Westminster Bridge

“ Charing Cross is the next bridge on the Thames, being built of iron and used by a railway company. It was built by Brunel, and is a graceful structure, but does not permit of pedestrian traffic.
Westminster Bridge is nearly level in its grade, and has seven arches. It is 1,220 feet long. The cost was £400,000.
Lambeth Bridge is of iron with three arches, each of 280 feet span, and the width is 54 feet. Cost, £100,000.
Vauxhall Bridge is of iron with nine arches of equal span—each 78 feet wide. The breadth of the roadway is 36 feet, and the total length of the bridge is 840 feet. ”

“ London Bridge was doomed to come down. It was out of repair, and shaky; a good many arches blocked up, and those which were open had such a fall, as to be dangerous to shoot. Most of us can remember Blackfriars Bridge, and a good many Old Westminster Bridge, which was described in a London guidebook of 1802, as one of the most beautiful in the world. The same book says, “The banks of the Thames, contiguous to the bridges, and for a considerable extent, are lined with manufactories and warehouses; such as iron founders, dyers, soap and oil-makers, glass-makers, shot-makers, boat builders, &c. ”

“ Scaffolds were erected in the barges, on the banks of the river, and even on the top of Westminster Hall; all of which were crowded with spectators. The bridges were covered with crowds in carriages and on foot, men even placing themselves in the bodies of the lamp irons. Before six o’clock it was a perfect fair on both sides of the water, and—we are told—bad liquor with short measure was plentifully retailed, whilst in order that there should be no lack of additional excitement for those who might require it, the avenues leading to Westminster bridge were covered with gaming tables. ”

“ The sinuosities of the Thames are constantly forgotten, and it is a perfect marvel to me that hardly anyone recognises the importance of the fact that in crossing Westminster Bridge, though we thereby approach the south side of the Thames, we are travelling due east, so that a continuation of the line of the bridge would produce a road capable of leading almost direct from Westminster to the city. ”

“ It is well known that the piers of Westminster Bridge have considerably sunk since their first erection. They are not the only peers, in the same neighbourhood that have become lowered in the position they once occupied. ”

“ He rendered valuable public service in promoting the erection of Westminster Bridge (since rebuilt) , for which an act of parliament was obtained in 1736 (9 Geo. II) , and he advocated the claims of the Swiss architect, Charles Labelye, against the powerful interest made for Nicholas Hawksmoor [q. v.] , and Batty Langley [q. v.] (ib.) Pembroke laid the first stone of the structure with great ceremony in 1739, and the last stone in 1750. Serious difficulties were encountered in carrying out the undertaking, which gave a great impetus in bridge-building in England, particularly in London. ”

“ The population, including Westminster and all the parishes within the Bills of Mortality, was about 600,000, or a fifth of the population now. London Bridge was the only highway across the majestic Thames that the Londoners possessed; and that was covered with antique houses, from end to end, forming a sort of picturesque extension of Gracechurch Street, from the Middlesex to the Surrey shore,—a narrow, darksome, and dangerous thoroughfare with an arched gateway at each end of it, generally bristling with spikes, and often adorned with the heads of traitors. ”

“ The city Corporation, which had so strenuously opposed the erection of a bridge at Westminster as unnecessary, set to work, as soon as that became an accomplished fact, to improve their own communications across the river. First, as we have seen, they cleared away the houses and other obstructions on old London Bridge, and next they started to build themselves a new bridge at Blackfriars. ”

“ Westminster Bridge.
S. Wale delin. B. Green sc. Oxon.
Walton Bridge.
The materials are much superior to those commonly used on such occasions: the inside is usually filled up with chalk, small stones, or rubbish; but here all the piers are the same on the inside as without, of solid blocks of Portland stone, many of which are four or five tons weight, and none less than a ton, except the closers, or smaller ones, intended for [289] fastening the others, one of which has its place between every four of the large ones. These vast blocks are perfectly well wrought for uniting ”

