A few weeks ago I got reminiscing with a lady at the end of one of my tours about our earliest memories of London.
Mine is going on a 77 Routemaster bus with my mum to Trafalgar Square. When you’re five years old, sitting at the top of a bus, looking down on all of the world is sooo exciting. And then at Trafalgar Square you get to feed the pigeons and sit on the lions’ legs. It’s a boys own adventure.
The lady on my tour mentioned one of her earliest memories was walking across Vauxhall Bridge and her father lifting her up to show her a small model of St. Paul’s Cathedral.
I was intrigued to say the least. Vauxhall Bridge is a short walk away from my flat and I’ve walked across it many a time.
I’d never noticed a model of St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Stoked with sharpened curiosity, I crossed Vauxhall Bridge last Friday wide-eyed and rubber-necked. and lo and behold, there it was on the western edge of the bridge, two pillars up from the south side.
How it showed my that we only need to open our eyes to see such curiosities. As Shaw Taylor used to say, keep’em peeled!
Seven curious facts about Vauxhall Bridge
1) This is the second Vauxhall Bridge, dating from 1906
2) There used to be a tram line on the bridge until 1951
3) The River Effra which flows through Brixton, reaches the Thames at Vauxhall Bridge
4) The statue holding St. Paul’s Cathedral was designed Pomeroy to depict Agriculture, Architecture, Engineering and Pottery,
5) Vauxhall Bridge and Park Lane were the first roads to have bus lanes in London
6) There is evidence of a pre Roman bridge-like structure at the same part of Vauxhall Bridge
7) In the 1960s the bridge was going to be replaced by seven storeys of shops enclosed in glass, the Crystal Span.
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For more details of my Trafalgar Square virtual tour please click here.
And for dates of my next virtual tours please click here.
London tours for everyone 