Tower Bridge
In 1952 a London bus leapt across the open gap of Tower Bridge, and the driver kept his job. The Thames's most famous crossing has more surprises than that.
Published
Quick Facts
- Location
- River Thames, beside the Tower of London, London
- Opened
- 30 June 1894, by the Prince of Wales
- Designed by
- Horace Jones (architect) and John Wolfe Barry (engineer)
- Type
- Combined bascule and suspension bridge
- Overall length
- About 244 metres
- Tower height
- About 65 metres
- Gap when raised
- Bascules lift to 86 degrees, giving ships roughly 42 metres of clearance
- Cladding
- Steel frame dressed in Cornish granite and Portland stone
The bus that jumped the gap
On 30 December 1952, bus driver Albert Gunter was crossing Tower Bridge on the number 78 when the roadway began to rise in front of him. The bridgemaster's warning system had failed, and the gap was already opening. Gunter put his foot down. The bus jumped from the rising southern bascule onto the northern bascule, which had not yet begun to rise, dropping about six feet as it landed. A few passengers were hurt, but the bus made it. Gunter was reportedly given a bonus for his quick thinking. It wasn't the bridge's only brush with the aerial. In August 1912, the pilot Frank McClean flew a biplane along the Thames and straight between the bridge's high walkways and the roadway below.
A bridge built so ships could still get through
By the 1870s, London's East End was crowded and desperately needed another river crossing east of London Bridge. But the Pool of London, just upstream, was one of the busiest ports in the world. A fixed low bridge would have shut it out. The answer was a bridge that could open. A special committee of the City of London ran a design competition, and Horace Jones, the City's own architect, eventually won with the winning scheme. John Wolfe Barry was brought in as engineer. Jones died in 1887, soon after work began. George Stevenson took over the architecture and gave the towers their Victorian Gothic look, a deliberate nod to the neighbouring Tower of London. Eight years of building followed, and the bridge opened on 30 June 1894.
What's hiding inside the towers
The stone is mostly for show. Underneath is a steel skeleton that does the real work, and the Gothic cladding was added to make the bridge look at home beside the medieval fortress. The two lifting roadways are called bascules, from the French word for seesaw. Each weighs around 1,000 tonnes and is balanced by a massive counterweight, which is why they can be raised so quickly. The original machinery was powered by steam, which pumped water into hydraulic accumulators. The bridge switched to oil and electric drives in 1976, though you can still see the old Victorian engines at the bridge's engine rooms. The bridge still opens hundreds of times a year for tall vessels. Ships need to give notice, and the lift is free of charge.
The walkway nobody wanted
The high-level walkways were meant to let pedestrians cross when the bridge was open. In practice, people preferred to wait at the road level and watch the bascules rise, as the climb up the stairs was long. The walkways closed in 1910, having gained a reputation as a haunt for pickpockets. They reopened in 1982 as part of the Tower Bridge Exhibition, and in 2014 a glass floor was added. You can now stand on it, about 42 metres above the River Thames, and watch the traffic and boats pass below your feet.
Myth versus reality
The most famous myth is that the American entrepreneur Robert McCulloch bought London Bridge in 1968 thinking it was Tower Bridge. He bought the old London Bridge, which was shipped to Lake Havasu City, Arizona. The story is repeated often but there's no evidence he made such a mistake. The other popular error is the colour. For most of its life the bridge was a chocolate brown. It was painted red, white and blue for the 1977 Silver Jubilee, and the same scheme was refreshed for the 2012 Olympics.
What to look out for
Walk across the bridge itself first, then look at the towers from the south bank, where the Gothic detail is clearest. From the river's edge near the Tower of London, you get the classic view, with the whole structure framed against the sky. If you can, time your visit for a lift. There are published lift times, and watching the bascules rise slowly into the air, with the road traffic stopped and a tall ship passing through, is something you'll remember.
Notable people
- Horace Jones
- John Wolfe Barry
- George D. Stevenson
- Albert Gunter
- Frank McClean
- Robert McCulloch
Test yourself
Play the UK quizMore to see nearby
Wembley Stadium
Published
Wembley's famous arch stands on the spot where Victorian London tried to build a tower taller than the Eiffel Tower, and failed.
The Royal Observatory, Greenwich
Published
You can stand with one foot in the east and one in the west, but the real story of Greenwich is how a king's astronomer helped sailors find their way home.
Hampton Court Palace
Published
Henry VIII's kitchens at Hampton Court once fed around 600 people twice a day, and the palace's famous maze was planted for a Dutch king to get lost in.