Tower Bridge at Night

Tower Bridge is a Grade I listed combined bascule, suspension, and, until 1960, cantilever bridge in London, built between 1886 and 1894, designed by Horace Jones and engineered by John Wolfe Barry with the help of Henry Marc Brunel.

It took eight years, five major contractors and the relentless labour of 432 construction workers each day to build Tower Bridge under the watchful eye of Sir John Wolfe Barry.

Two massive piers were built on foundations sunk into the riverbed to support the construction, and over 11,000 tons of steel provided the framework for the Towers and Walkways.

This framework was clad in Cornish Granite and Portland Stone to protect the underlying steelwork and to give the Bridge a more pleasing appearance.

When it was built, Tower Bridge was the largest and most sophisticated bascule bridge ever completed ('bascule' comes from the French word for 'seesaw').

These bascules were operated by hydraulics, using steam to power the enormous pumping engines. The energy created was stored in six massive accumulators, meaning that as soon as power was required to lift the Bridge, it was always readily available. The accumulators fed the driving engines, which drove the bascules up and down. Despite the complexity of the system, the bascules only took 60 seconds to raise to their maximum angle of 86 degrees.

Today, the bascules are still operated by hydraulic power, but since 1976 they have been driven by oil and electricity rather than steam. The original pumping engines, accumulators and boilers are now on display within the Bridge’s Engine Rooms.

Видео Tower Bridge at Night канала Stunning Drone