More Unseen Images of Tower Bridge Under Construction

Here are six more images of Tower Bridge under construction.In these pictures the high-level walkways are joined.

These photos are part of a set of 20  that were saved from a skip in central London many years ago. At the offices of one of the original contractors, management had decided to have a "clear-out" and a great many boxes of old paperwork from throughout the firms history were simply dumped.

The only person who thought these photos were worth saving is a friend and neighbour of mine. He rescued them, scanned them and this weekend he gave me copies to share here on the blog. We will never know just how much other material was lost in the company's "clear-out", journals, letters and many other photos probably went straight to landfill.

An act of corporate vandalism that could so easily have been averted. I am sure that many public archives and private collectors would have helped the company gain space by taking this material "off their hands", they would probably even paid them handsomely to do so, at the very the least the company could have saved themselves the cost of skip hire.

The original post contains eight more photos of the bridge in an earlier phase of construction. I will publish the final six photos in the set here soon.

In the meantime if you would like to know a little more about the history of Tower Bridge, there is an excellent quick guide at Caroline's Miscellany, this guide also has many useful links to other sites.

The author of this blog is a qualified City of Westminster Tour Guide who runs unique walking tours throughout Westminster, see tabs for details.

Unseen Images of Tower Bridge Under Construction

These images show Tower Bridge under construction in the 1880's. They were saved from a skip many years ago by a neighbour of mine. The skip was outside the former offices of one of the original contractors. He has kindly scanned them and agreed that I can share them here.

There are a total of 20 images in the set, I will publish the rest here over the coming week. Some details about the bridge, which celebrates the 125th anniversary of its foundation this year, from the Tower Bridge website here.

The author of this blog is a qualified City of Westminster Tour Guide who runs unique walking tours throughout Westminster, see tabs for details.

As Yet, Unconquered - The Invicta Plaza Frog

Yesterday I noticed this small piece of new street art in Southwark.

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Just beneath the street sign, is this very well made little golden frog on a tile. I do hope that it fares better than the ill-fated pig of Bourchier Street.

I have no idea who the artist is, if anyone does know, please drop me a line.

Update 8th June 2011:

Thanks to a very helpful comment from Caroline of "Caroline's Miscellany" this frog has now been identified as one of Xylo's Panamanian Golden Frogs. More on Xylo here. If you haven't seen Caroline's Blog before I cannot recommend it too highly, you can read it here.

It reminded me of the two golden frogs on the front of The George on Fleet Street.

The George's other carvings deserve a post on their own, and they will get one, just as soon as I can remember which folder they are in!