London bridges across the river Thames: 16 Battersea bridge

the first Battersea Bridge was a toll bridge commissioned by John, Earl Spencer, who had recently acquired the rights to operate the ferry. although a stone bridge was planned, difficulties in raising investment meant that a cheaper wooden bridge was built instead. designed by Henry Holland, it was initially opened to pedestrians in November 1771, and to vehicle traffic in 1772. the bridge was poorly designed and dangerous both to its users and to passing shipping, and boats often collided with it so to reduce the dangers to shipping, two piers were removed and the sections of the bridge above them were strengthened with iron girders.

 although dangerous and unpopular, the bridge was the last surviving wooden bridge on the Thames in London, and was the subject of paintings by many significant artists such as J. M. W. Turner, John Sell Cotman and James McNeill Whistler, including Whistler's Nocturne: Blue and Gold – Old Battersea Bridge, and his controversial Nocturne in Black and Gold – The Falling Rocket. Whistler's Nocturne series achieved notoriety in 1877, when influential critic John Ruskin visited an exhibition of the series at the Grosvenor Gallery, he wrote of the painting Nocturne in Black and Gold – The Falling Rocket, that Whistler was "asking two hundred guineas for flinging a pot of paint in the public's face"  Whistler sued for libel, the case reaching the courts in 1878, the judge in the case caused laughter in the court when, referring to Nocturne: Blue and Gold – Old Battersea Bridge, he asked Whistler "Which part of the picture is the bridge?";the case ended with Whistler awarded token damages of one farthing! in 1905, Nocturne: Blue and Gold became the first significant acquisition by the newly formed National Art Collections Fund, and is now in Tate Britain

Nocturne in Black and Gold – The Falling Rocket

Nocturne: Blue and Gold –Old Battersea Bridge

 

 

 in 1879 the bridge was taken into public ownership, and in 1885 demolished and replaced with the existing bridge, designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette and built by John Mowlem & Co. The narrowest surviving road bridge over the Thames in London, it is one of London's least busy Thames bridges. the location on a bend in the river makes the bridge a hazard to shipping, and it has been closed many times due to collisions

the bridge briefly attained national prominence on 20 January 2006 when a 5.8 m long female bottlenose whale became stranded at Battersea bridge. a rescue operation was mounted, and large crowds flocked to the bridge - the whale was successfully transferred to a barge, but died while being transported back to the sea to be released. a year after the whale's death, its skeleton was put on public display in the offices of The Guardian newspaper and it now resides at the Natural History museum