Local history: HAMMERSMITH BRIDGE
Hammersmith Bridge is a beautiful structure, but has had a chequered history
There have been two Hammersmith bridges. The first was built in 1827 by the West Middlesex Water company and designed by their chief engineer, William Tierney Clark, who later became well known for designing the bridge linking Buda and Pest over the Danube in Hungary.
Clark’s bridge was the first suspension over the Thames and its design, with stone towers was at the cutting edge of innovative bridge design. It was a toll bridge, with tolls being taken at the Hammersmith end. It was never built to take heavy traffic and there were fears for the structure in 1870 when roughly 12,000 crowded on to it to watch the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.
However, it he bridge lasted only 55 years until 1882, and it wasn’t heavy traffic that brought its demise, but an errant boat colliding striking it.
The Metropolitan Board of Works owned the bridge and their chief engineer, Sir Joseph Bazalgette, was responsible for the rebuild, beginning in 1884 – only two years later. He used the bridge’s stone structure, but the supporting structure was modified using wrought iron. At both ends of the bridge there are heraldic shields, made up of seven coats of arms, representing the coat of arms of Guildford, City of Westminster, Colchester, Middlesex, City of London and Kent.
The second bridge has survived three attempts by the IRA to damage it. The first was in 1939, when very serious damage was avoided when a pedestrian, crossing the bridge, noticed smoke coming from a suitcase and threw it into the Thames just before the bomb went off, causing a column of water to rise 18 metres. The next attack was in 1996 by the Provisional IRA using Semtex. The bomb fortunately failed to ignite, otherwise the bridge would have probably been totally destroyed. In 2000 a bomb placed by the Real IRA led to the closure of the bridge for two years until it was repaired.
Structural damage was first noticed in 1997 and repairs carried out. However, structural faults were again noticed in 2014 and more serious ones in 2019, which led to the total closure of the bridge. It is currently open to pedestrians and cyclists only, much to the frustration of locals on both sides of the river. The huge cost of completing repairs has led to this long closure and now stands at an estimated £250 million. The original bridge cost £80,000, equivalent to £8.9 million in today’s money. A planning application is still going through, which will include the right to charge a toll to motor traffic, but it is thought it could be many years before there is much change.
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