— 1930s
— 1940s (Abercrombie * F, County Plan
— 1950s
— 1960s
— 2000s
VERY INTERSTING
GLC/DG/PTI/P/05/075
Wandsworth Bridge Southern Approach Date range 1965-1969 Location London Metropolitan Archives (see all files stored here) Catalogue See entry File base Fond GLC, subfond DG/PTI/P Context
Some inside information on the elusive and mysterious 1960s scheme to plough an enormous dual three-lane white elephant through Wandsworth, which seemed for a long time to be completely at odds with the Ringway plans. It now appears that it was planned in conjunction with them, and this file for the first time indicates how it would have interacted with the planned motorway network.
It seems that Wandsworth Bridge, built in the 1930s, didn't actually have a southern approach road to begin with, and terminated on what is now Old York Road near what is now the northern corner of the huge squareabout. The LCC set about reserving land for this road scheme as early as 1939.
In June 1966 the GLC revised the road scheme to make the underpass (and by association the rest of the short dual carriageway) dual three-lane rather than dual two. These changes also saw the roundabout slightly modified and the wide central reserve added to allow space for a future flyover northwards. The Ministry of Transport agreed to these changes (worth %200,000) on the understanding that an equivalent Northern Approach would also be created and the Bridge itself would be substantially widened.
A memo from July 1966 indicates that any future work on this road would depend on the outcome of the London Transportation Study, but the likely proposal (and therefore the assumption on which this road was built) was that Trinity Road would be widened in similar fashion to "Burntwood Lane and beyond" - for which one can assume it was heading for the A24 - and that a Northern Approach would be built linking to the West Cross Route via Townmead Road. Sure enough the West Cross Route plans show a previously-inexplicable connection to Townmead Road.
Links to related files
MT 118/379 A3 Trunk Road: Wandsworth Bridge (southern approach); construction of underpass diaphragm wall incorporating instruments for measurement of earth thrust and other variables. Pt 3 of 3 (1967)
Roads.org: Link
MT 118/379
A3 Trunk Road: Wandsworth Bridge (southern approach); construction of underpass diaphragm wall incorporating instruments for measurement of earth thrust and other variables. Pt 3 of 3 Date range 1967 Location National Archives (see all files stored here) Catalogue See entry File base Series MT, subseries MT 118 Context
This file has a misleading title - it does refer to the construction of an improved approach road to Wandsworth Bridge, but that road is A214. The A3 just passes over the top. Additional confusion is evident on the file itself, which is labelled "A4 Wandsworth Bridge Approach".
Contrary to what seems to have been thought previously, this file makes it clear that the Wandsworth Bridge Southern Approach scheme (for which the entire contract papers are in this file) was made by the GLC, not Wandsworth Borough. It follows that this scheme can't have been made in isolation from the plans, juicy though that story might be.
The file is mostly dry tender documents - yawn. However, a folder right at the back contains two plan drawings that rescue the file from terminal tedium. They show, in plan and elevation, the full dual carriageway scheme from Wandsworth Common to Wandsworth Bridge, including the large squareabout near the Thames.
The plans prove that there was a planned flyover, which was to cross the railway and the roundabout. The elevation plans show that it was supposed to reach road level to the north before the Thames, something that seems difficult on the ground. The flyover line does look fairly steep. There is, however, no information on whether the bridge was to be widened, or how wide the flyover was supposed to be, but for any kind of grade separation, Wandsworth Bridge would need to be wider than it is now.
The elevation plan also has a block marked alongside the railway labelled "future motorway". This, excitingly, appears to be a little flash of the virtually ethereal Ringway 1-Ringway 2 link that would have run from Wandsworth to Clapham Junction. From the information available it's clear that it would be immediately south of the railway here - 30 feet from the bridge, to be exact. The plan refers to other diagrams which have details of flyover, etc. These are - naturally - not present.
Contents of note
Those lovely plans, revealing all sorts of secrets.
Links to related files
GLC/DG/PTI/P/05/075 Wandsworth Bridge Southern Approach (1966-1969)
People with camera copies
Chris Marshall has a partial copy.
Roads.org: Link