Facts about the Thames
- 09
Vauxhall Bridge, opened in 1906, was the first steel bridge to span the Thames and featured innovative hydraulic bascule mechanisms allowing it to raise for river traffic.
- 08
Seventy-five thousand Viking ships sailed up the Thames during the 9th and 10th centuries, with raiders reaching London and establishing settlements along its banks.
- 07
Tidal forces push salt water 45 miles upstream into the Thames estuary, creating a unique brackish zone where freshwater and marine ecosystems meet near Gravesend.
- 06
Westminster Bridge, completed in 1747, was only the second bridge built across the Thames in London after the medieval London Bridge had stood alone for over 600 years.
- 05
The Thames contains 125 species of fish, including seahorses that appeared in the estuary after water quality improvements following the 1960s Clean Rivers Act.
- 04
During the 1666 Great Fire of London, the Thames served as a crucial firebreak and water source, with firefighters using the river to prevent the blaze from spreading across its bridges.
- 03
Approximately 125 million gallons of raw sewage flowed into the Thames daily during the 1850s, causing the Great Stink of 1858 that forced Parliament to address London's sanitation crisis.
- 02
Oxford and Cambridge universities' annual boat race has taken place on the Thames since 1829, covering a 4.2-mile stretch between Putney and Mortlake.
- 01
In 1814, a massive dark wave killed at least eight people when a vat containing 135,000 imperial gallons of beer ruptured near the Thames in London.