Tower Bridge Cityscape

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Tower Bridge from Sugar Quay, 1 Water Lane Apartments, London, England, UK.

The Tower Bridge was illuminated in all its glory, the lighting emphasising its majestic architecture. From the balcony of Sugar Quay, 1 Water Lane Apartments on the Thames River, the view was absolutely spectacular. Tower Millennium Pier could be seen in the foreground, its lights twinkling in the night sky.

The air was very still, and the silence was broken only by the occasional far-off sound of laughter coming from the pubs across the river. The peace and beauty of the scene were almost overwhelming, and after a few moments of awe, the photographer returned to his room, feeling a sense of calmness and wonderment.

Sugar Quay

Sugar Quay is a quay alongside the Thames in the City of London, London, England.

Location

The quay is located on the North banks of the Thames, between Custom House and the Tower of London. It stands between Lower Thames Street and the Thames, on Water Lane EC3R.

History

The quay was named after the cane sugar trade, which relies on Caribbean plantations originally worked by African slaves.

As early as 1377, the site was known as Wool Quay and was the location of a custom house used to collect duties on exported wool. In 1380, John Churchman is recorded as building a custom house on the site, which stood until 1559 when construction of a new customs house was overseen by William Paulet, 1st Marquees of Winchester and Lord High Treasurer. Paulet's structure was destroyed in 1666 in the Great Fire of London.

A new building was designed by Christopher Wren and completed in 1671, being built by the King's Master Mason Joshua Marshall. This structure was damaged by fire in 1715 and was deemed too badly damaged to save. The final iteration of the custom house on the site was built to a design by Thomas Ripley and remained in use until the early 19th century. At this time, the growth in trade and increase in duties on goods necessitated the construction of a larger replacement building. Construction of the new Custom House began in October 1813 on a site immediately to the west of Sugar Quay. On 12 February 1814, a fire began in the housekeeper's quarters of Ripley's custom house building, which due to the large volume of spirits, plus smaller amounts of gunpowder, stored on the site resulted in an explosion that destroyed Ripley's custom house at Sugar Quay.

By 1934, the site was referred to alternatively as Wool Quay or Custom House Quay and was recorded as being in the ownership of Wm. H. Müller and Co., owner of the Batavier Line which operated a steamship passenger service between Rotterdam and London. Since 1899, the quay had been used as a berth for ships.

In 1970, architect Terry Farrell designed an office building for the British sugar company Tate and Lyle. The development included its own private jetty extending out over the Thames foreshore for outdoor recreational functions.

In May 2014, it was announced that Barratt Developments and CPC Group (owned by Christian Candy) would develop 165 luxury apartments across 11 storeys. The Sugar Quay development contains a mixed-use ground floor incorporating residential facilities and amenities, and a waterfront commercial unit. Moreover, the CPC Group is redeveloping 110,000 square feet into 230,000 square feet of office buildings. Construction involved the closure of the Thames Riverside Walk (part of the Thames Path) for some years, which only reopened again in March 2019.

Tower Millennium Pier

Tower Millennium Pier is a pier on the River Thames, in Tower Hill, London, England. It is operated by London River Services and served by various river transport and cruise operators. The pier is close to Tower Bridge and is situated immediately adjacent to the southwest corner of the Tower of London.

Services

The pier is used by the river bus route RB1 from Embankment to Woolwich (operated by Thames Clippers) and Westminster-Greenwich tourist boats (operated by City Cruises). Private-charter entertainment boats also use Tower Pier.

History

Tower Millennium Pier was opened on 14 July 2000 by London Mayor Ken Livingstone. It was funded by the Millennium Commission as part of the Thames 2000 project and was one of five new piers provided by the Commission on the Thames (the others being Blackfriars Millennium Pier, London Eye Pier, Westminster Millennium Pier, and Millbank Millennium Pier).

The pier has at its upstream end a small cruise terminal facility which is used for processing passengers and baggage transferred by boat from cruise ships berthed alongside HMS Belfast. The Tower Pier project was part of an integrated transport and regeneration strategy for the Thames led by London's Cross River Partnership.

Connections

Tower Hill tube station and Tower Gateway DLR station, Fenchurch Street railway station London Underground Docklands Light Railway National Rail
Tower Bridge Quay on the other side of Tower Bridge for Crown River Cruises
London Buses routes 15 and N15

Lifeboat pier move

In 2002 the Royal National Lifeboat Institution's Thames lifeboat service was introduced to the River Thames following the Marchioness disaster, and Tower Pier was initially used as a base for the lifeboat service. In 2006 the RNLI station moved up-river to a new base, the former Waterloo Police Pier on Victoria Embankment next to Waterloo Bridge, which took the name Tower Lifeboat Station.

Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge is a Grade I listed combined bascule and suspension 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 crosses the River Thames close to the Tower of London and is one of five London bridges owned and maintained by the Bridge House Estates, a charitable trust founded in 1282. The bridge was constructed to give better access to the East End of London, which had expanded its commercial potential in the 19th century. The bridge was opened by Edward, Prince of Wales and Alexandra, Princess of Wales in 1894.

The bridge is 800 feet (240 m) in length and consists of two 213-foot (65 m) bridge towers connected at the upper level by two horizontal walkways, and a central pair of bascules that can open to allow shipping. Originally hydraulically powered, the operating mechanism was converted to an electro-hydraulic system in 1972. The bridge is part of the A100 London Inner Ring Road and thus the boundary of the London congestion charge zone, and remains an important traffic route with 40,000 crossings every day. The bridge deck is freely accessible to both vehicles and pedestrians, whereas the bridge's twin towers, high-level walkways and Victorian engine rooms form part of the Tower Bridge Exhibition.

Tower Bridge has become a recognisable London landmark. It is sometimes confused with London Bridge, about 0.5 miles (800 m) upstream, which has led to a persistent urban legend about an American purchasing the wrong bridge.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.