The Sun.
London, England, 1868-07-31 00:00:00

NEW BLACKPRI.IR&BRIDGE.

It is some months since the progress of these
great works was noticed, and since then their ad-
vance has been so rapid as to leave no doubt that
by about the end of the year the new bridge will
be fit to be used as a thoroughfare, and before next
May it can be finished to the utmost completion of
its most ornamental details. The long continuance
of fine weather and the unusually light and easy
tides have enabled all the labour of pier building
and turning the arches to be pushed forward with
unusual success. To summarize what has been
done, it,may be stated that, beginning from the
Surrey shore, all the granite work of the abutments
is complete from foundation almost to summit.
When we say " almost to summit" it simply means
that the character of the ornamental details which
are to crown them has not been finally decided on.
Experiments are being made with light lath and
plaster balustrades, to judge of their effect ; and
the one which has apparently been chosen is singu-
larly striking in its effect. More magnificent look-
ing buttresses of granite have never been erected
for any bridge in England. Viewed from any point
their colossal proportions arc in perfect harmony
with their bulk and huge solidity, and it is not over-
praising them to say that, of their kind and for their
purpose, it would have been difficult to have de-
signed anything more suitable. In their vastness
and strength they more resemble the great Egyp-
tian works in stone than anything else we have yet
seen in London. The blocks which compose these
massive towers are all of dressed granite, and
though weighing from 12 to 15 tons each, they are
fitted together with the accuracy of cabinet-
work, and, in fact, are able to bear com-
parison with the granite work of the Thames
embankment itself, and more than this it would be
impossible to say in praise. The plan of the cornice
which is to surmount these abutments, though, as
we haie said, not yet finally decided upon, is likely
'to be adopted, and is quite in keeping with the
great structure it surmounts, being very bold, and,
without being heavy, looking very monumental and
Massive. It is hoped that eventually these fine ter-
minals of a fine bridge may be crowned with groups
of statuary in bronze, and in the interest of public
art it is much to be hoped that the Corporation of
London will not grudge the small sum which may
be necessary to give this complete effect to the
finest work they have lately undertaken. From the
south abutment the ironwork of No. 1 and 2
arches is completely fixed. The centreing or sup-
ports used in making these arches is peculiar, for
it was necessary not to stop the water-way, and
yet give perfect support to the mass of iron which
rested on it. To meet these difficult conditions it
has had to be devised in a most ingenious manner,
and thus the arches, though almost perfectly com-
pleted, do not rest upon the stonework, but are kept
up by the scaffolding and timber wedges at a little
more than half an inch apart from it. These wedges
will not be removed till the centre arch, which
is the keystone, so to speak, of the whole five, is
built and resting on the stonework of its piers.
Then the wedges will be knocked from beneath the
other two arches on either side, and they will be
allowed to settle gradually down into their per-
manent beds on the stone piers. Where the iron
work is to come near the stone it will touch a layer
of lead, so that the slightest possible inequality in
the work will be able to accommodate itself to its
pressure, and the girders all bear their share in the
work of maintenance alike. In this instance, how-
ever, it is almost a needless precaution, for the
arches were built together before they were sent
down the river, and with a little tooling here and
there were made to fit with almost mathematical pre-
cision. Of course as two arches have been finished the
No. 2 pier from the south side bas been completed
also. For the centre arch the scaffold is being
prepared to bear the ironwork. At No. 3 pier the
stooewo:k is getting above the water line, at No. 4
arch the centre :caffoidieg is in progress: The long
difficulties at No. 4 pier have at last been overcome,
and it is above low-water mark; and at No. 5-arch
the ironwork is partly laid. These steps in the pro-
gress towards completion are easily told, but they
mean, in effect, a vast amount of work, which has