The old Ludgate Hill railway bridge in central London, with St. Paul's in the distance. Text accompanying photograph:
A railway bridge on the route from Holborn to Blackfrairs crossing Fleet Street with St. Paul's in the distance. The spire of St. Martin's [St Martin's Ludgate, a church rebuilt by Wren after the Great Fire of London] appears in front of St. Paul's, London.
Here is the large Ludgate Hill Station of the Chatham and South Eastern Railway, opposite which, on the left, the prison of Bridewell (so called from the old miraculous Well of St. Bride or St. Bridget) stood, down to 1864. The site of the prison was once occupied by Bridewell Palace.
Ludgate Hill leads to St. Paul's Cathedral.
Note: The station at Ludgate Hill was opened in 1865 and closed in 1929; the bridge remained until 1990, when it was demolished during the building of the new Thameslink line, which runs through a tunnel instead. Just before the work began, Christopher Warman, writing in the Times of 12 May 1990, described the removal of the 150-tonne bridge, which had survived the air raids of World War II, as a "spectacular" feat.
The image and text were both scanned by Nathalie Chevalier, and the note was added by Jacqueline Banerjee. You may use the image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Related Material
- Old postcard of Ludgate Circus
- The old Ludgate Hill station
- St Paul's, from the same source
- St Paul's Cathedral (main page)
Bibliography
The volume containing these images by an unidentified photographer bears the imprint "With H. and C. F. Feist's compliments" but no name, date, or place of publication, though the Feists were dealers in port wine, and Plate 30 demonstrates that the photograph must have been taken after 1902, and John R. Mendel offers evidence that it dates before mid-1906 [GPL].
Warman, Christopher. "BR Helps to Clear View of St Paul's." The Times. 12 May 1990: 5. Times Digital Archive. 23 July 2017.
Last modified 23 July 2017