The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-03 00:00:00

NEW IVESTMINSTER BRIDGE.

About a twelvemonth since we felt no little gratification
in announcing to our readers, upon authority, that the first
half of this splendid structure would be thrown open to
public use in October or November of the present year. It
is with equal regret that we have now to inform them that
nothing of the kind will take place, and that, counting from
the present time, there is every probability of our being
doomed to another twelvemonth of the ricketty, dangerous.
old bridge, which is every day becoming more and more
obstructive to navigation, more unsightly, and, if possible,
more ruinous. We by no means wish to infer that since
our last notice nothing has been done towards the comple-
tion of the new bridge ; but, though the stonework of the
piers has been proceeded with till all the first halves are
finished, the contracts for the ironwork which is now re-
quisite forlfurther progress have been so recently entered
into by the Board of Works that some time must elapse
before the material for the rib arches will be ready. In the

meantime advantage is being taken of the delay by. Mr.
Page, the architect and engineer, to,proceecl, where practi-
cable, with the other halves of the stone piers, and four of
these accordingly are being erected under the old bridge,
and are just rising to low-water level.
Such a time has elapsed since our last notice of the pro-
gress of this noble work, and so many rumours. have since
then been afloat respecting it, that it will, perhaps, not be
amiss to repeat here details respecting the size, design, and
manner of construction of a bridge which we think will be
the handsomest and most graceful of its kind in Europe.
The new bridge, then, occupies all the site of the old one,
and as much more ground in addition. In order to avoid
the expense of a temporary bridge during the erection of a
new one, it has been determined by Mr. Page to build half
the new structure at a time—that is, half its width.
The piersl for the western half are complete, but all
those for the eastern half cannot be commenced till the
old bridge, which occupies the . ground, is quite re-
moved. Wherever the eastern halves of the piers pass
under the archway of the present bridge they are being con-
tinued, as we have already said. Only four, however, can
belthus proceeded with—the old piers being in the way of
the remaining three. But by even thus carrying the four
piers through at the present time lgr. Page is effecting a
considerable saving of time and money, as the new piers
not only strengthen the old structure, but will eventually
serve as centres from which to take it down.

That the new bridge will be an immense gain to the
metropolis, both in appearance and in convenience, our
readers can judge for themselves from the following
principal dimensions of • the work and brief description
of its form. The old bridge is just 1,160 feet in
length, and only 44 feet in width. The width of its road-
way is 26 feet, the footpaths are 8 feet each. Its height
from foundation to centre arch is 57 feet, the depth of its
foundation below low-water mark only 6 feet, the rise of
the whole structure being 10 feet 6 inches above the new
bridge. The cost of this edifice amounted to £389,500,
or at the rate of £7 16s. per square foot of surface. Its
waterway in area is only 16,000 feet, while the pressure on
its foundations amounts to no less than 6 tons per foot, the
whole weighing upwards of 90,000 tons. The new bridge,
in almost every particular, is the reverse of all this. Its
total length from extreme abutment to abutment is 1,160
feet, its width 85 feet, giving 15 feet for each path and no
less than 50 feet for the roadway. The greatest height of
the centre arch will be 22 feet above high-water mark; The
depth of the foundation is no less than 30 feet below low-
water mark, or more than 20 feet into the London clay.
The rise on the whole bridge is to be only 5 feet 3} inches,
apparently half the rise of the old bridge, though in reality
Much less, since it joins the roadway at a much lower level.
In the new bridge there are to be seven arches. In the
old there are 13, so that the water way of the former will
give a greater area by 2,600 feet than the latter. The
centre arch will have a span of 120 feet, the two next on
each side 115, the two next 104, and, the two shore arches
at Surrey and Middlesex 94 feet each. The cost of the new
bridge will be in all only £235,000, £2 Bs. 6d. per super-
ficial foot, and the pressure on its foundations is only 21
tons.

