BRIEF HISTORY DURING THE SNOW ERA (1813-58)

In 1845, the Hungerford Bridge was opened as a foot-bridge for pedestrians walking from Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames to Lambeth on the south bank. The bridge was designed in 1841 by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, son of Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, to encourage trade at the new Hungerford Market.  Later when the Charing Cross Railway wanted to replace the pedestrian suspension bridge with a rail bridge, the company argued that few used the Hungerford Bridge due to the smell from the river, especially during the summer. 

The Hungerford Bridge was closed in 1861, and replaced in 1864 with the Charing Cross Railway Bridge, a nine-span wrought iron bridge for carrying South Eastern Railway passengers to the new West End terminus at Charing Cross (see 1862 map below).  The two central piers that suspended the Hungerford Bridge were incorporated into the new bridge.  The chains of the old bridge, however, were used by Brunel to a complete a new suspension bridge in Clifton. 

The bridge is shown as planned in the 1843 Davies map (see below), as constructed in both the 1846 Cruchley's map (see below) and Reynolds's 1859 map, and as demolished in Standford's map of 1862.  

Sources: 

Richardson J. The Annals of London, 2000.

Weinreb B, Hibbert C (eds). The London Encyclopaedia, 1993.