The Tower Bridge......U.K. Trip Day 5a

Another day dawns and finds us making our way to the river Thames, and, more specifically, the Tower Bridge and after that, the Tower of London.

The Tower Bridge, completed in1894, is a marvel of Victorian architecture and engineering. I could recount for you all sorts of amazing and interesting facts about its engineering, about how much weight it can hold, and how much cement it took to build it, how tall the towers are and how many times it is raised and lowered in a year, about its design and how much it cost to build it and all sorts of little tidbits about its history.

But since I am certain that very few engineers and architects read this blog, I  won't. All I will mention is that it was designed as a combination basqule-suspension bridge. A basqule is a drawbridge and this was necessary to accommodate the high masted ships that dock at the  Port of London. Originally the drawbridge was powered by hydraulics and lit by gas lanterns. Really quite an feat of Victorian ingenuity.

 

                  Our destination, the Tower of London complex, is visible from the bridge.