Mr. Page had the benefit of Sir Charles Bany's advice in
Cl,llllO of flub Arrintnontal rintnila in order that the design
might be as much in keeping as possible with the style of
the Houses of Parliament. The new bridge, therefore, will
harmonise perfectly with the noble Palace of 'Westminster,
to which it will form one of the most important public
avenues. The bridge being composed of iron arches on piers
of masonry, will be extremely light in appearance, though,
in truth, one of the strongest across the Thames. The piers
are magnificent-looking pieces of workmanship, massive and
durable as the columns of Stonehenge. Each pier will be
surmounted with columnar alcoves of light ironwork, of the
most graceful proportions. The spandrils of every arch will
be profusely enriched with ornamental castings, and the cor-
nice parapet and side rail are each in keepingwith the other,
and with the general rich and light effect of the whole. The
shape of the arches is something quite new in the history of
bridge-building—a curve, parallel with an ellipse, which
will impart to the whole a graceful sweeping outline, simple
and elegant in the last degree, and which will, as we have
said, make it beyond all doubt one of the most striking and
beautiful bridges of its size and kind in Europe.
But light and beautiful as this bridge will be, its appearance
has been regarded as a very secondary point when compared
with its durability, and probably there is no bridge -across the
Thames,not even excepting London or Waterloo, which will
be superior to it in strength. The foundations especially, as
having to contend not only against the scour of the river, but
the shifting and treacherous nature of the subsoil of West-
minster, are of immense strength, and so novel in their con-
struction as to merit fresh notice here. They are made to
combine all the advantages of foundations on bearing piles,
made by means of cofferdams, without the immense ex-
pense and obstruction to the water way which the use of the
latter involve, and which, at this part of the river, would
have rendered their employment quite impracticable. The
bearing piles, which are of elm, and 14 inches square, are
driven home at intervals of 1 foot 9 inches from centre to
centre, to an average depth of 20 feet into the London clay.
Round these bearing piles a casing of cast iron piles and
plates is driven to a dreat depth, and the whole mass bolted
together in all directions by a crossing series of wrought
iron tie rods. This peculiar iron casing, which thus
answers all the purposes of a permanent cofferdam,
is composed of 44 cast iron circular guide piles, 2.5
feet in length, each of which is 15 inches in diameter and
one inch thick. These are driven in at intervals of five feet
six inches, which are afterwards completely filled in with
sheeting piles, so that the whole foundation is bound in and
faced with a casing of wrought and cast iron. The space
thus enclosed is then dredged down between the bearing
piles we have mentioned to the bare gravel bed, and filled
in with concrete, so as to form a solid mass. The cast iron
sheeting piles between the circular guide piles cease at six
feet below low water line, and the piers are there faced
with slabs of granite of enormous size and 20 inches thick.
The foundations of the old bridge,,of course, bear no kind of
comparison with these, as their lowest depth is actually
only six feet below low water mark ! However, to do
Labelye (its builder) mere justice, it is but fair to
state that he laid his foundations for a light wooden
bridge, and it was not till he was beginnin,g the wood-
work from pier to pier that the Government of that day put
their finger in the pie and ordered the bridge to be built of
stone. All the exterior of the new piers above low water
mark is solid granite, and each is so continued up to the
height whence the arches will spring—two feet above high
water mark. These piers are to be surmounted with oc-
tagonal:pillars, which are now in course of preparation.
They will consist of immense blocks of gray granite with
moulded capitals and bases, all to be cut from the solid
block. When finished they will be the finest examples of
granite masonry in London. It is earnestly to be hoped
that the Board of Works will permit Mr. Page to have them
polished, which would make them both more durable and
more beautiful. The blocks of which these pillars are being
formed weigh from 15 to 20 tons each, and are cut from
the Checsewring and Penrhyn quarries in Cornwall.
The new piers are 191, ft. 6 in. above low water level, and
not the slightest shrinkage or settlement of any part of the
whole mass has taken place since the commencement up-
wards of two years ago. This is more than could ever have
been said of the old bridge, which gave ominous warning of
of what it was to cost the country, and what kind of a
structure it would prove to be; by two of its arches falling
even before the bridge was opened for traffic. This old
bridge was always a blunder ; but those who built it at
least meant well, and considering that it is now 111 years
since it was erected, it was not perhaps put up so badly
after all. It is in our time that the greatest blunders have
been committed respecting it, and committed, too, without
much of that well-intentioned ignorance which excuses the
past generation. Actually upwards of £lOO,OOO more than
would have built a new bridge have been wastefully ex-
pended in patching up this ruinous obstacle, and the greater
part of this money has gone in stone ballast round its old
piers to prevent their further settlement, and to remove all
which from the bed of the river again when the new bridge
is finished will cost some £lOO,OOO. However, there seems
Act feu *ifs time but that when the Au( bridge iA Auiallocl