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Coordinates: 51°30′31″N, 0°07′01″W

This article is about the bridge in London

View of the old Waterloo Bridge from Whitehall stairs, John Constable, 18 June 1817

Waterloo Bridge granite stone in Canberra, Australia.

Waterloo Bridge. Showing above the bridge (left to right) are St Paul's Cathedral, Tower 42 and 30 St Mary Axe (the "Gherkin" or the Swiss Re building)

Waterloo Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge crossing the River Thames in London, England between Blackfriars Bridge and Hungerford Bridge. The name of the bridge is in memory of the British victory at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Thanks to its location at a strategic bend in the river, the views of London (Westminster, the South Bank and London Eye to the west, the City of London and Canary Wharf to the east) from the bridge are widely held to be the finest from any spot at ground level.

The first bridge on the site was designed by John Rennie and opened in 1817 as a toll bridge. The granite bridge had nine arches, each of 120' span, and was 2,456' long, including approaches. Before its opening it was known as 'Strand Bridge'. It was nationalised in 1878 and given to the Metropolitan Board of Works, who removed the toll from it. Serious problems were found in its construction and the new owners reinforced it. Paintings of the bridge were created by the French Impressionist Claude Monet and English Impressionist, John Constable.

By the 1920s the problems had increased. London County Council decided to demolish it and replace it with a new structure designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. The new span was partially opened in 1942 and completed in 1945. The new bridge was the only Thames bridge to have been damaged by German bombers during World War II. The building contractor was Peter Lind & Company Limited. It is frequently asserted that the work force was largely female and it is sometimes referred to as "the women's bridge", but there appears to be no contemporary evidence for this. It is constructed in Portland stone from the South West of England; the stone cleans itself whenever it rains in London.

Granite stones from the original bridge were subsequently "presented to various parts of the British world to further historic links in the British Commonwealth of Nations". Two of these stones are in Canberra, the capital city of Australia, sited between the parallel spans of the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge, one of two major crossings of Lake Burley Griffin in the heart of the city.

Waterloo Bridge, seen from the London Eye observation wheel

The south end of the bridge is the area known as The South Bank and includes the Royal Festival Hall, Waterloo station, Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Royal National Theatre, and the National Film Theatre (which resides directly beneath the bridge). The north end passes above the Victoria Embankment where the road joins the Strand and Aldwych alongside Somerset House.

Georgi Markov was a Bulgarian dissident assassinated on Waterloo Bridge by agents of the Bulgarian secret police assisted by the KGB. On 7 September 1978, Markov crossed Waterloo Bridge to wait at a bus stop on the other side, when he was jabbed in the leg by a man holding an umbrella. The man apologized and walked away. Markov would later tell doctors that the man had spoken in a foreign accent.

On the evening of 7 September, Markov developed a high fever. He died in agony three days later. After his death, doctors found a small platinum pellet embedded in his calf. Further examination found that two small holes had been drilled in the bullet containing traces of the poison ricin.

• In 1940 a film starring Vivien Leigh and Robert Taylor was released called Waterloo Bridge.

• Waterloo Bridge is the name of a film released in 1931.

• Waterloo Sunset is a song written by Ray Davies and recorded in 1967 by The Kinks. Its lyrics describe two people meeting at Waterloo Station and then crossing over the river (via Waterloo Bridge, as Ray Davies has confirmed). The inspirational sunset described in the song would almost certainly have been viewed from the bridge itself, looking out over the River Thames. (See also the remarks above about the fine views from the bridge.)

• Michael Faraday tried in 1832 to measure the potential difference between each side of the bridge caused by the ebbing salt water flowing through the Earth's magnetic field. [1] see Magnetohydrodynamics

• 'After the Lunch' is a poem by Wendy Cope and is about two lovers parting on Waterloo Bridge.

• Survey of London entry
• Peter Lind & Company

• Map and aerial photo of Waterloo Bridge from Multimap.com
• Other map and aerial photo sources