The approaches were provided with octagonal lodges, or toll-houses, with appropriate lamps and parapet walls, terminating with stone pillars, surmounted with ornamental caps.

[3] The current Hammersmith Bridge was designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette and rests on the same pier foundations constructed for Tierney Clark's original structure.

[15] Near midnight on 27 December 1919, Lieutenant Charles Campbell Wood, a South African serving as an airman in the Royal Air Force, dived from the upstream footway of the bridge into the Thames to rescue a drowning woman.

His act of bravery is commemorated by a plaque on the handrail, which reads: Lieutenant Charles Campbell Wood RAFof Bloemfontein, South Africa dived from this spot intothe Thames at midnight 27 Dec. 1919 and saved a woman's life.He died from the injuries received following the rescue.The first attempt by Irish republicans to destroy Hammersmith Bridge occurred on Wednesday 29 March 1939, when it was attacked by the IRA (of 1922–1969) as part of their S-Plan.

[16][17] Maurice Childs, a women's hairdresser from nearby Chiswick, was walking home across the bridge at one o'clock in the morning when he noticed smoke and sparks coming from a suitcase that was lying on the walkway.

Moments later, a second device exploded causing some girders on the west side of the bridge to collapse and windows in nearby houses to shatter.

[15] On 26 April 1996, the Provisional IRA attempted to destroy the bridge after installing two large Semtex devices on the south bank of the Thames.

In February 1997, the bridge was closed to all traffic except buses, bicycles, motorcycles, emergency vehicles and pedestrians to allow further essential repair works.

Local bus flow was controlled by traffic lights, and routes (such as the number 72) were required to convert from double-decker buses to smaller single-deckers to reduce the load on the bridge.

As part of the renovations following the 2000 bomb attack, the bridge received a complete new paint job restoring it to the original colour scheme of 1887, and new lighting was installed.

The bridge was declared a Grade II* listed structure in 2008, providing protection to preserve its special character from unsympathetic development.

[21] Further repairs and strengthening works were delayed in November 2016 in a wrangle over funding between Hammersmith and Fulham Council and Transport for London.

LBHF leader Steven Cowan said: "There's no way that this council is going to spend anything like that money, the majority of this issue is the responsibility of TfL and we will work with them to make sure the bridge is fit for public purpose".

[22] With funding for a major refurbishment still not resolved, on 10 April 2019, Hammersmith and Fulham Council announced that the bridge would be closed indefinitely to motor vehicular traffic due to safety concerns.

[25] On 10 October 2019, Planning in London magazine published the results of its competition for a quick fix to Hammersmith Bridge's closure.

[32] The Fosters scheme, costed at around £100 million, would potentially allow the bridge to reopen for pedestrians and cyclists in the summer of 2021, with cars and vans able to cross two months later, and full restoration completed in 2023.

The proposals were discussed on 19 March 2021 at a meeting of the government's Hammersmith Bridge taskforce, and plans for the work to be funded through a £3 toll scheme were accepted.

[33][34] In December 2020, reports from AECOM and University of Cambridge professor Norman Fleck suggested that the full closure may have been overly cautious, and that, after minimal work, the bridge could be reopened to cyclists and pedestrians.

[36] On 1 June 2021, Transport for London, Hammersmith and Fulham Borough Council and central government came to a cost-sharing agreement that would reopen the bridge in the near future.

[40] In February 2022, highways contractor FM Conway and subcontractors Freyssinet and Taziker Industrial started work on a planned 10-month first phase of the restoration.

[45][46] In October 2022, Hammersmith and Fulham Council agreed to lodge a planning application to temporarily double-deck the bridge to speed up its restoration (as recommended by Foster/COWI).

[47] This decision was due to a pause in construction works necessary for repairing a 130 m (430 ft) steel gantry damaged in a collision with a boat, MV Emerald of London, carrying West Ham United football fans to a match against Fulham in December 2023.

[49] A day later, London Mayor Sadiq Khan told the Evening Standard that "I do want that bridge fit for purpose for vehicles" but neither Hammersmith & Fulham Council nor TfL had the money to do so.

In the centre is the royal coat of arms of Queen Victoria which is surrounded by six others, representing the area of the Metropolitan Board of Works, from top clockwise:[56] Citations Sources