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The London Archives

Tower Bridge and the Port of London

Exhibition Highlights
tower-bridge-port-of-london
13 September 2024Highlighting some of the features of our Lost Victorian City Exhibition - we explore the Port of London.
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At first glance, including this image of Tower Bridge was an odd choice for an exhibition about a London that has disappeared, because in a literal sense Tower Bridge is not lost. It is one of London’s most famous landmarks, a must-see site for tourists and a focal point of celebrations such as the Olympic Games, Queen Elizabeth’s II jubilee celebrations and the coronation of King Charles III. Although the bridge is still a London landmark, something significant has changed: the river underneath it.

Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge with lots of people on the bridge and boats on the water
London Picture Archive - 235948 Tower Bridge: view of the bridge on its first day open to the public, 30 June 1894

This photograph was taken on the first day that Tower Bridge was open to the public on 30 June 1894. At this time the Port of London was the busiest port in the world. It was a central hub for commodities from the British Empire such as ivory, cotton, sugar, tea which passed through London and to all parts of the world.

Coal barges

Closer to home, coal barges bringing fuel from the north were an ever-present site on the river. Tower Bridge sits on a part of the River Thames called the Pool of London and 75% of the capitals fresh food passed through warehouses in the pool. The Pool of London stretched from London Bridge to Limehouse.

painting of coal barges
London Picture Archive - 18038View of Paul's Wharf south of Upper Thames Street. Piles of coal can be seen in the barges by John Crowther, 1881.

The London skyline

The photograph of Tower Bridge also hints at another aspect of a lost Victorian City, its skyline. This picture looks north so we can see the Tower of London framed by the bridge, with the spires of Wren churches to the west that were built following the Great Fire of London in the seventeenth century. Until the twentieth century these churches were amongst London’s tallest buildings and their individually designed spires were a prominent and characteristic feature of London’s skyline during the Victorian period. They were part of a picturesque aesthetic which:

relies on unexpected juxtapositions, changes in angles, domes, spires and towers, jostling for position on the skyline.
Simon Thurley, historian
River Thames with lots of boats and a steam ship carrying cargo by Custom House
London Picture Archive - 27755View of a variety of water vessels in the Port of London, showing Custom House looking west by Thomas Allom, 1839.

You can search for more images of the Port of London on the London Picture Archive.

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Further reading

Port of London through time by Geoff Lunn, 2011 (ref. 34.1 LUN)