X-Nico

7 unusual facts about Waterloo Bridge


Dugald Sutherland MacColl

In the 1920s he campaigned, unsuccessfully, for the preservation of John Rennie's Waterloo Bridge.

Magnetohydrodynamics

The ebbing salty water flowing past London's Waterloo Bridge interacts with the Earth's magnetic field to produce a potential difference between the two river-banks.

Old Wye Bridge, Chepstow

In 1810 the bridge was again declared to be "in decay" and dangerous, and local magistrates commissioned engineer John Rennie, the architect of Waterloo Bridge in London, to design a new bridge.

Protected view

The views of St Paul's Cathedral from Waterloo Bridge and Hungerford Bridge are not specifically mentioned although these views are protected in practice by the views from Richmond Park and from Westminster Pier respectively as these bridges are on the path of the protected vistas.

Savoy Chapel

The hospital was in ruins by the 19th century and the chapel was the only part to survive demolition to allow construction of an approach road to Waterloo Bridge.

The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons

It shows a similar scene from further downstream, closer to Waterloo Bridge, with the flames and smoke blown dramatically over a river as spectators on the river bank and in boats look on.

The Dog It Was That Died

As the play begins, he is in the process of committing suicide by jumping off Waterloo Bridge into the Thames.


Bro Garmon

Waterloo Bridge, which carries the A5 across the River Conwy to Betws-y-Coed, was built by Thomas Telford in 1815, the year of the Battle of Waterloo, and is made wholly from cast iron.

Found Drowned

Found Drowned depicts the dead body of a woman washed up beneath the arch of Waterloo Bridge, with her lower body still immersed in the water of the River Thames .

Konon Molody

One of the five was Gordon Lonsdale who was caught by Scotland Yard taking secrets from a British spy Harry Houghton on Waterloo Bridge.

London Buses route 31

On 15 May 1916, the 31 was extended to run daily from Swiss Cottage to Tulse Hill (Tulse Hill Tavern) via Adelaide Road, Camden Town, Eversholt Street, Russell Square, Southampton Row, Kingsway, Aldwych, Waterloo Bridge, Elephant & Castle, Camberwell Green, Denmark Hill and Herne Hill, replacing route 68, which was withdrawn on the same day.

Queen Elizabeth Hall

The north west facade by Waterloo Bridge, although stained by pollution and rain water, is a good example of the massive concrete forms popular in 1960s Brutalist architecture in Britain.


see also

River Tyne, Scotland

Haddington: Knox Academy; Stevenson Bridge; Cheviot House Mill; Sports Centre; Waterloo Bridge B6368; St. Mary's Church; Nungate Bridge; Victoria Bridge

Tower Pier

Tower Lifeboat Station, formerly at Tower Millennium Pier, now next to Waterloo Bridge