Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
BEEFEATER, TOWER OF LONDON
TOWER BRIDGE
Tower Hill 020 7403 3761,
www.towerbridge.org.uk
.
Daily: April-Sept 10am-6pm; Oct-March
9.30am-5.30pm.£8.
MAP
Tower Bridge ranks with Big Ben as the most famous of all London landmarks. Completed
in 1894, its Neo-Gothic towers are clad in Cornish granite and Portland stone, but conceal a
steel frame which, at the time, represented a considerable engineering achievement. The
raising of the bascules
(from the French for “see-saw”) remains an impressive sight -
phone ahead to find out when the bridge is opening ( 020 7940 3984). It's free to walk
across the bridge, but you must pay to gain access to the
elevated walkways
linking the
summits of the towers - closed from 1909 to 1982 due to their popularity with prostitutes
and the suicidal. The views are pretty good and you get to visit the
Victorian Engine
Rooms
on the south side of the bridge, where you can see the giant, and now defunct, coal-
fired boilers and play some interactive engineering games.
TOWER BRIDGE
ST KATHARINE DOCKS
Tower Hill.
MAP
Built in the late 1820s to relieve the congestion on the River Thames, St Katharine Docks
were originally surrounded by high walls to protect the warehouses used to store luxury
