Cross River Traffic: A History of London's Bridges

Cross River Traffic: A History of London's Bridges. Chris Roberts. Granta Books. [pounds sterling]15.00. x +196 pages. ISBN 1-86207-800-9. Mr Roberts is an enthusiast for London's seventeen bridges which he describes as 'an interesting collection of Victorian and modern, sturdy and ornate, spectacular and homely'.

Unlike Paris's grand structures, London's bridges, except for Tower Bridge and Westminster, are seldom discussed, let alone praised. This book seeks to 'refocus attention on the bridges, many of which are beautiful architecturally and important socially'. He is also concerned with the historic background to each bridge. He confines himself to those bridges within the old L.C.C. After a brief introduction he devotes a chapter to the sixteen bridges under survey, from Vauxhall to the new Millennium foot bridge. Sadly he confines his terms of measurement to metric terms and rather oddly uses kilometres instead of miles although it is the latter which remains standard usage. (P.P.F.)

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