Kingston Bridge is a road bridge at

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable as ...

in south west

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England, carrying the A308 across the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

. It joins the town centre of Kingston in the

Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames is a borough in southwest London. The main town is Kingston upon Thames and it includes Surbiton, Chessington, Malden Rushett, New Malden and Tolworth. It is the oldest of the four royal boroughs ...

Hampton Court Park Hampton Court Park, also known as Home Park, is a walled royal park managed by the Historic Royal Palaces.

, Bushy Park, and the village of

Hampton Wick Hampton Wick, formerly a village, is a Thames-side area of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, and is contiguous with Teddington and Kingston upon Thames. It is buffered by Bushy Park, one of the Royal Parks of London from Hampton ...

in the

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in southwest London forms part of Outer London and is the only London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas amalgamated under the Londo ...

. In 2005 it was carrying approximately 50,000 vehicles per day with up to 2,000 vehicles per hour in each direction during peak times. Kingston Bridge is on the reach above

Teddington Lock Teddington Lock is a complex of three locks and a weir on the River Thames between Ham and Teddington in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England. Historically in Middlesex, it was first built in 1810. The limit of legal po ...

and close to and downstream of the mouth of the

Hogsmill The Hogsmill River in Surrey and Greater London, England is a small chalk stream tributary of the River Thames. It rises in Ewell and flows into the Thames at Kingston upon Thames on the lowest non-tidal reach, that above Teddington Lock ...

River, a minor tributary of the Thames. The

Thames Path The Thames Path is a National Trail following the River Thames from its source near Kemble in Gloucestershire to the Woolwich foot tunnel, south east London. It is about long. A path was first proposed in 1948 but it only opened in 1996. The ...

crosses the river here and the bridge is the end point for the Thames Down Link long-distance footpath from Box Hill & Westhumble station.

History

Until Putney Bridge was opened in 1729, Kingston Bridge was the only crossing of the river between

London Bridge Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It re ...

and Staines Bridge. According to 16th-century antiquarian John Leland, the bridge existed in the centuries when

Anglo-Saxon England Anglo-Saxon England or Early Medieval England, existing from the 5th to the 11th centuries from the end of Roman Britain until the Norman conquest in 1066, consisted of various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms until 927, when it was united as the Kingdom of ...

existed (after Roman Britain and before 1066). He wrote "And yn the old tyme the commune saying ys that the bridge where the commun passage was over the Tamise was lower on the ryver then it is now. And when men began the new town in the Saxons tymes they toke from the very clive of Comeparke liff of Coombe Parkside to build on the Tamise side; and sette a new bridge hard by the same." Other sources claim that the first Kingston Bridge was constructed in the 1190s. Leland refers to a contemporary bridge and to an older wooden bridge that had existed at Kingston since the 13th century. This was about 100 feet downstream of the present bridge: Old Bridge Street at

used to be matched by an Old Bridge Street on the Kingston side. In 1318 the bridge was described as being in a dangerous condition. The successive bridges contributed greatly to Kingston's success as a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

. Destroying or defending the few bridges of the Thames gave power – having no nearby bridges would particularly hinder mounted armies. The mediaeval timber bridge fell victim to destructions during the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the throne of England, English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These w ...

and Wyatt's rebellion. There are records of tolls being granted for various spells to pay for repairs to the bridge, but in 1567, Robert Hamond gave a sum to make it a free bridge 'forever'.''Kingston upon Thames'', The Environs of London: volume 1: County of Surrey (1792), pp. 212–256
Date accessed: 30 September 2008 However, in spite of his endowments, for some years in the 18th century certain tolls were reimposed under the authority of the mayor and aldermen of the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

. The bridge was described in 1710 "The great Wooden Bridge hath 20 interstices: two in the middle wide enough for barges...it had 22 pierres

iers The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS), formerly the International Earth Rotation Service, is the body responsible for maintaining global time and reference frame standards, notably through its Earth Orientation Pa ...

of Wood and had in the middle two fair Seates for Passengers to avoid Carts and to sit and enjoy the delightfull Prospect". The bridge's state of repair became increasingly problematic by the early 19th century. It had become increasingly dilapidated and its narrowness made passage difficult both for river and road traffic. Pressure mounted for it to be rebuilt but no agreement could be reached on who would be responsible or who would pay for it. The courts became involved in 1813 but were overtaken by events in January 1814, when part of the bridge collapsed due to a severe frost. The court ordered Kingston to repair the bridge from its own resources but a complete replacement was by that time clearly necessary.

