BLACKFRIARS BRIDGE is about 1,000 feet in length, and about 43 feet wide, including a carriage-way of 2S feet, and two raised footpaths for pedestrians, each 7 feet in width ; it is built of nine nearly semi-elliptical arches, of which the centre one is 100 feet, and the others decrease in span, as they are placed nearer the banks of the river, being respec tively 98, 93, S3, and 70 feet, by which it will be seen that there is a water-way of 7S8 feet in the clear. The road way is a uniform curve, being the segment of a very large circle.
The architecture of this bridge is exceedingly beautiful, and great taste is displayed in the design ; the bays over each of the piers being supported by Ionic columns, which give a light and graceful character to this really handsome edifice ; and it is to be regretted, that the materials of which it is com posed are of so perishable a nature. In consequence of the curved roadway, the entablature of the columns is not made horizontal; the consequent inequality in the height 12:3 of the columns, is a marked defect in an resthetic point of view. The parapets of this bridge are formed by a very
handsome stone balustrade, 4 feet 10 inches in height; so that, while the security of persons passing over the bridge is amply assured, the view both up and down the river is unin terrupted. The expense of constructing Blackfriars Bridge amounted to £152,840.
The plan of forming the foundations by means of caissons, was unfortunately again resorted to in this case, and although short piles were driven into the bed of the river on which the bottoms of the caissons were made to rest, still the scouring process to which the channel of the Thames has been subjected of late years, has seriously affected the stability of the piers, and the change which has consequently taken place in the form of some of the arches, plainly point out the necessity of constructing a new bridge for this reach of the river at no very distant period.