London bridges across the river Thames: 10 Hungerford bridge

Hungerford bridge



Hungerford Bridge is a steel truss railway bridge—sometimes known as the Charing Cross Bridge—flanked by two more recent, cable-stayed, pedestrian bridges that share the railway bridge's foundation piers (see yesterday)

the first Hungerford Bridge, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, opened in 1845 as a suspension footbridge, it was named after the then Hungerford market, because it went from the South Bank to Hungerford market on the north side of the Thames

 in 1859 the original bridge was bought by the railway company extending the south eastern railway into the newly opened Charing Cross railway station and the railway company replaced the suspension bridge with a structure designed by Sir John Hawkshaw, comprising nine spans made of wrought iron lattice girders, which opened in 1864

the chains from the old bridge were re-used in Bristol's Clifton Suspension Bridge - the original brick pile buttresses of Brunel's footbridge are still in use, though the one on the Charing Cross side is now much closer to the river bank than it was originally, due to the building of the Victoria Embankment, completed in 1870; the buttress on the south bank side still has the entrances and steps from the original steamer pier Brunel built on to the footbridge

 walkways were added on each side, with the upstream one later being removed when the railway was widened