The first engineer, John Rennie (senior), had planned a
blue sandstone bridge with seven arches but as finances were tight Rennie
suggested a new lighter design of eleven cast iron arches. This was not
accepted either and after some delay Mr J Grellier was commissioned to build a
nine arched iron bridge to a design by Sir Samuel Bentham. The Bentham plans
were abandoned after doubts over the quality of the work and fears by
conservation bodies that the proposed bridge would adversely affect the flow of
the Thames. Eventually it was James Walker who
built the granite faced cast-iron structure with eight piers.
It was the first iron bridge over the Thames in London.
1811: Lord Dundas, representing
the Prince Regent, laid the first stone on the Middlesex side for what was to have been called the Regent's Bridge.
Metropolitan Improvements: Or, London in the Nineteenth Century, Displayed by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd, James Elmes, 1827 -
The first stone of this bridge was laid by the late Duke of Brunswick
on the 21st of August, 1813, and on the 4th of June, 1816, being three
years from the time of Mr. Walker's engagement with the company, the
ceremonial of opening the bridge was performed.
The width of the river Thames at Vauxhall is about nine hundred feet,
the depth at low water from eight to ten feet, and the rise of the tide about
twelve feet. The bridge, as may be seen in the plate, consists of nine
arches of seventy-eight feet span, and eight piers, each thirteen feet wide.
The length of the bridge, clear of the abutments, is eight hundred and
six feet ; the rise of the centre arch above high water mark twenty-seven
feet ; the clear width of the bridge is thirty-six feet, divided into a carriageway
of twenty-five feet, and two footways of five feet six inches
each. The rise of the roadway upon the bridge is one foot in thirty-five
to the middle of the fourth arch from each side ; the line of the roadway
over the centre arch, and half an arch on each side of it, being curved to
meet the inclined planes formed by the roadway over the other arches, as
shown in the view.
Vauxhall Bridge, 1817
1829: Low Tide near Vauxhall Bridge -
Low Tide near Vauxhall Bridge, 1829
Vauxhall Bridge, 1836 Tombleson
Vauxhall Bridge, Havell
Bridge finances -
For this bridge we know what its promoters hoped. Its prospectus put its construction cost
at the curiously precise sum of £150,448-1s and added an estimate of £11,000 for the cost of
approach roads. The revenue estimates were equally precise, though justified only in the
following rather general terms:
As between 16,000 and 17,000 persons, from calculations, pass over Westminster Bridge on an
ordinary day, and between 20,000 and 30,000 over Blackfriars Bridge, it may be reasonable to
suppose 8,500 persons will pass over the intended Prince’s Bridge, (and most probably a greater
number, when we consider it as the nearest Communication from the West of the Metropolis with
the populous Places and Villages of Clapham, Camberwell, Stockwell, Kennington, Vauxhall,
South Lambeth and the principal Surrey and Kent Roads).
| Annual Revenue | |
| Halfpenny per foot passenger | £6463.10.10 |
| 400 carts per day @ 3d | £1825.0.0 |
| 400 carriages of pleasure @ 6d | £3650.0.0 |
| 300 horses @ 2d | £912.10.0 |
| Improved approaches on each shore | £4,500 |
| Total receipts | £17,351.0.10 |
| Less repairs and salaries | -£1,500.0.0 |
| Totals: | £15,851.0.10 |
Unfortunately, the cost of the bridge ended up at £262,376.
It was financed by £212,742 raised by a series of £100 share issues over the years 1812-25
and by promissory notes issued at 5% to the proprietors. The interest on these was met
from the surplus of tolls over expenses until 1823 and they were subsequently paid off
by a rights issue at a price of a mere £28 which doubled the number of shares.
Thus the average issue price of the shares was £64 and by the late sixties and
early seventies they were earning annual dividends of £1.14.0, a nominal yield of 2.7%.
As the company’s secretary put it in 1865, it was:
“a poor paying concern, but not so bad as some of the others”.
Finally, compensation from the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1878 amounted to £262,821,
less than the company’s nominal capital. It had not been a good investment.
The old Vauxhall Bridge of 1816 began to deteriorate
1881: Two central piers were removed, as they were impeding river traffic, and replaced by one long arch.
1897: OLD Vauxhall Bridge, James Dredge. [This is labelled NEW Vauxhall Bridge, but it is
the 1816 bridge. The OLD bridge had about nine arches. The NEW bridge started in 1898 has five.] -
OLD (1816) Vauxhall Bridge, James Dredge, 1897
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive; D230202a
And this is also the Old Bridge -
Old Vauxhall Bridge
A temporary wooden bridge was used during construction of the present bridge.
Has anybody got a picture of this temporary wooden bridge?
1906: New Vauxhall Bridge opened by the Prince of Wales.
759 feet long, 80 feet wide.
The appearance of the structure of five steel arches is enlivened by the heroic-sized statues
which stand in front of each of the river-piers.
The statues represent Arts and Sciences: Downstream
are Local Government; Education; Fine Arts; and Astronomy,
while upstream are: Agriculture; Architecture; Engineering; and Pottery.
Architect: W.E. Riley. Engineers: Alexander Binnie and Maurice Fitzmaurice.
Contractor: Petwick Bros
This bridge was the first in London to carry trams.
