Archway Bridge

 

 

Originally, the plan was to create the Archway Road by cutting a tunnel through the hill, as shown in the seal of the Highgate Archway company.

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But the tunnel fell in and a bridge was constructed instead - a rather heavy-looking structure designed by the architect John Nash, opening in 1813.

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This offered only a narrow opening and was replaced by the bridge we have today in 1900.

 

This current bridge was designed by the engineer Sir Alexander Binnie, the man also responsible for example for the Embankment, which explains why the bridge features the same style of lamps as found there. 

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Archway Road was one of the last turnpikes, where there was a charge for the use of the road,and the tollgate shown in the photograph. It features in Dickens’ Bleak House when Inspector Bucket is on the trail of Lady Dedlock, walking to St Albans and back in the snow.

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Howevever, in 1876 toll roads were abolished and the tollbooth no longer needed.

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Alongside Archway Road were the brick fields mentioned in the caption to the photograph of the tollgate and shown in the photograph with the Holborn Union building in the distance. 

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