Bridges in London
We would all recognize London's famous Tower Bridge, some may have heard about Iron Bridge, but in general bridges are not obvious tourist attractions. They were built to serve a simple purpose - to join the opposite banks of a river. But despite their apparent simplicity, they can be highly complex, stunningly beautiful, wonderfully, inspiring and definitely worth seeing.
Some people belive that bridges were the firts structures ever built by humans. Because as people wandered through the countryside easy access across a river or ravine was more important than housing. Later bridges played an important part in estabilishing cities.
The world's first Iron Bridge was erected in the English county of Shropshire in 1779. The following century produced a greateer number of bridges than had ever existed before. Great Britain was then the world leader in the design and building of bridges. It's estimated that in the British Isles today there are over 200,000 road bridges and over 60,000 rail bridges.
Towering over the Thames
London's Tower Bridge is definitely the best known and most admired of all Britain's bridges. It is a symbol of the capital and instantly recognizable around the world. It is also the only bridge where one can have a look inside, where the massive machinery used to lift the bridge is on display. When it first opened, over a hundread years ago, Tower Bridge was raised only a few times a week and twenty-four hours notice has to be given.
Another, no less famous, is London Bridge. The present one, a very plain structure, is the fifth construction in this place. The first bridge was built of wood by the Romans between AD100 nad 400. Later it was replaced by a stone one which, until the middle of the eighteenth century, was the only bridge in London. In 1967 it was sold to an American milionaire and re-erected in Arizona. Apparently the rich business man thought he was buying Tower Bridge and it was only when he'd spent milions of dollars and the bridge was rebuilt that he discovered his mistake! In London the present concrete construction was built replacing the old bridge stone by stone without interrupting traffic flow.
Scottish Eiffel Tower
There are many Scottish bridges which have earned their place in history. The Glenfinnan Viaduct in the Scottish Highlands was the first major structure built of concrete. The Tay Bridge, which joins Newport with Dundee, was at one point the longest bridge in the world. It measures over three kilometres and is still the longest of all bridges in the British Isles. But the most spectacular bridge in Scotland is the Forth Bridge, sometimes called the "Scottish Eiffel Tower" or the "Eight Wonder of the World" - a hundread years ago it was described as "the uttermost example of ugliness".
Of the many bridges spanning the banks of the River Liffey in Dublin, Ha'Penny Bridge, designed for pedestrians, is the most elegant. Its name means half penny, the fee one had to pay to cross it until early this century. Nowadays we can cross it for free. It was featured in the excellent movie Lulu on the Bridge. From here Mira Sorvino throws a blue stone and later jumps to her death.
New bridges are always being built throughout the British Isles. In May the new Millennium Bridge opened in London and in Dublin an extraordinary bridge in the shape of a harp is being constructed. And the future? In London's Science Museum as part of an exhibition showing new uses of materials, it is possibleto cross a bridge made of glass, which hangs on wires only one-and-a-half milimeters thick. The sky is the limit for the human imagination and who knows what the future may bring in terms of brirdge desing. But for the time being, if you're visiting the British Isles spare a few moments to appreciate the bridges which have already been built.