The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-02 00:00:00

The Works at Blackfriars,

The gigantic operations necessary for the com-
pletion of the London, Chatham, and Dover Rail-
way, and for connecting it both with the city and
with the Metropolitan Railway, are being pushed
forward with great rapidity, and probably
by the spring of next year, if not before, the line
at its northern end will be finished, and in full
working order. The viaduct across the Thames at
Blackfriars, which for months past has been gra-
dually assuming shape and solidity, is now so far
towards completion that the trellis work on either
side, and in the parallel lines in the middle of the
structure, extends from bank to bank of the river,
and the permanent way is in an advanced state.
The bridge at either end rests upon massive abut-
ments of solid masonry, slightly ornamented, and,
as a whole, has an extremely simple and utilitarian
appearance, the sides, which are of considerable
height, being constructed throughout of iron in open
trellis work, connected at the top by elliptical arches
of iron at intervals, and having the monotony
broken here and there by ornamental pilasters. It
is sufficiently wide for fonr lines of rails, From the
northern abutment the line is being carried on brick
arches, of great width and strength, parallel with
the eastern side of Bridge-street and Farringdon-
street, to a point of junction with the Metropolitan
Railway on the western side of Smithfield. In its
course it crosses Earl-street, Union-street, Ludgate-
hill, and Snow-hill—the three first by viaduets of
wrought-iron, and the last by a tunnel under the
projected Holborn Valley Improvement. In Bridge-
street, immediately facing Radley's Hotel, a large
and commodious passenger station is being erected,
harmonising in its general appearance with that on
the southern side of the river at Blackfriars, and
having a frontage of about 150 feet in width, ex•
tending from Union-street northwards. Broad as
Bridge.street is and ought to be, the station stands
well back from the present line of thoroughfare to
admit of convenient approaches to it, and of the
street itself being widened, which it probably
will be at some future time, having regard to
the convenience of the ordinary street traffic be-
tween the two sides of the river by the new bridge
at Blackfriars, and to admit of a suitable junction
with the Thames embankment. The five massive
wrought-iron girders or beams which are to carry
the line over Ludgate-hilt are now in position, but
at present they afford no idea of the appearance
which the viaduct there will ultimately present. The
railway company were bound by their Act to con-
struct it after a design which should receive the ap-
proval of the Commissioners of Sewers of the City
of London, who are, in fact, a Board of Works with
powers as extensive above ground as below, and a
plan of the bridge has been sanctioned by them.
According to that there will be a clear headway for
the ordinary street traffic of 18ft from the roadway
to the bottom of the viaduct, and the hill from the
point of intersection by the railway towards Bridge-
street on its southern side will be very considerably
widened. The sides of the viaduct will be 71t 91a io
height, and consist of iron in open trellis work,
after an ornamental design, and decorated at two
points on either side with the arms of the City and
lau.p pillars. The abutments of the bridge facing
the street will be of Portland stone, and harmonise
in ornamentation with the more massive ones of the
viaduct across the Thames. It will carry four lines
of railway and be about 52ft i❑ width from parapet
to parapet. It will owe Ludgate-hill very near to
the foot, or about 25ft from Bridge-street, At pre-
sent, contrary to anticipation, from no part of Fleet-
street, except perhaps at the very foot, and that
slightly, does it intercept the view of St. Paul's
Cathedral. Indeed, as an obstruction i❑ that respect,
it is not for a moment to be compared with the
trumpery, unsightly spire of the church of St. Mar•
tin, Ludgate, which provokingly intercepts the view
of the cathedral dome to a great extent of a person
going eastwards from Temple-bar. Simultaneously
with the extensive railway operations i❑ progress,
the old bridge at Blackfriars is being pulled down
to make way for the new one, for the construction of
which large masses of scaffolding are being erected on
the western side of the condemned structure. It
has already been stripped of the parapets and ma-
sonry down to the tops of the arches, the roadway
has been hewn up and removed, and at present the
bridge presents the appearance of a vast quarry.
Although it has been coming down of its own ac-
cord for the last 20 years and more, it takes a deal
of pulling down after ail. By a return made by
the Chamberlain of London to the Court of Com-
mon Council in January, 1843, the enormous sum of
£100,960 had been expended up to that time in re-
pairing the structure, under a local Act passed in
the fourth year of the reign of William IV., over
and above the cost of procuring the Act itself,
amounting, with other incidental charges, to about
£BOO ; and according to a subsequent report
of a committee of the corporation £10,520
was spent is tinkering one of the arches between
June, 1850, and January, 1856, of which
18,260 odd was expended in the 18 months
previous to September, 1851. The subsequent
expenditure in that way down to the end of 1859
was at the rate of £6OO a year. Seeing that in spite
of all that outlay the corporation has still to build
a new bridge, the money may be said to have been
literally thrown into the Thames.