Waterloo Bridge

Canova, the sculptor, considered (the old) Waterloo to be "the noblest bridge in the world," and, he might have added, "the grandest memorial of Wellington's achievement," just as the Trafalgar Square Column is the stone embodiment of Nelson's crowning victory.

That bridge was opened on June 18, 1817, by the Prince Regent, the Duke of York, and the Duke of Wellington, an imposing military force accompanying them.

From the Embankment, near the Temple Gardens, Waterloo Bridge was seen in all its solidity and magnificent simplicity.

Its great length (with approaches, 2456 feet) and numerous semi-elliptical arches, each of 120 feet span, and its absolute level, distinguish it from every other such structure in London.

Approaches included, the bridge cost a million sterling, and to the company - bought out to abolish the toll - who built it in conjunction with John Rennie, F.R.S., it proved a disastrous failure, never paying its way.

Waterloo was known as the "English Bridge of Sighs," because of the numerous suicides happening there.

It is gruesomely associated with the "Waterloo Bridge Mystery" (unsolved to this day) which caused intense excitement in London many years ago, when some Thames boatmen found on one of the piers a carpet-bag containing severed human remains.

The view from this bridge is remarkably fine. There is always a grand stretch of water, for the river at this point is wide, 1326 feet at high-tide.

To the west, the outlook is a repetition of what can be seen from Blackfriars, except that Cleopatra's Needle is visible in front of the beautiful Embankment; but towards the east, a splendid panorama of steeples and towers unfolds itself.

From just below the first recess on the Surrey side, there come, in the following order, into the line of sight from the extreme right hand:

• St. Michael's, Cornhill
• the Royal Exchange Campanile
• St. Mary Aldermary's square tower
• Bow Church with its dragon wind-vane
• St. Paul's Cathedral
• the City of London Schools
• St. Martin's, Ludgate Hill, a black spike
• Christ Church, Newgate Street
• the steeple of St. Bride's, Fleet Street, one of the handsomest in London
• the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street
• St. Sepulchre's, Newgate
• St. Dunstan's in the West, Fleet Street
• the Record Office
• the Law Courts
• St. Clement Danes
• Somerset House
• St. Mary-le-Strand.

Next: Westminster Bridge