Tower Bridge medal to be shown in future display

A medal awarded on behalf of Queen Victoria to commemorate the royal opening of Tower Bridge is planned for future public display at the visitor attraction.

BBC London was shown the recently acquired medal as part of celebrations marking the 140th anniversary of work beginning on the bridge's foundations.

It was in September 1886 that a six-man diving team commenced the dangerous task of excavating between 6m to 8m into the Thames riverbed, an effort that took three years to complete.

Then followed the construction of the bridge, itself a five-year project, before the royal opening of Tower Bridge on 30 June 1894.

Dirk Bennett, heritage and interpretation manager at Tower Bridge, invited BBC London to see the medal.

He said: "What's special about the medal is it's still in its original leather presentation box. It's quite rare to find one of these medals in its box.

"The inside of the box is really beautiful with deep blue lining and a golden text describing what the medal is for."

One side of the bronze medal depicts Queen Victoria in the centre, flanked by her son Prince Albert, (who would become King Edward VII), and his wife Princess Alexandra.

It was Prince Albert (at the time known as the Prince of Wales) who would have handed out the medal to a specially invited guest at the royal opening of the bridge.

The date of the royal opening features on the reverse of the medal above an image of Tower Bridge.

Bennett acquired the medal on behalf of Tower Bridge after discovering it on eBay. Its cost was not disclosed.

A spokesperson for Tower Bridge said they "hoped it will be used to tell the story of Tower Bridge in the near future".

The work of the divers and engineers who built the bridge has long been celebrated at the visitor attraction but takes on extra significance given the anniversary this month.

A Victorian era diving suit, like one they would have worn, is on display at Tower Bridge alongside plaques engraved with the names of the divers.

Bennett said divers took turns working two-hour shifts of "hard and heavy labour", with their diving suit and weights being "the equivalent of their bodyweight".

Before the bridge's foundations were laid, huge, well-like iron structures called caissons were lowered into the riverbed.

The divers descended the caissons and excavated the riverbed to allow the structures to drop further to a depth of around 8m.

A report about the work, from the Pall Mall Gazette, is among documents Tower Bridge has access to.

A journalist who was permitted to the base of one of the caissons wrote: "The scene was somewhat weird.

"The grey light of the afternoon scarcely penetrated the bottom of the shaft and in the blaze of three petroleum lamps a dozen navvies were at work with pick and shovel removing the stiff greasy clay which under a thin layer of gravel is found along the whole bed of the Thames. The river coursed past high above the level of the men's heads."

When the caissons were in place, steam cranes were used to dump stone and concrete for the construction of the piers that would eventually support the towers.

One of the steam crane drivers was John Merker. Measuring instruments used by him and engraved with his name were donated to Tower Bridge by his family in 2024.

It was likely Merker used the instruments, known as callipers, to calibrate his engines.

"They look simple, but they are very high quality because of the accuracy required so he had them engraved with his own name," said Bennett.

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