1828 bridge

KingstonBridgeNEW AND COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE COUNTIES OF SURREY & SUSSEXauthorThomasAllenartistpossiblyNathaniel WHITTOCK

In 1825 Kingston Corporation notified the

City of London Corporation The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the municipal governing body of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United King ...

Navigation Committee that it intended to build a new bridge. An Act of Parliament was passed in the same year to authorise construction. The corporation planned to erect a cast-iron bridge, and an architectural competition was held with a prize of 100 guineas. The winner was John Burges Watson, with a design for a bridge of three equal arches. However, concerns over the rising cost of iron led to the abandonment of the scheme, and it was decided instead to build a stone bridge in the classical style to a design by

Edward Lapidge Edward Lapidge (1779–1860) was an English architect, who held the post of county surveyor of Surrey and designed Kingston Bridge. Life and career Edward Lapidge was the eldest son of Samuel Lapidge, the head gardener at Hampton Court Palace ...

, the

county surveyor A county surveyor is a public official in the United Kingdom and the United States. United Kingdom Webb & Webb describe the increasing chaos that began to prevail within this same period in field of county surveying in England and Wales, with c ...

. The first stone was laid by the

Earl of Liverpool Earl of Liverpool is a title that has been created twice in British history. The first time was in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1796 for Charles Jenkinson, 1st Baron Hawkesbury, a favourite of King George III (see Jenkinson baronets for ...

at a ceremony on 7 November 1825 and the bridge was opened by the Duchess of Clarence (the future Queen Adelaide) on 17 July 1828. The approach road to the east was named Clarence Street in her honour. The new bridge, about upstream from its predecessor, was built of

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries are cut in beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building ...

: comprising five elliptical arches. The centre arch enclosed a span, in height, and the side arches then in span progressively from the centre. The

abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end which provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining wal ...

s were terminated by towers or

bastion A bastion or bulwark is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fi ...

s, and the whole surmounted by a

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

and

balustrade A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its c ...

, with galleries projecting over the pier; which gave a bold relief to the general elevation. The length of the bridge was by in width. The building contract was undertaken by Herbert for £26,800 (), and extra work did not exceed £100, a rare occurrence in major public or private undertakings of that description at the time. Kingston Bridge Over The Thames

Following a lengthy campaign which came to a conclusion in 1869, the bridge became free from tolls on 12 March 1870, and celebrations including a fireworks show were followed a few days later with the burning of the toll gates on Hampton Green. In March 1906,

London United Tramways London United Tramways Company Limited was an operator of trams and trolleybuses in the western and southern suburbs of London, UK, from 1894 to 1933, when it passed to the London Passenger Transport Board. Origins The company was formed in 18 ...

installed tramlines on Kingston Bridge, connecting the Surrey and Middlesex routes. The increase in traffic and the narrowness of the road became a problem and in 1911 the engineering firm Mott & Hay was contracted to widen the bridge on the downstream side. The work was undertaken between 1912 and 1914 with the carriageway increased from to . A new façade of

was designed to replicate the features of the original. The bridge was reopened in October 1914. In 1931, the trams were replaced by trolleybuses - before these were replaced by diesel buses in 1962. Following construction of the Kingston Relief Road in the late 1980s, the bridge was widened again in 2000 to include two cycle lanes, larger pavements and a bus lane, from to . The bridge was given protection as a Grade II* listed structure in 1951.

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