Everyone knows that the previous London Bridge ended up in America. But what happened to the old Waterloo Bridge?
Waterloo Bridge as we know it is not the original. The one we cross today was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. It was built during the Second World War, largely by women.
Scott's bridge replaced an early 19th century version by John Rennie (the same architect whose London Bridge now stands in Arizona), a bridge of Scottish granite with multiple arches. Its demolition in the 1930s freed up hundreds of thousands of tons of stone. But where did it all go?
Much of the stone was recycled for use in building projects elsewhere, but even the bridge's ornamental elements were recycled. The balusters — those upright stone barriers that look like chess pieces — were particularly sought-after. Anyone could turn up at the construction site and take one home for £1, with the money going to London County Council. As the supply dwindled, stone merchants would sell on their relics for up to £10.
Hundreds of balusters were recirculated in this way. They no doubt still survive in obscurity, hidden in private gardens, supporting birdbaths and sundials. We've recorded every example we know about in the text and map below.
The rest of the article will break down the bridge's afterlife into geographic areas.
Surviving remnants under Waterloo Bridge
As with Old London Bridge, some of the material from Rennie's original was left in place to help form the foundations and approach roads for the modern span. One section can still be seen on the north bank, directly under the carriageway. Here, a row of recycled granite blocks and balusters form part of the Embankment wall. The structure gives a small flavour of how the 19th century bridge might have appeared.
Parts of Old Waterloo Bridge that remain elsewhere in London
The greatest portion of the old bridge was stored out in Harmondsworth Moor (now in the London Borough of Hillingdon). Much of this stockpile finally found a use in 1945, when it was shipped over to the Netherlands to help repair bridges destroyed by the Nazis (locations to be determined).
Many of the blocks still remain on the moor, dotted around here and there. One block has been turned into a war memorial, marking the site where a Canadian bomber crashed in 1943 with the loss of all seven crew.
Nearby, a ring of granite blocks from the old bridge have been turned into a sort of henge, known as the Giant's Teeth. It's a fascinating area to wander round. As well as the bridge relics, look out also for the medieval barn and the memorial to Barnes Wallis of bouncing bomb fame.
Here, too, you might see this possible mooring stone from the bridge. Its curved shape and weathered base are certainly suggestive of this use. This inclusion (and photograph) were sent by Keith Martin.
The moor once contained many further blocks from the bridge. According to Harlington and Harmondsworth - History & Guide, by Philip Sherwood, "Some of the stones were used by an enterprising company set up nearby to make fireplaces, but most of those that remained were crushed to provide aggregate for the construction of the M25 motorway in the mid 1980s." We're indebted to reader Hylton Garriock for the information.
Another key location is St Mary Cray, now in the London Borough of Bromley. Here, the leftover stone was used to construct a cemetery wall along Star Lane. It looks like many tons of material ended up here. A press cutting can be found here.
A few balusters can be seen in public spaces. We photographed the one below in Antrim Park (in Belsize Park), where it shares a lawn with a fragment of the old House of Commons.
Bill Rowland of Putney Heath has another baluster in his garden, complete with sundial, and a plaque confirming its origin as a parapet of Old Waterloo Bridge. He acquired the baluster about 15 years ago from the previous owner, also in Putney.
Meanwhile, Jon Rowles notes this memorial stone in Heathfield Recreation Ground in Whitton (part of the London Borough of Richmond). The stone was placed here in 1937 to mark the coronation of George VI.
Perhaps the most unusual form of afterlife belongs to this stone, which travelled to Wanstead. It supports the metallic, fat-necked noggin of Winston Churchill.
Finally, if you visit the Institution of Civil Engineers in Westminster, you might be shown the keystone to Rennie's bridge smartening up a wall recess.
Old Waterloo Bridge elsewhere in the UK
Pieces of the bridge have turned up in other parts of the Kingdom.
Tim Childs discovered one of the balusters lurking in the gardens of Alfriston Clergy House near Seaford. The stone support is now used for a sundial.
Another baluster was sent to Aberdeen Town Hall, as a thank you for supplying all that granite in the first place. At least one baluster can also be found at Chilstone in Tunbridge Wells. And reader Charli Lawson tells us of another, turned into a bird bath, at their home in Bournemouth (originally in Poole).
Various places received wood panelling made from the bridge's elm foundations. The old post office and telephone exchange in King's Lynn, for example, has an interior that makes good use of the wood.
Reader Nandos Gouka writes to tell us that he has a splendid tray made from bridge-wood (as evinced by a label on the underside). The tray is topped with a copy of Kerry Lee's influential 1946 map of London.
Perhaps the most impressive wooden salvage can be seen in Anglesey Abbey near Cambridge. Reader Susan Griffith sends a snap of this notice, which suggests that the mansion's book cases are crafted from rescued timbers.
Old Waterloo Bridge all around the world
After the break-up of the bridge from 1934, numerous remnants were sent overseas, "presented to various parts of the British world to further historic links in the British Commonwealth of Nations".
According to the Aberdeen Press and Journal (22 Aug 1934), "Orders for balusters and other stonework have already been received from the United States, South Africa and New Zealand, as well as from many parts of Great Britain".
A less buoyant analysis was given by Dundee Evening Telegraph a year later. "Canada didn't want any. New Zealand was willing to have one block of granite, and Australia took a few more. Two lamp standards have gone to Rhodesia [modern Zimbabwe], and Limbe Town Council, Nyasaland [modern day Malawi], asked for two balusters."
