Hammersmith Bridge

Hammersmith Bridge is a suspension bridge across the River Thames in west London. It links Hammersmith on the north bank with Barnes on the south bank, both in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette, the present structure is the second permanent bridge on the site and is Grade II* listed. The bridge has been attacked three times by the IRA, most recently in 2000. It was closed to motor traffic in 2019 after cracks appeared in its pedestals. The bridge’s history begins with a local campaign for a direct crossing rather than long detours to Kew or Putney. Opened in 1827, the first bridge was the Thames’s first suspension design, by William Tierney Clark. By the 1870s it could no longer carry heavy traffic, and a boat collision in 1882 led to its replacement. The current bridge, opened in 1887 by the Duke of Clarence, is 210 metres long and 13 metres wide. Visitors find a sturdy wrought-iron structure with stone towers in the Tuscan style. The upstream footway carries a plaque honouring Lieutenant Charles Campbell Wood, who died saving a drowning woman in 1919. The bridge’s approaches include octagonal toll-houses from the 19th century, now part of the riverside scene. Despite past bomb damage, the bridge reopened in 2025 with a resurfaced wooden deck for pedestrians and cyclists.