Richmond Bridge

The small town of Sheen on the Surrey bank of the Thames, 10 mi west of the City of London or 16 mi by river, had been the site of a royal palace since 1299. After it was destroyed by fire in 1497, Henry VII built a new palace on the site, naming it Richmond Palace after his historic title of Earl of Richmond, and the central part of Sheen became known as Richmond. Although a ferry had almost certainly existed at the site of the present-day bridge since Norman times, the earliest known crossing of the river at Richmond dates from 1439. The service was owned by the Crown, and operated by two boats, a small skiff for the transport of passengers and a larger boat for horses and small carts;…

The plans for a wooden bridge proved unpopular, and the (13 Geo. 3. c. 83) was passed by Parliament, selecting 90 commissioners, including landscape architect Lancelot "Capability" Brown, historian and politician Horace Walpole and playwright and actor David Garrick, to oversee the construction of a stone bridge on the site of the ferry. The act stipulated that no tax of any sort could be used to finance the bridge, and fixed a scale of tolls, ranging from ½d for a pedestrian to 2s 6d for a coach drawn by six horses (about 50p and £|0}} respectively in ). Henry Holland was granted £5,350 (about £|0}} in ) compensation for the loss of the ferry service. The act specified that the bridge was…