(Incidentally, the lamps in Nyasaland, now Malawi, are thought to have been destroyed during demolition of the old council building many years ago. Thanks to reader Rob Burrett for the tip.)
Africa
Waterloo Bridge in Kenya
Reader Ian Kinghorn thinks he might have found another piece of the bridge that was sent out to a Commonwealth country. According to Ian, "I was born and brought up in Nakuru, Kenya during the 1950s when it was a British colony and have always been intrigued by an ornate lamp standard placed on a central reservation on Club Road, Nakuru - see photograph below. The rumours during the 1950 & 60s was that this ornate light had come from the old Waterloo Bridge that was demolished in 1934." It's unconfirmed, then, but this lamp standard may well be a piece of the bridge.
Waterloo Bridge in Zimbabwe
Further lamps seem to have made their way to Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. Rob Burrett alerts us to a pair at the entrance to Centenary Park in Bulawayo (left and bottom image below). "Previous to their relocation in 1975, the pair of standards were at the nearby entrance to the Bulawayo Bowling Club," he tells us.
Rob has also identified two other lamps in Harare. "Two lamps standards were located outside the old Queen Victoria Museum," he explains. They followed the museum to its relocated home, now the Museum of Human Sciences. "One standard can be seen in the museum and another broken fragment is outside the back. Both are unlabelled and forgotten. Lots of people have resisted my ID but [an] old magazine article (pictured above) confirms this".
Rob has also found a solitary stone from the old bridge, this time in Gweru (formerly Gwelo) in central Zimbabwe. The stone can be found under the entrance archway of the old council offices.
Americas
Waterloo Bridge in Mexico
Anthony Cazares got in touch in July 2022 with our first recorded bit of bridge in the Americas. The baluster has sat in the garden of Las Mañanitas hotel in Cuernavaca (south of Mexico City) since at least 1955. How it came to be there is something of a mystery.
Europe
Waterloo Bridge in France
Reader Patrick found some balusters in a literary source. He tells us: "Dornford Yates wrote 'the House that Berry Built', a lightly fictionalised account of the building of his own house (Cockade) by himself and his wife in the Pyrenees. In Chapter 10, Yates writes: “And one other thing I had done – at great expense. Waterloo Bridge was gone: but I had purchased six of its balusters. These had been kept for me in a builder’s yard….I arranged for them to travel by sea to Bordeaux and from there by train to Nareth – that they might end their days in an English garden deep in the Pyrenees. Good and faithful servants for one hundred and twenty years they were to be pensioned off – and given a terrace to keep: the clouds would wait upon them and wash them clean, they would sleek themselves in a sunshine that they had never known, and lizards would lie along their pedestals and mould themselves to their curves. ‘End their days.’ I should have said ‘See out Time’. Age cannot wither the stuff of which Waterloo was built.”
The balusters were apparently still there 25 years ago.
Oceania
Waterloo Bridge in Australia
Some support for the origins of the Kenyan lamppost (above) comes from far-away Adelaide, whose bona fide Waterloo lamp has a similar design. Reader Mark Lawrence sends us the following photographs of the lamp, gifted to the Australian city in 1936.
Meanwhile, a couple of stones are hidden underneath the Commonwealth Avenue bridge in Canberra. Their romantic situation can be seen on Street View. There's something of the sacrificial alter about this scene.
Waterloo Bridge in New Zealand
The Kiwis also received several pieces. Some stones were put to use in a memorial to 'Paddy the Wanderer', a much-loved dog who lived in Wellington in the 1930s. It provides a pair of water bowls for four-legged Wellingtonians to this day.
Reader Mike Wicksteed sends news of another fragment in New Zealand. Head up Mount Victoria in Wellington, and you may chance across this viewing platform. The granite wall is a relic of the old bridge.
Yet more pieces in New Zealand have been brought to our attention by Austin Gee. He highlights a memorial to former Prime Minister Gordon Coates at Brynderwyn, north of Auckland, which uses stones from a bridge pier, and the pedestal of a sundial in Oriental Bay, Wellington.
And the rest
Various other fragments have survived here and there, but with no definite location. These include numerous products made from the wood salvaged from the bridge's piles (which apparently had a unique silver-grey sheen from exposure to the Thames).
Tom Edmondson has this elm bowl, crafted from material salvaged from the span, as attested by a plaque on its base.
Bill Housdon has another wooden fragment from the bridge's foundations. This time, it's in the shape of a tobacco jar. The attached plaque reads: "Made from silver Grey Elm, taken from the foundations of the famous bridge".
An intriguing newspaper article from the Sault Star of 1966 suggests another unusual use for the Canadian rock elm used in the original bridge's piles. Apparently, a small chunk was used to create the base of a trophy awarded annually by the Evening Standard to the winner of a Thames boat race. The same article suggests that some of the wood was used for the annexe doors to Westminster Abbey, erected for the Coronation of Elizabeth II. It was also used for panelling in the Queen's private day saloon, as well as coaches in the Royal Train.
Not all the stone from the bridge could be reused structurally. The supposed granite mass turned out to be partly sandstone underneath. Much was broken down and sold on as rubble or, as shown in the advert below, 'crazy paving' materials.
The rest, according to one press account, "Will be made into kerbs and gravestones". Who know, perhaps your own street or driveway is paved with the relics of Old Waterloo Bridge.
Spotted a piece of Old Waterloo Bridge? Do leave a comment below, or email [email protected] with details.
