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Tower Bridge Exhibition
Tower Bridge Exhibitition
River Thames, Tower Bridge,
London SE1 2UP
Tel: 020 7403 3761
About Tower Bridge Exhibition
Tower Bridge Exhibition is a superb family day out in the heart of London, taking in illuminating and enjoyable exhibits on the life and times of one of the world’s most famous landmarks.
Opened in 1894, Tower Bridge has been a working suspension bridge over the River Thames ever since, becoming a family attraction in 1982, with the unveiling of the when the
Tower Bridge Exhibition – based largely in the bridge's two towers. Ticket holders can ply its upper walkways for a stunning vista over the metropolis through dedicated viewing windows. The Tower Bridge Exhibition includes a tour of the Victorian-era Engine Rooms at the south end of the bridge. It contains the impressive original steam engines that drive the Bridge bascules (from the French for see-saw). As well as numerous photos, hologrpahic images and a film about the construction of the bridge, the Tower Bridge Exhibition has interactive displays and information access points detailing the cutting edge technology that has kept Tower Bridge in operation for more than a century. A Behind The Scenes tour takes ticket holders into the command centre of the Bridge, to see how the bascules are raised to allow ships to pass, while a trip down into the bascule chambers is just the ticket for those seeking adventure and enlightenment.
Tower Bridge was designed by Wolfe Barry and Horace Jones and commissioned due to the rapid expansion of the East End, which sparked off a public movement in 1876 demanding a river crossing east of London Bridge, in order to improve journeys for pedestrians and vehicles alike. The winning design featured a raisable mid section to allow river traffic to pass. In bygone times, the Bridge was elevated some 50 times a day, but now that happens perhaps three times a week (approximately 1000 times a year, granting passage to tall ships, cruise ships, naval vessels and other major craft – a novel sight on a family day out to Tower Bridge Exhibition. Details of future raising operations can be gleaned via the Tower website).
The Tower Bridge Exhibition outlines the evolution of the Thames’ traffic, along with the building of the bridge, which retains a weight limit of 18 tons and is some 244 metres (800 feet) long. Each side-span over the water is 270 feet (82 metres) long, while the towers are 43 metres high, and accounting for their piers, 65 metres (213 feet). The pair of side-span suspensions feature rods anchored into abutments and the bridge's upper walkway, while pedestrian access to them is 143 feet (44 metres) above the river’s high tide.
More than 50 designs were considered by the Corporation of London in a public competition. Jones & Wolfe’s design was chosen in 1884, and came to fruition within 10 years. Jones died in 1887 and George Stevenson supervised the construction work. This took eight years, five contractors employing 432 labourers through this period, while Stevenson substituted Jones’ brick façade for gothic splendour. Their efforts can be seen in the splendid family attraction of today, which can be enjoyed in any weather, featuring as it does numerous indoor aspects at the Tower Bridge Exhibition. Tower Bridge required some 11,000 tons of steel, two massive piers fashioned from 70,000 tons of concrete, and reams of protective and finely-finished Cornish granite and Portland stone. In 1894, Tower Bridge was the biggest and most sophisticated bascule bridge yet built. It was hydraulically operated with steam-power pumping engines, and its bascules, weighing more than 1000 tons a piece, were counterbalanced to minimise the energy needed to raise them. Among its pioneering features are half a dozen giant accumulators that drive the bascule engines, lifting them to some 85 degrees in a matter of minutes.
The bridge was unveiled in June 1894 by Edward, Prince of Wales, and his wife, Alexandra of Denmark. It connected the north bank of the Thames at Iron Gate on to Horsleydown Lane to the south, at a cost of £1,184,000. A ticket to Tower Bridge Exhibition is a comparative bargain, and allows visitors to see things that not even royalty could! Among these are the original 360 horsepower horizontal twin-tandem compound steam engines, with Meyer expansion slide valves, designed and fitted by Newcastle upon Tyne's Sir W. G. Armstrong Mitchell & Company.
In 1974, the original pumps were replaced with an electro-hydraulic system from BHA Cromwell House. The oil and electricity plant was switched on in 1976, while the original pump engine ram accumulators and boilers became part of the splendid displays that can be viewed on a family day out to Tower Bridge Exhibition. Also available to ticket holders are the original machinery and control cabins, plus wartime control mechanisms for special signalling equipment, which form part of the Behind The Scenes Tour that can be pre-booked.
In addition, the Tower Bridge Exhibition outlines significant events such as the closing of the high-level walkway in 1910, officially due to lack of use by the public, but in fact probably because of the high level of crime there – literally. This comprised in the main pick-pocketing and solicitation by prostitutes. An even more daring incident a couple of years after was an aerial emergency whereby, in order to avoid a collision with the Bridge, Frank McClean flew between the bascules and high-level walkways in his Short biplane. Not something you’ll get on any old family day out, though Al Qaida is said to have plotted to fly a plane in similar fashion!
The family attraction narrowly averted another disaster in December 1952, when a No. 78 double-decker bus to Dulwich had accelerate unexpectedly and hurtle from one bascule to the other when the Bridge began to rise with the bus half way across! In 1977, the Bridge was decorated in red, white and blue to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee, and in 1982 the permanent Tower Bridge Exhibition was opened, Tower Bridge welcoming the public for the first time since 1910. In 1993, the centenary exhibition - The Tower Bridge Experience – was inaugurated, with its animatronic models. Four years later, US President Bill Clinton’s motorcade was divided by the opening of the bridge for the barge Gladys, en route to St. Katharine’s Docks. Another unusual incident occurred in August 1999, when Jeff Smith, a Freeman of the City of London, drove a pair of sheep across the bridge, exercising his ancient right as a Freemen.
In 2002, the current Tower Bridge Exhibition displays were emplaced, spotlighting views from the walkways and the Bridge’s history, although it won world attention later that year when American illusionist David Blaine sat in a plastic box without food, apparently for a month, suspended from a crane by the Bridge. The family attraction by contrast boasts ample facilities including four breathtaking venues ideal for Corporate Hospitality and Private events like cocktail receptions, promotional evenings, dinners and weddings. In fact, Tower Bridge holds the silver prize for Best UK Unusual Venue 2007, and the Tower Bridge Exhibition is itself a prize family day out.