Tag Archives: London

London’s Modern Bridge

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Firmly positioned as one of London attractions, the Millennium Bridge is a 330m steel bridge linking the City of London at St. Paul’s Cathedral with the Tate Modern Gallery. It is a steel suspension bridge for pedestrians crossing the River Thames in London, linking Bankside with the City of London.

London’s Modern Bridge

Tower Bridge London

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Moving this week to bridges captured from the rest of the world.

Tower Bridge is a combined bascule and suspension bridge in London, built between 1886 and 1894. The bridge crosses the River Thames close to the Tower of London and has become a world-famous symbol of London. As a result, it is sometimes confused with London Bridge, about 0.5 miles upstream.

Tower Bridge London

Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle by Yinka Shonibare

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National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London displays Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle by Yinka Shonibare, a 1:30 replica of Nelson’s flagship, HMS ‘Victory’ on which he died during the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805. It has 80 guns and 37 sails set as on the day of battle. The richly patterned sails were inspired by Indonesian batik, mass-produced by Dutch traders and sold in West Africa. The sculpture is 15.4 ft long and measures 7.7 ft from the keel to the top of the main mast.

Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle by Yinka Shonibare

Yinka Shonibare ‘Ship in a Bottle’

Royal Views

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Views of London from the Royal Observatory Greenwich – an observatory situated on a hill in Greenwich Park, overlooking the River Thames. It played a major role in the history of astronomy and navigation, and is best known for the fact that the prime meridian passes through it, and thereby gave its name to Greenwich Mean Time. There is actually a physical line where one can stand on both the East and West of the prime meridian.

London Skyline from Royal Observatory Greenwich

London from Royal Observatory Greenwich

London’s Modern Bridge

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The Millennium Bridge was the first new bridge to be built over the Thames in London for more than 100 years. Usually, all new bridges across the Thames require an Act of Parliament to be passed. For the Millennium Bridge, that need was avoided: instead the Port of London Authority granted a licence for the structure, obtaining planning permissions from the City of London and London Borough of Southwark.

Its official title is the London Millennium Footbridge. But no-one calls it that. Instead, it’ll probably always be called the Wobbly Bridge. Around 80,000 people crossed the bridge on its opening day, with around 2,000 on the bridge at any one time. Those on the southern and central spans felt the bridge begin to sway and twist in regular oscillations. While there was no chance that the bridge actually would fall down, engineers felt that the wobble needed to be stopped.

London’s Modern Bridge

Traffic on Thames

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The Thames has supported London’s trade, tourism and traffic for centuries. But as the capital’s population reaches new records, the river is the latest piece of infrastructure to begin to feel the strain.

HMS Belfast (on the right below) is a Town-class light cruiser that was built for the Royal Navy. She is now permanently moored as a museum ship on the River Thames in London and is operated by the Imperial War Museum.

Traffic on Thames

Icons of London

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The Tower Bridge and the ever-present red double-decker bus are definitely icons of London.

Sometimes confused with London Bridge, situated some 0.5 mi upstream, Tower Bridge has become an iconic symbol of London. It is a combined bascule and suspension bridge, built between 1886 and 1894. The bridge crosses the River Thames close to the Tower of London.

The majority of buses in London are still red and therefore the red double-decker bus remains a widely recognized symbol of the city.

Tower Bridge London

Tower Bridge

Modern London Skyline

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The Greater London metropolitan area contains the most skyscrapers in the European Union. As of 2018, there were 31 skyscrapers in London that reached a roof height of at least 150 meters (492 ft). 76 more buildings were built in 2019. Here is a view of modern architecture from across River Thames.

Modern London Skyline