Hammersmith Bridge

Hammersmith Bridge is a suspension bridge completed in 1887 to designs by Sir Joseph Bazalgette, chief engineer of the Metropolitan Board of Works. The bridge was begun in 1884 and opened by the Prince of Wales on 18 June 1887, at a cost of £71,500.

The bridge is 250.5 metres long and 13.1 metres wide, carrying an 8.2-metre-wide carriageway formed from wrought-iron girders. It features wrought-iron parapets, mild steel chain links, and air draught gauges on both upstream and downstream sides. The monumental anchorages survive from the earlier 19th-century bridge but have been substantially rebuilt to increase strength. The abutments and piers are constructed of concrete clad in Portland stone and cast-iron.

The skeletal wrought-iron framework of the towers, cross-beams, and related superstructure is clad in ornamental cast-iron castings, some gilded. The decorative iron blocks that support the walkway sit on squat, clustered Doric columns positioned on stone piers in the river. The bridge is painted dark green and gold, the original colour scheme that Bazalgette intended as shown on his plans. Heraldic designs appear on the towers, including the Royal Arms of the United Kingdom, the arms of Guildford (county town of Surrey), Colchester (county town of Essex), and the crests of Kent and the cities of London and Westminster.

The bridge rests on pier foundations constructed for an earlier bridge. The original Hammersmith Bridge, built between 1824 and 1827 to designs by William Tierney Clark, was the first iron suspension bridge to span the Thames. Although declared "highly satisfactory" by Thomas Telford, structural concerns emerged by the 1850s. Crowds rushing from side to side during the annual University Boat Race caused the deck to sway dangerously, and by the 1870s, crowds of up to 12,000 people on the bridge during races prompted further anxiety. Despite this unusual loading, the bridge survived until the early 1880s, when the Metropolitan Board of Works decided to replace it with Bazalgette's design. A temporary bridge was erected in 1884 and used until Bazalgette's structure was completed in 1887.

The road decking dates from 1973 to 1976, when the bridge underwent substantial strengthening and repair. In June 2000, Hammersmith Bridge was targeted in a terrorist bomb attack. Following repairs, it was reopened subject to a weight limit.