Blackfriars Bridge

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Coordinates: 51°30′34″N, 0°06′16″W

Blackfriars Bridge with St Paul's Cathedral behind

Blackfriars Bridge viewed from upstream, looking south

Blackfriars Bridge, seen from Waterloo Bridge. Beyond there is a glimpse of the green-edged Southwark Bridge. In the hazy distance are the towers of Canary Wharf, dominated by the pyramidal-topped tower of One Canada Square

Temperance, a statue atop a drinking water fountain at the north end of Blackfriars Bridge

Blackfriars Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, between Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Railway Bridge. The north end is near the Inns of Court, and Temple Church, along with Blackfriars station. The south end is near the Tate Modern art gallery and the Oxo Tower.

The first fixed crossing at Blackfriars was a 995-foot (303 m) long toll bridge designed in an Italianate style by Robert Mylne and constructed with nine semi-elliptical arches of Portland stone. Beating designs by John Gwynn and George Dance, it took nine years to build, opening to the public in 1769. It was originally named William Pitt Bridge (after the Prime Minister William Pitt) but was soon renamed after Blackfriars Monastery, a Dominican priory which once stood nearby.

The current bridge was completed in 1869 and consists of five wrought iron arches built to a design by Joseph Cubitt. It is owned and maintained by Bridge House Estates, a charitable trust overseen by the Corporation of London. Due to the volume of traffic over the bridge, it was widened between 1907–10, from 70 feet (21 m) to its present 105 feet (32 m).

The bridge became internationally notorious in 1982, when the Italian banker Roberto Calvi was found hanged below one of its arches in what was originally believed to be a suicide, but is now officially regarded as a murder.

On the piers of the bridge are stone carvings of water birds by sculptor John Birnie Philip. On the East (downstream) side (ie: the side closest to the Thames Estuary and North Sea), the carvings show marine life and seabirds; those on the West (upstream) side show freshwater birds - reflecting the role of Blackfriars as the tidal turning point.

On the north side of the bridge is a statue of Queen Victoria - to whom the bridge was dedicated - apparently to justify its cost.

[edit] Popular culture

Blackfriars Bridge was named as the home of an unknown order of monks who held the key to an angelic prison in Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere.

Blackfriars Bridge is featured in the lyrics of the song, The Resurrectionist, by the Pet Shop Boys. The song is about the work of body-snatching resurrectionists operating in London in the 1830s.

One of the Bailey Bridges over the Rhine River in 1945 was named Blackfriars Bridge by the Royal Engineers that built it.

Blackfriars Bridge is referenced in L.A. Meyer's Bloody Jack: Being An Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy. In the beginning of the story, Jacky is an orphan in early 19th-century London who lives with her orphan gang under Blackfriars Bridge.

Blackfriars Bridge is made mention of in Harold Pinter's play The Homecoming. The scene has the character, Max, suggesting that his brother, Sam, would have anal (possibly gay) sex for a few pennies on this bridge.

[edit] External links

• Map and aerial photo of Blackfriars Bridge from Multimap.com
• Other map and aerial photo sources