Battersea Bridge - Old Battersea Bridge

Old Battersea Bridge

Spencer calculated that the money raised would be sufficient to finance a modest timber bridge, and a design was commissioned from rising architect Henry Holland. The bridge was built to Holland's designs by John Phillips, whose uncle Thomas Phillips had built the 1729 bridge at Putney. The bridge was opened to pedestrians in November 1771 while still incomplete. In 1772, a chalk and gravel surface was added and the bridge was opened to vehicle traffic. Tolls were charged on a sliding scale, ranging from 1⁄₂d for pedestrians to 1 shilling for vehicles drawn by four or more horses. The bridge was never formally named, and was referred to on maps of the period as both "Battersea Bridge" and "Chelsea Bridge".

The bridge was not a commercial success. It was 734 feet (224 m) long and only 24 feet (7.3 m) wide, making it impractical for larger vehicles to use. Holland's design consisted of nineteen separate narrow spans, the widest being only 32 feet (9.8 m) wide, and boats found it difficult to navigate beneath the bridge; there were a number of accidents including serious injuries and deaths. Repeatedly rammed by passing shipping, the bridge required frequent costly repairs, and dividends paid to investors were low. During a particularly cold winter in 1795 the bridge was badly damaged by ice, necessitating lengthy and expensive reconstruction, and no dividends at all were paid for the next three years. Concerns were expressed in Parliament about the reliability of the bridge, and the Battersea Bridge Company was obliged to provide a ferry service at the same rate as the bridge tolls, in the event of the bridge being closed for repairs.

In an effort to improve the bridge's poor safety record for its customers, oil lamps were added to the deck in 1799, making Battersea Bridge the first Thames bridge to be lit. Between 1821 and 1824 the flimsy wooden fences along the edges of the bridge, which were often breaking, were replaced by sturdy iron 4-foot (1.2 m) railings, and in 1824 the oil lamps were themselves replaced by gas lighting. In 1873, in an effort to improve navigation around the bridge and reduce accidents, two of the supporting piers were removed, making the widest span a more easily navigated 77 feet (23 m), and the bridge deck was strengthened with iron girders to compensate for the missing piers.