1819
This bridge was esteemed one of the most complete and elegant structures of the kind in the world. It is built entirely of stone, and extends over the river at a place where it is 1,223 feet broad, which is above 300 feet broader than at London Bridge. On each side is a fine balustrade of stone, with places of shelter from the rain. The width of the bridge is 44 feet, having on each side a fine Footway for passengers. It consisting of fourteen piers, and thirteen large and two small arches, all semicircular, that in the centre being 76 feet wide, and the rest decreasing four feet each from the other; so that the two last arches of the thirteen great ones are each 52 feet. It is computed that 40,000l. value in stone and other materials is always under water.
This magnificent structure was begun in 1739, and was finished in 1750, at the expense of 389,000l., defrayed by parliament. It was built after a design of Mons. Labelye, an ingenious French architect.
Source: Leigh's New Picture of London. Printed for Samuel Leigh, 18, Strand;
by W. Clowes, Northumberland Court. 1819