3-021-761 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Works of the Southern Embankment of the Thames at Lambeth, [south London], 1868. A '...view of the present aspect of the works for the southern embankment of the Thames, a little above Lambeth Palace. The river wall is being constructed, as on the Middlesex side, by the aid of a continuous range of iron caissons sunk in the water, and forming a temporary wall, behind which the masonry of solid granite is laid. In the mean time, the hollow space between the wall and the old shore is filled up with earth or rubbish, which a great many carts and barrows bring for that purpose. A scaffolding of massive timber beams, erected in this space, enables the men, with their trucks and wheelbarrows, to pass everywhere above it, and to deposit the required materials wherever they are wanted; and the blocks of granite are conveyed by small locomotive engines, and travelling cranes, along the rails laid down upon this scaffolding. Mr. T. Webster is the contractor. Our view shows the towers of Lambeth Palace and its church in the background, with the Suspension Bridge to the left hand, and the Victoria Tower of the Palace of Westminster beyond'. From "Illustrated London News", 1868.