It’s 130 years since the arrival of one of the UK’s most famous landmarks. Tower Bridge was finished in 1894, after a building project that took eight years. The iconic river crossing is now a world-famous part of the London skyline — but how much do you know about it?
It’s a bascule bridge, which means the middle parts of it can lift up like giant seesaws to let tall boats pass through.
The team of workers that built it used around 31 million bricks, 11,000 tons of steel and 13 million rivets (small screw-like fasteners that hold steel in place)
The foundations of the bridge are very strong, to keep the towers stable. They stretch down eight whole metres into the riverbed.
The tops of its towers are nearly 65m above the level of the road, which is as high as 14 double-decker buses stacked on top of each other.
From end to end it measures 240m, which is more than twice as long as a Premier League football pitch.
It’s very close to the Tower of London, but it was built almost 800 years later!
The steel parts used to be chocolate brown, which was apparently Queen Victoria’s favourite colour! These days, the steel is painted red, white and blue.
The bridge was officially opened by the Prince and Princess of Wales — the great-great-great-grandparents of William, the current Prince of Wales!
It takes about half an hour to walk along the river from YHA London Thameside to the foot of Tower Bridge.
Ten years ago, the walkways that stretch between the towers were installed with glass floors, giving visitors a spectacular (and slightly scary!) view beneath their feet.
Why not make a weekend out of it and stay at YHA London Thameside?
Photo credit: Adobestock – Dmitry Naumov
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