“ A taste for elegance in architecture, and a desire to improve and adorn the city, have produced one of the finest bridges in the world at Westminster; have caused London bridge to be stripped of its ruinous buildings that encumbered the passage, and will soon render it as commodious 116and beautiful as possible. Another elegant bridge is erecting at Black Friars, in so grand a taste as to do honour to the city. We are become sensible of the absurdity of building magnificent structures in holes and narrow passages, where they cannot be seen to advantage ”

“ Besides the above officers, there are in Westminster, and its liberties, 52 inquestmen, 12 surveyors of the highways, 55 constables, 31 beadles, 236 watch-men, and 80 scavengers, who pay to the rakers 4127l. per annum for cleaning the streets.
Westminster Bridge. The horse-ferry at Westminster was perhaps one of the most frequented passages over the river [284] of Thames, ever since the building of London Bridge, and laying aside the ancient ferry there. ”

“ It measured 70 feet span, by 48 feet wide, and the rise was 23 feet; it was formed of 16 ribs or frames, and was supported on three Sterlings; namely, the two side ones of about 6 feet each, and that from which the Chapel pier had been removed. The author of the letter which I have referred to, censuring the extraordinary quantity of wood used in the centre, observes that it employed nearly 10,500 feet more than were used at Westminster Bridge; notwithstanding the Arch at London Bridge is 43⁄4 feet narrower and 12 feet lower, though the [533] Bridge itself is 43⁄4 feet wider. ”

“ We can hardly think of a subject we should be more pleased to write about, and there are few by which our readers would be more entertained, than these old bridges in London. Only one of them can have attention, and that shall be London Bridge, more especially the old one. A London Bridge is mentioned in a charter of William the Conqueror, granted to the monks of Westminster Abbey in 1067 ”

“ Thirty years later, under William Rufus, the Thames was again frozen, and the rivers through the country were so heavily locked in, that when the thaw came several bridges of stone and wood, and many water-mills, were carried away. The Christmas of 1281 was marked by a similar visitation, when five arches of London Bridge were swept from their foundations, and Rochester Bridge and others entirely destroyed. On this occasion a regular daily traffic was established across the ice between Westminster and Lambeth. ”

“ Later on, when London Bridge was built, Watling Street was diverted at the spot where now stands the Marble Arch, was carried along the present Oxford Street and Holborn, and passed through the City to the Bridge. This alternative route probably took away a great deal of the traffic: but for those who had business in the south or the southwest, or for those who were bound for the port of Dover, the ford was still preferred as the shorter way. A bridge was convenient, but the traveler of the fourth century was accustomed to a ford. ”

“ This great breadth, also, very materially contracts the water-way, and incommodes navigation; whilst the Sterling itself is in considerable danger of bursting.”
“But, Mr. Postern,” said I, as the Antiquary arrived at this part of his narrative, “although Maitland tells us, in his ‘History,’ volume i., page 46, and volume ii., page 1349, that the use of Coffer-dams, or Caissons, for building of the Piers of Bridges, was first introduced into the Thames at the erection of Westminster Bridge, yet it has been supposed that even this of London was constructed somewhat after the same plan ”

“ An Architect of nearly an hundred years since, however, has considered these objections with somewhat more of mathematical proof; and what is better, even whilst he admits their full force, he still venerates the memory, and dares to applaud the public spirit, of the blessed Peter of Colechurch. You will [76] readily guess that I allude to Master Nicholas Hawksmoor’s ‘Short Historical Account of London Bridge, with a proposition for a New Stone Bridge at Westminster,’ a quarto pamphlet of 47 pages, and 5 folding Copper-plates, originally published in the year 1736, for two shillings. ”

“ But even in the notes to the Debates themselves, it is stated that ‘Experience has at length convinced us of the weakness and fallacy of the objections raised against another Bridge, though private interest, it may be presumed, was the principal motive: since, not to mention the many Bridges that have been raised higher up the River, this Metropolis now boasts,’—1763— [608] ‘without any of the inconveniences, not only a Bridge at Putney, but one at Westminster, where use and magnificence go hand in hand ”