Vauxhall New Bridge
1943: Millbank Emergency Bridge. I can find no explanation of this. Was the present bridge damaged and temporarily bypassed? Can anyone help?-
Millbank Emergency Bridge, 1943
Millbank Emergency Bridge, 1943
Vauxhall Bridge © 2001 Doug Myers
The MI6 building below the bridge on the right bank.
Vauxhall Bridge going upstream
1998: The Thames Archaeological survey found the remains of a huge oak bridge built 3500 years ago not far from where the river Effra empties into the Thames. Two parallel lines of large oak posts (40 cm across) led into the river spaced about 5m apart which suggested that this was a bridge rather than anything less substantial, such as a jetty. The bridge may not have crossed the whole river but instead might have formed a link to a long disappeared island in what would have been a much broader Thames
Westminster Boat House, left bank
Victoria Line Tunnel
1971
Upstream to Victoria Railway Bridge
Estuary
PLA
QEII Br
Barrier
Tower Br
Custom Ho
London Br
; Frost Fairs
Cannon St Rb
The Great Stink
Southwark Br
Millenium Br
Blackfriars Rb
Blackfriars Br
Waterloo Br
Charing Cross Rb
Westminster Br
Lambeth Br
Vauxhall Br
Victoria Rb
Chelsea Br
Albert Br
Battersea Br
Battersea Rb
Wandsworth Br
Fulham Rb
Putney Br
Hammersmith Br
Barnes Rb
Chiswick Br
Kew Rb
Kew Br
RICHMOND
Twickenham Br
Richmond Rb
Richmond Br
TEDDINGTON
Kingston Rb
Kingston Br
Ditton Slip
Hampton Br
MOLESEY
SUNBURY
Walton Br
Desborough Cut
SHEPPERTON
Chertsey Br
CHERTSEY
M3 Br
Laleham Slip
PENTON HOOK
Staines Rb
Staines Br
Runnymede Br
BELL WEIR
Magna Carta Is
OLD WINDSOR
Albert Br
Datchet
Victoria Br
Black Potts Rb
ROMNEY
Eton
Windsor Br
Windsor Rb
Windsor Slip
Elizabeth Br
BOVENEY
Dorney Lake
York Cut
Summerleaze Fb
MonkeyIsland
New Thames Br
BRAY
Bray Slip
Maidenhead Rb
Maidenhead Br
Below Boulters
BOULTERS
Cliveden
Hedsor
COOKHAM
Cookham Slip
Cookham Br
BourneEnd RFb
Quarry Woods
A404 Br
MARLOW
Marlow Br
Bisham
TEMPLE
HURLEY
Medmenham
Culham Ct
Aston Slip
HAMBLEDEN
Temple Is
Fawley Ct
Remenham
Regatta
Phyllis Ct
Henley Slip
Leander
Red Lion
Henley Br
Angel on Br
Landing
Hobbs Boatyard
Hobbs Slipway
MARSH
Hennerton
Bolney
Wargrave
Shiplake Rb
R.Loddon
SHIPLAKE
Sonning Br
SONNING
Dreadnought
K&A Canal
CAVERSHAM
Reading Br
Caversham Br
Reading Slip
Purley
MAPLEDURHAM
Hardwick Ho
Whitchurch Br
WHITCHURCH
Hartswood Reach
Gatehampton Rb
Goring Gap
Goring Br
GORING
Swan
CLEEVE
Moulsford
Moulsford Rb
Papist Way Slip
Winterbrook Br
Wallingford Br
BENSON
Shillingford Br
R.Thame
DAYS
Burcot
Clifton Hampden
Clifton Church
Clifton H Br
Barley Mow
Long Wittenham
CLIFTON
Appleford Rb
Sutton Courtenay
Sutton Br
CULHAM
Culham Cut Fb
Abingdon Slip
Abingdon
Abingdon Br
ABINGDON
Nuneham Rb
Nuneham
Nuneham Park
Radley Boats
SANDFORD
Rose Island
Kennington Rb
Isis Br
Iffley Mill
IFFLEY
Oxford Rowing
Isis
Donnington Br
Riverside Slip
Boathouses
Punting
Lower Cherwell
Upper Cherwell
Islip
Head of River
Salters Steamers
Folly Br
Bacons Folly
Oxford Fb
Osney Fb
Weir stream
Osney Rb
Bullstake Stream
Osney Marina
OSNEY
Osney Br
Four Rivers
OLD RIVER
CANAL
Medley Weir Site
Medley Fb
Bossoms
Perch
Trout
GODSTOW
Godstow Nunnery
Godstow Br
Thames Br
KINGS
River Evenlode
EYNSHAM
Swinford Br
Oxford Cruisers
PINKHILL
Farmoor
Stanton Harcourt
Bablock Slip
Arks Weir Site
NORTHMOOR
Harts Fb
//Rose Revived
Newbridge
//Maybush
River Windrush
below Shifford
SHIFFORD
Shifford Fb
Tenfoot Fb
Trout Inn
Tadpole Br
RUSHEY
Old Mans Fb
RADCOT
Radcot Cradle Fb
Swan Inn
Radcot New Br
Radcot Old Br
GRAFTON
Eaton Hastings
Kelmscott
Eaton Fb
BUSCOT
Bloomers Hole Fb
Trout Inn
St Johns Br
ST JOHNS
Halfpenny Br
Marina Slip
LIMIT
Inglesham
Hannington Br
Kempsford
Castle Eaton Br
Marston Meysey
A419 Br
Cricklade
SOURCE?
THAMES HEAD
SEVEN SPRINGS