Westminster Bridge

The original contractor, Mare & Co., goes bankrupt. The work is then carried out by assignees.

Doubts arise over the soundness of Page's design for the foundations. A select committee is created chaired by Sir Benjamin Hall and hears experts during the course of two years with a first recommendation of substantial alterations which is later reduced to minor alterations. This sets back the works by nearly two years.

The partially finished bridge is first put into service without great ceremony. Page and Mr. W. F. Cowper of the Office of Works merely walk across the bridge.

A twenty-five gun salute marks the opening of the fully completed Westminster Bridge. The unusual hour was chosed to mark the forty-third birthday of Queen Victoria while the number of guns marked the years of her reign.

Repairs of cracked ribs on the arches.

The decorative cast-iron fascia girders are replaced due to significant deterioration. The new fascias are made of a structural steel support frame and an actual fascia made of more ductile cast iron. The replacement work is done under traffic both on the bridge and the river Thames from barges.