Tower Bridge Lighting Up
This very long exposure shows the lights beginning to highlight the bridge, with the sky darkening behind as a storm moves in from the south-east. Taken in the blue hour after sunset from the riverside esplanade in front of City Hall on the River Thames's southern bank.
The bridge is one of five London bridges now owned and maintained by the Bridge House Estates, a charitable trust overseen by the City of London Corporation. It is the only one of the Trust's bridges not to connect the City of London to the Southwark bank, the northern landfall being in Tower Hamlets. The bridge is 244m in length with two towers each 65m high, built on piers. The central span of 61m between the towers is split into two equal bascules or leaves, which can be raised to an angle of 83° to allow river traffic to pass. The bascules weigh over 1,000 tons each and are counterbalanced to minimise the force required, allowing raising in five minutes. The original raising mechanism was powered by pressurised water stored in several hydraulic accumulators.
Tower Bridge Lighting Up
This very long exposure shows the lights beginning to highlight the bridge, with the sky darkening behind as a storm moves in from the south-east. Taken in the blue hour after sunset from the riverside esplanade in front of City Hall on the River Thames's southern bank.
The bridge is one of five London bridges now owned and maintained by the Bridge House Estates, a charitable trust overseen by the City of London Corporation. It is the only one of the Trust's bridges not to connect the City of London to the Southwark bank, the northern landfall being in Tower Hamlets. The bridge is 244m in length with two towers each 65m high, built on piers. The central span of 61m between the towers is split into two equal bascules or leaves, which can be raised to an angle of 83° to allow river traffic to pass. The bascules weigh over 1,000 tons each and are counterbalanced to minimise the force required, allowing raising in five minutes. The original raising mechanism was powered by pressurised water stored in several hydraulic accumulators.