.[38] It is planned that once the riverfront in the area has been opened to the public, following the completion of the rebuilding of Battersea Power Station into a commercial development, the new bridge will form part of the Thames Path.[12][39] The new bridge curves out from the bank, overhanging the river bank by 33 feet (10 m), and cost £600,000 to build.[38]