51°24′14″N0°20′33″W / 51.40389°N 0.34250°W /51.40389; -0.34250
Hampton Court Bridge | |
|---|---|
 Hampton Court bridge in 2006 | |
| Coordinates | 51°24′14″N0°20′33″W / 51.40389°N 0.34250°W /51.40389; -0.34250 |
| Carries | Thames Path |
| Crosses | River Thames |
| Locale | East Molesey Hampton |
| Maintained by | Surrey County Council |
| Heritage status | Grade II listed structure |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Arch |
| Material | Concrete with a brick finish |
| Total length | 320 feet 0 inches (97.54 m) |
| Width | 70 feet 0 inches (21.34 m)[1] |
| Height | 19 ft 5 in (5.9 m)[2] |
| No. of spans | 3 |
| Piers in water | 2 |
| History | |
| Designer | W. P. Robinson Sir Edward Lutyens |
| Opened | 3 July 1933 |
| Statistics | |
| Toll | Abolished 1876 |
| Location | |
 | |
| Designations | |
|---|---|
Listed Building – Grade II | |
| Official name | Hampton Court Bridge |
| Designated | 2 September 1952 |
| Reference no. | 1358100 |
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Hampton Court Bridge is aGrade II listed bridge[3] that crosses theRiver Thames in England approximately north–south betweenHampton, London andEast Molesey, Surrey, carrying theA309. It is the upper of two road bridges on the reach aboveTeddington Lock and downstream ofMolesey Lock.
The bridge is the most upstream crossing of all of the Thames bridges ofGreater London; uniquely one bank is within the county. TheThames Path crosses the river here.
The location of the bridge had been a ferry crossing point since at least theTudor period.
| Hampton Court Bridge Act 1749 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act for building a Bridge cross the River of Thames, from Hampton Court, in the County of Middlesex, to East Moulsey, in the County of Surry. |
| Citation | 23 Geo. 2. c. 37 |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 12 April 1750 |
In 1750, James Clarke obtained an Act of Parliament (23 Geo. 2. c. 37) to construct a privately owned bridge at Hampton Court. The first bridge was constructed by Samuel Stevens and Benjamin Ludgator from 1752 until 1753 and opened on 13 December that year.[4][5] It had seven wooden arches and was built in theChinoiserie design of the Willow pattern that was popular at the time, attested by two prints made in the year of its opening and the year after.[6]
This bridge was replaced by a more sturdy eleven-arch wooden bridge in 1778.[6] By 1840 this bridge had become dilapidated and the owner appealed to theCorporation of London to support reconstruction. Among their arguments were that since the bridge was built, the city had createdMolesey Lock and Weir and as a consequence navigation through the bridge was dangerous. The bridge was described at about this time as "crazy, hog-backed, inconvenient and obstructive of the navigation".[7]
From 1864 to 1865 construction took place on the third bridge on the site. It opened on 10 April 1865.[4] It was built to a design by E. T. Murray and commissioned by the bridge's owner Thomas Allan. The new bridge consisted ofwrought iron lattice girders resting on fourcast iron columns. The road approach was betweenbattlemented brick walls. An illustrative fragment of these approach walls remains on the south bank immediately west of the bridge. The design was heavily criticised; it was described simply in 1911 by one historic gazetteer, theVictoria County History as "inartistic".[6] A less diplomatic contemporary commentator called it "one of the ugliest bridges in England, and a flagrant eyesore and disfigurement both to the river and to Hampton Court."[8] Despite the criticism, it proved extremely lucrative for Allen, earning him over £3,000 annually in tolls until he was bought out in 1876 for £48,048 by a joint committee of the Hampton and Molesey local boards and the Corporation of London.[8]
The modern bridge is the fourth on the site. The bridge has three wide arches, is designed to be able to carry quite heavy motorised road traffic and is constructed ofreinforced concrete, faced with red bricks and whitePortland stone (namely its pontoons, dressings, and balustrades).[3]
The bridge was one of three authorised by Parliament in 1928 (the others beingTwickenham Bridge andChiswick Bridge).[9] It was designed by the Surrey county engineer W. P. Robinson and the architect SirEdwin Lutyens to reflect the style of the portions ofHampton Court Palace designed bySir Christopher Wren – whose architectural style has another legacy by the bridge, as his well-conserved blue-plaqued house in which he lived his final years faces the roundabout by the two north bank roads which meet just north of the bridge and palace front gate.[10] To ensure that traffic could still cross, the new bridge was built a short distance downstream from the old, which was subsequently demolished.[9]
Construction began in September 1930.[9] The work required the demolition of a small hotel (The Old Castle) and, to the south, diversion of the flow of theRiver Mole into theRiver Ember, formerly the secondarydistributary of the Mole. The bridge was opened by the Prince of Wales (who became KingEdward VIII) on 3 July 1933, on the same day as the opening of Chiswick and Twickenham bridges, which carry theA316 (and between those sections is still occasionally nicknamed the 'Richmond bypass'). The bridge wasGrade II listed in 1952 for its architecture.[3]
Aside from two parallel lines of architecturally rich buildings and riverside homes – approximately half of which are listed on the north bank[10] areHampton Court Palace and Gardens,Hampton Court Park andBushy Park,Royal Parks.
On the south bank is a one-way street of restaurants, boutiques, and bars surrounded by apartments immediately then homes with gardens west ofHampton Court railway station. On the Thames itself, a few hundred metres to either side are Molesey Lock on the Thames and the mouth of theRiver Mole, on the south side.
The bridge construction was taken as the opportunity forSurrey County Council to construct a new road, which starts at the same road as before with its roundabout with theA308 (Staines–Kingston road) (then running south between the palace's entrance driveway and a short row of a hotel/restaurant, a restaurant and shop), before becoming being considerably straighter than the existing old roads as a route south. NumberedA309, this connects directly with theA307 (Old London–Portsmouth road) and more recently with theA3(M) motorway deeper into Surrey than the old route.
The A3050 commences immediately southwest of the bridge and passes through three riverside settlements: the rest ofMolesey and the towns ofWalton-on-Thames andWeybridge also inElmbridge, Surrey.
The next bridge downstream is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) and upstream is exactly 4 miles (6.4 km).[11]
The next downstream bridge has considerably older predecessors going back to the early medieval period and is the only other of the reach,Kingston Bridge, London – it is pale brick and stone only and of taller design with two extra arches.
The next bridge upstream was replaced in 2013 with a single-span bridge heading up the Thames, atied arch bridge,Walton Bridge.
References
Citations
| Next crossing upstream | River Thames | Next crossing downstream |
| Hampton Ferry (pedestrian) | Hampton Court Bridge Grid referenceTQ1538868481 | Kingston Bridge (road) |
| Next crossing upstream | Thames Path | Next crossing downstream |
| southern bank Shepperton to Weybridge Ferry | Hampton Court Bridge Grid referenceTQ1538868481 | northern bank Kingston Bridge |
