Battersea Bridge, a five-span arch bridge with cast-iron girders and granite piers links Battersea south of the River Thames with Chelsea to the north.
The first Battersea Bridge was a toll bridge commissioned by John, Earl Spencer, who had recently acquired the rights to operate a ferry. The ferry service had operated near the site of the new bridge since the middle of the 16th century.
Although a stone bridge was planned, difficulties in raising investment meant that a cheaper wooden bridge designed by Henry Holland was built instead. The bridge was opened for pedestrians in November 1771, and to vehicle traffic the following year.
The bridge was badly designed and dangerous both to its users and to passing shipping - boats often collided with it. To reduce the dangers to shipping, two piers were removed and the sections of the bridge above them were strengthened with iron girders.
t
he bridge was the last surviving wooden bridge on the Thames in London, and was the subject of paintings by many significant artists such as JMW Turner, John Sell Cotman and James McNeill Whistler, including Whistler’s Nocturne: Blue and Gold – Old Battersea Bridge, and his Nocturne in Black and Gold – The Falling Rocket.
In 1879 the bridge was taken into public ownership, and in 1885 demolished and replaced with the existing bridge, designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette.
