Thames Embankment
The Thames Embankment ( Thames embankment ) is a major civil engineering achievement in the 19th century to reclaim marshland on the Thames in central London. It is located on the north bank of the river and consists of the Victoria and Chelsea Embankment .
There is a long history of unsuccessful proposals to dike the Thames in central London. Dams along the Thames were first suggested by Christopher Wren in the 1660s and 1824 by a former soldier and advisor George IV . Sir Frederick Trench proposed a causeway known as Trench's Terrace from Blackfriars to Charing Cross . Trench introduced a corresponding bill in parliament, which was blocked. In the 1830s, the painter John Martin advertised a dam with an underlying sewer. The Municipal Works adapted a plan by James Walker in January 1842, but it came into conflict with internal government disputes. In 1854 the government built the Chelsea Embankment from the Royal Hospital Chelsea to Millbank.
In 1862 Sir Joseph Bazalgette began designing the current structure on the north bank of the river. The planning took into account the main drains of the West London sewer system and underground railway tracks, over which a wide street and footpaths were constructed. A dam wall was built along the Thames. In total, Bazalgette has wrested around 8.9 hectares of land from the river.
Much of the granite needed for construction comes from Lamorna Cove in Cornwall. The broken stones were cut into blocks on site before they were transported to the construction site on barges across the English Channel and the Thames.
Starting at Battersea Bridge to the west, the Thames Embankment includes parts of Cheyne Walk , Chelsea Embankment , Grosvenor Road , Millbank and Victoria Tower Gardens . After the Palace of Westminster , the building and street are called Victoria Embankment , and it ends at Blackfriars Bridge . Under this piece lies part of the subway network used by the District and Circle Line . It passes the Shell Mex House and the Savoy Hotel . There are many parks and green spaces on the Thames Embankment, the Embankment Gardens , an oasis of calm in the middle of the city center. There are many statues in the park, including one by Bazalgette.
The much smaller Albert Embankment is across from Millbank on the south bank of the river. It was built by Bazalgette for the Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) between July 1866 and November 1869 . A coal tax to be paid only in London , which went to the MBW, helped finance the construction.
Some parts of the Embankment date from the 20th century and were rebuilt after natural disasters such as the Thames Flood in 1928 or after being damaged by bombs in World War II .
literature
- Dale H. Porter: The Thames Embankment. Akron, Ohio, Univ. of Akron Press, 1998, ISBN 1-884836-28-3 .
Individual evidence
- ^ The Thames Embankment . London Online website. Retrieved July 24, 2010.
Coordinates: 51 ° 29 ′ 47 " N , 0 ° 7 ′ 28" W.