![]() The ferry boat was on the opposite side, however and the waterman, who was drinking in The Swan, ignored the calls of Sir Robert and his servant and they were obliged to take another route." Walpole vowed that a bridge would replace the ferry. The story runs that "in 1720 Sir Robert Walpole (the following year considered the first Prime Minister) was returning from seeing George I at Kingston on Thames and being in a hurry to get to the House of Commons rode together with his servant to Putney to take the ferry across to Fulham. The Lord-Generall hath caused a bridge to be built upon barges and lighters over the Thames, between Fulham and Putney, to convey his army and artillery over into Surry, to follow the King's forces and he hath ordered that forts shall be erected at each end thereof to guard it but for the present the seamen, with long boats and shallops, full of ordnance and musketeers, lie there upon the river to secure it. The first bridge of any kind between the two parishes of Fulham and Putney was built during the Civil War: after the Battle of Brentford in 1642, the Parliamentary forces built a bridge of boats between Fulham and Putney. Farington, a square-rigged 'West Country' barge, fishermen netting for salmon and erosion of the riverbank. On the south side of the bridge are St Mary's Church and a rounded glass-prowed ship-shaped 21st-century building, Putney Wharf Tower, one of the tallest buildings in Putney. Parkland to the west includes the gardens of Fulham Palace, historic home of the Bishops of London. The north side of the bridge is 120m west-southwest of Putney Bridge Underground station, which is in the park-sandwiched Hurlingham neighbourhood of Fulham. The Pier in the sport marks one end of the Championship Course. Putney Embankment hosts Putney Pier for riverboat services immediately south-west of the bridge as well as the capital's largest set of facilities in rowing. Putney High Street, a main approach, is part of a London hub for retail, offices, food, drink and entertainment. The current format is three lanes southbound (including one bus lane) and one lane (plus cycle lane/bus stop) northbound. Before the first bridge was built in 1729, a ferry had shuttled between the two banks. This close proximity of two churches by a major river is rare, another example being at Goring-on-Thames and Streatley, villages hemmed in by the Chiltern Hills (the Goring Gap). The bridge has medieval parish churches beside its abutments: St Mary's Church, Putney is built on the south and All Saints Church, Fulham on the north bank. ![]() Putney Bridge is a Grade II listed bridge over the River Thames in west London, linking Putney on the south side with Fulham to the north.
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