The first fixed crossing at Blackfriars was a 995-foot (303 m) long toll bridge designed in an Italianate style by Robert Mylne and constructed with nine semi-elliptical arches of Portland stone.

By taking an access road from its southern landing to a junction with the routes created to simplify passage between those bridges to its east and west to the south it would also add to those improvements.

Between 1833 and 1840 extensive repairs were necessary, until at last it was decided to build a new bridge on the same site, which coincided with the creation of the Thames Embankment's junction with the new Queen Victoria Street and required a major reconfiguration.

Thom encountered difficulties in finding stable foundations for the bridge, which ultimately led to financial troubles.

[2] The present bridge which on 6 November 1869 was opened by Queen Victoria[3] is 923 feet (281 m) long, consisting of five wrought iron[4] arches built to a design by Joseph Cubitt.

Like its predecessor it is owned and maintained by the Bridge House Estates, a charitable trust overseen by the City of London Corporation.

On 14 September 1909 a tram line was opened across the newly widened bridge by the Lord Mayor of London, George Wyatt Truscott.

The bridge attracted some international attention in June 1982, when the body of Roberto Calvi, a former chairman of Italy's largest private bank, was found hanging from one of its arches with five bricks and around $14,000 in three different currencies in his pockets.

Calvi's death was initially treated as suicide, but he was on the run from Italy accused of embezzlement and in 2002 forensic experts concluded that he had been murdered by the Mafia, to whom he was indebted.

[12] In Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, "Blackfriars Bridge" was named as the home of an unknown order of monks who held the key to an angelic prison.

[13] In Cassandra Clare's book series The Infernal Devices, Tessa Gray and Jem Carstairs meet at the bridge every year from 1878 to 2008 except for 1941 as it was deemed too dangerous due to World War II.