WESTMINSTER BRIDGE

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0074 B/CWB
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: WESTMINSTER BRIDGE
Date(s)	: 1739-1743
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 0.05 linear metres
Name of creator(s)	: Westminster Bridge Commissioners

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The first Westminster Bridge was built by Commissioners under the Act of 9 George II, c.29 (1736) and the amending Act, 10 George c.16, of the following year; it was designed by Charles Labelye. The first stone was laid on 29 January 1739 and the bridge completed in November 1750. After 1831, however, the structure became dangerous, and a new bridge, designed by Thomas Page, replaced it in 1862. The work was paid for partly out of the funds of the Westminster Bridge Commissioners, partly by a Parliamentary Grant. The bridge was transferred to the Metropolitan Board of Works in accordance with the London Parks and Works Act, 1887.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of Westminster Bridge Commissioners, comprising volume of draft contracts and papers relating to the Bridge, including 'Act for building a Bridge cross the River Thames, from the New Palace Yard in the City of Westminster, to the opposite Shore, in the County of Surry' and articles of agreement and contracts for various aspects of building the bridge and provision of materials.

The volume is a later re-binding, possibly of the 19th century. The contracts had been paginated, and so, presumably, bound together at an earlier date. The pagination runs from 153 to 261, the right hand (odd) pages only being numbered; the surviving items thus appear to be part only of an earlier compilation. From the note made and signed by Taylor White on p.207, and the endorsements on pp [194] and [208], it appears likely that the papers were among the working papers of the Commissioners themselves.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

One volume

Conditions governing access:

Available for general access.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright rests with the depositor.

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Records of the Commissioners for Westminster Bridge, received in the Greater London Record Office, County Hall, London, S.E.1., 11 November 1974 (AC/74/083).

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
July to October 2009