“ William Finnis accompanied them by afternoon boat up to London Bridge, and on to Westminster, where they went over the empty Houses of Parliament, and Alfred pretended to be a peer of the realm under the title of Lord Bateson. Then they rested on the Embankment, and the sun shining cheerfully upon them, and a pleasant breeze coming off the river, they watched the slow, overgorged barges going along laboriously, noted the crowded steamboats pulling from pier to pier, and saw the trains strolling off across the railway bridge with passengers for the Continent. ”

“ Standing at our right are the Parliament Houses, with a vast length of nine hundred feet, their grounds adjoining the bridge. We pass from the bridge to the left, and along the river. Bounding it is the Victoria Embankment, built of finely hammered granite, and finished with a moulded parapet. At proper intervals are pedestals, surmounted by ornamental and appropriate lamp-posts. At especial points are stone stairways down to the floating rafts and steamer landings. This embankment extends between Westminster and Blackfriars Bridges, and is a mile long. ”

“ The first appointment Purcell held was that of copyist to Westminster Abbey (1676) , a post which his father had held before him. We know little for certain as to his compositions for the Church in his early days. As a matter of fact, he seems to have been drawn (like Henry Lawes) more to the secular side, writing for the theatre. It has been suggested that he was introduced to this kind of work by Locke, who we know was a prominent composer for the stage. We must also remember that Humfrey would, very likely, have helped to influence the mind of the young Purcell in that direction. ”

“ His portrait is in the collection at Oxford, and a fine monument with an excellent bust was erected in Canterbury Cathedral by the composer's widow.
It was my privilege to suggest and organize a Musical Festival of Gibbons' works in Westminster Abbey in 1907. Some of his finest Church music was given by a very large choir, and a beautiful replica in black marble of the bust of the composer, which is in Canterbury Cathedral, was unveiled. It has always seemed to me a reflection upon the Abbey that no memorial to {49} the greatest of its organists—save Purcell—should be found there. ”

“ Looking over the music in the Chapter Library at Westminster, I found among many fine collections of Madrigals—original copies, mostly published in the 16th and early part of the 17th centuries—two sets of Latin Motets in 5 and 6 parts by {51} Richard Deering. They were bound up in covers made out of an illuminated MS. On looking at the bindings, our late Dean, Dr Armitage Robinson (always interested in the Library, and also, I may add, in my musical researches) found that they were part of the Wedding Service of the fourteenth century. ”

“ Too soon after this calamity, at a most inauspicious time for commencing, or executing, expensive public works, in 1097, King William Rufus imposed a heavy tax upon his subjects for the re-building of London Bridge,—though that might very well be defended,—the erecting of the palace of West-Minster Hall, and the construction of a wall round the Tower. The ‘Saxon Chronicle’ speaks of these ill-advised undertakings in the blended tones of sorrow and of anger. ”

“ Such, then, were the designs laid before the House of Commons; and the Committee concluded its labour for the year 1800, by recommending the rebuilding of London Bridge of iron, with a centre Arch of at least 65 feet above high-water. It was advised, also, that the old edifice should remain till the new one were completed; the place for erecting which was [598] opposite the West end of St. Saviour’s Church, as being the narrowest part of the River, and having buildings of the least value upon its banks, whilst the Northern end should form a street to the Royal Exchange. ”

“ But it is not impossible, as many boys retain their voices until a good age, and continue singing "alto" in a moderate sort of style. It is hardly likely there would be a boy named Blaew and one named Blow. And there was some arrangement whereby boys who had left the Choir continued to reside with the Masters, possibly to study. [1]
At the early age of twenty-one, in 1669, he became Organist of Westminster Abbey, and the appointment, apparently, was not enough for his ambition (or, more probably, for his needs!) ”

“ However this may be, Humfrey succeeded him as Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal, and later, jointly with Thomas Purcell, he was appointed Composer in Ordinary for the Violins to His Majesty.
It was in this year, 1672, that he wrote a charming little song called Wherever I am and Whatever I do. It was written for Dryden's Conquest of Granada, produced in that year.
Nothing of any importance is chronicled of him for the last two years of his all too short life. He died at Windsor on July 13th, 1674, and was buried in the Cloisters of Westminster Abbey, near the south east door. ”