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Westminster Bridge, London - History, Landmarks & Self-Guided Walking Tour


Timothy Tye

Westminster Bridge on Google Street View

(Jul 2024) Westminster Bridge is a bridge across the River Thames in London. It is one of the most photographed bridges in the city, by virtue of it being close to the Palace of Westminster, the parliament house of the United Kingdom.

The idea to build a bridge at Westminster goes back to as early as 1664. However many decades would pass before parliament approved of a bridge in 1736. Construction began in 1739, and the first Westminster Bridge was completed in 1750.

That first bridge lasted until the mid 19th century, when it was in such a bad shape that a new bridge had to be built to replace it. The present bridge was designed by Thomas Page and was completed in 1862. It is 252 meters (826.8 feet) long, and 26 meters wide. It has seven wrought iron arches across the Thames. Today it stands as the oldest bridge in central London.

The Westminster Bridge is painted green, the same colour of the leather seats in the House of Commons at the Palace of Westminster. A total refurbishment of the bridge was carried out in 2005-2007 when the iron fascias were replaced and the bridge was given a new coat of paint.

How to reach Westminster Bridge

Take the Circle Line, District Line or Jubilee Line to the Westminster Tube Station, at the entrance to the bridge.

Westminster Bridge Self-Guided Walking Tour

List of Bridges in London and Bridges in the United Kingdom

 Map of Streets in London

The streets that I have described are marked in the map below in red. To read about the street, point your cursor to the red line and click.

List of Streets in London

Map of London Boroughs

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About this website



Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.

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