Kew Bridge

Kew Bridge
The current (third) Kew Bridge
Carries	A205 road
Crosses	River Thames
Locale	Kew
Heritage status	Grade II listed structure
Characteristics
Design	Arch
Material	Granite
Total length	1,182 feet (360 m)
Width	75 feet (23 m)
Longest span	133 feet (41 m)
No. of spans	3
Piers in water	2
History
Designer	John Wolfe-Barry and Cuthbert A Brereton
Opened	1903

Kew Bridge is a Grade II listed bridge over the River Thames in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and the London Borough of Hounslow. The present bridge, which was opened in 1903 as King Edward VII Bridge by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, was designed by John Wolfe-Barry and Cuthbert A Brereton. It was given Grade II listed structure protection in 1983.

Kew Bridge crosses the River Thames between Kew Green in Kew on the south bank and Brentford on the north bank. It is immediately adjacent to the Royal Botanic Gardens on the Kew side of the river and the former Grand Junction Waterworks Company buildings (now the London Museum of Water & Steam) on the north.

The bridge forms a primary route destination joining the South Circular and North Circular roads to the west of London, and is nearly always very congested. Beside the bridge on the downstream Kew bank is Kew Pier, which serves tourist ferries operating under licence from London River Services.

The Museum of Richmond has an engraving by John Barnard, architect of the design for the first Kew Bridge, dedicated to George, Prince of Wales and his mother Augusta and dated 1759. Bernard describes it as the Bridge over the River of Thames from Kew in the County of Surry to the opposite shore in the County of Middlesex. Kew and the area around the bridge was significant to George as his father Frederick took a lease on Kew House, now part of the Royal Botanic Gardens from 1731 and rebuilt the house to designs by William Kent. George's mother Augusta started the botanic gardens and created many of the garden buildings.