BATTERSEA
ATTERSEA
is a parish and manor on the banks of the Thames, the name having undergone
various changes from Patricesy, Battrichsey, Battersey, to Battersea as
at present. The bridge is a rude timber
superstructure erected in the year 1771 on
the site of a ferry the rights of which originally belonged to the family of the
Earls of Lincoln, but granted in the year 1627 in
reversion to Oliver St. John, Viscount Grandison,
the property remaining in possession of the St. John family till the year 1763,
when it passed to that of the Earls of Spencer,
who still retain the manorial rights. In the year
1766 a company consisting of fifteen proprietors having subscribed a sum of
1,500 pounds each, obtained with the
sanction of Lord Spencer an Act of Parliament for building a bridge as a
substitute for the ferry. The bridge so
authorised was not commenced, however, till early in
the year 1771, when the work was rapidly carried on, being so far completed as
to enable its being opened for foot
passengers some time in the same year, the final completion and public
opening taking place the following year. This inconvenient and dangerous structure,
with its narrow arches and equally narrow roadway, was built entirely of wood,
under the direction of a Mr. Holland,
his contract for the entire work amounting to about 20,000 pounds. The
length of the bridge is 1 furlong, with a narrow and inadequate width of 28 feet
only for the roadway inclusive of
footpaths. In the year 1799 lamps were first erected on one side of
the bridge -- at that time the only wooden bridge across the Thames which had
such accommodation. In the year 1824
the original wooden railing became so dangerous that the present
iron one, 4 feet high, was substituted for it. Battersea and Putney
Bridges, the only wooden structures in
the metropolitan district, are perhaps the most inconvenient and
dangerous obstructions now remaining on the River Thames. Both bridges,
originally with tolls, are now free.
Source:
Herring JH. Thames
Bridges from London to Hampton Court, with Topographical Descriptions from Best
Known Authorities, H.R. Pinder, London, 1874.
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