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• The Walkways were designed by architect Sir Horace Jones and civil engineer Sir John Wolfe Barry.
• They stand 43.5 metres above the River Thames at high tide.
• They stretch 70 metres between the two towers of the Bridge.
• They were closed to the public in 1910 and reopened in 1982.

Building work on the Bridge started in 1886 and by 1892 the Walkways were approaching completion.

The Walkways provided a platform for pedestrians to cross the Bridge during Bridge Lifts when the bascules were raised. They also house the suspension cable that supports the full length of Tower Bridge.

The Walkways were used from when the Bridge opened to the public in 1894 to 1910, when they were closed due to lack of use. People arriving on the Bridge preferred to wait at street level for the Bridge to close rather than heading up the many stairs to cross the Bridge.

The Walkways opened again, however, in 1982 as part of the new visitor attraction, where visitors could once again enter the walkways to see the amazing panoramic views from the top.

• The Glass Floors measure 11.5m long and 1.8m wide.
• They are situated 42m above the River Thames and 33.5m above the road level.
• Each one comprises of six panels weighing around 530kg each.
• The panels are comprised of five layers, 70mm thick in total. The top layer (also called 'the sacrificial layer') is replaced regularly to ensure visitors get the best views.
• Each panel can bear the weight of one elephant or two London Black Cabs.

• The Glass Floors were installed in 2014.
• The Glass Floors in the West Walkway opened to the public on 1 November, while the one in the East Walkway was unveiled on 1 December.
• The installation of each Glass Floor took six weeks and a team of 20 workers.
• The dark spots on the top layer provide a non-slip surface.

Every 18 months or so, the sacrificial layer of the Glass Floors is replaced, 43.5 metres above the River Thames. Let's take a look behind-the-scenes of one of the tasks of this working London icon. 

1. Tower of London
2. St Paul's Cathedral and The Monument to the Great Fire of London
3. HMS Belfast
4. Old City Hall and The Shard
5. The Walkie Talkie
6. Tate Modern
7. BT Tower
8. London, Southwark and Cannon Street Railway Bridges
9. Canary Wharf
10. Butler's Wharf

Besides the landmarks listed above, you can see so much more from our Walkways, including the London Eye, Hays Galleria, 30 St Mary Axe (known as 'The Gherkin'), the Millenium Bridge, Wembley and Shooter's Hill.

Ask our staff to help you identify these monuments.

Between the exit of the South Tower and the Engine Rooms, there is a blue line painted on the pavement. Set into its surface are a series of 80 bronze plaques. They alternate between those with names and those with ornamental designs.

Following those names, much can be gleaned about the history of the Bridge, about lost professions, and about social change.

Our research has brought the names of hundreds of people to light. People who helped build, maintain, and operate the Bridge.

For example, Hannah Griggs, who was employed as a cook in the early days of the Bridge. Fittingly, her name plaque is followed by the stylised description of some eels in a basket, which refers to a traditional London dish, jellied eel.

Further down the line is John Chalk, a rivet boy who was 14-years old when he started working on the Bridge. 

Also featured as some of the early Bridge Masters, many of them were military men who brought their attitudes and sense of discipline to the running of that enormous steam engine that the Bridge was for much of its life.

The 40 people commemorated on the Blue Line are:

• Henry J Collins — Fitter — 1896–1900
• Philip Sutor — Engineer — 1930s
• Robert McKinlay — Fitter — 1890–1894
• Joseph Hockey — Engine Driver — 1930s
• Thomas Freeston — Bridge Driver — 1890s
• Charles G Gosling — Bridge Master — 1959–1967
• Thomas Clucas — Liftman — 1890s
• Peter S Adams — Gateman — 1900s
• George Tapper — Labourer — Around 1938
• Alfred J Wheatley — Stonemason — 1890–1894
• Hannah Griggs — Cook — 1911–1915
• Edward W Forrest — Bricklayer Foreman — 1933–1970
• Edward Rouchly — Steam Crane Driver — 1890–1891
• Henry W Sliney — Bridge Driver Engineer — 1927–1939
• Edward G S Knight — Painter — 1890s
• John Buchanan — Bridge Master — 1931–1939
• Andrew Hutton — Day Watchman — 1890–1894
• John P Christie — Engine Driver — 1938–1949
• Angelo B Cator — Bridge Master — 1890s
• Alexander McCallum — Carpenter — 1890–1894
• John Dickie — Charge Hand — Around 1939
• Frederick Loton — Signalman — 1890s
• Andrew Dick — Blacksmith — 1890–1894
• Charles H C Thomas — Navvy — 1930s
• John Heaney — Rivetter — 1891–1893
• Laura I Gass — Clerk Tracer — 1939
• Charles Bull — Engine Driver — 1890s
• Edwin G Boyd — Head Watchman — 1897–1911
• Oliver Dare — Holder Up — 1892
• Alice L Bode — Junior Clerk — 1930s
• Richard W Roberts — Bridge Master — 1900s
• John Merker — Steam Crane Driver — 1890–1894
• Stanley Fletcher — Bridge Foreman — 1960s–1980s
• Matthew Kirkland — Plater — 1890–1894
• Thomas P Hayman — Engineer — Around 1937
• John Chalk — Rivet Boy — 1890–1894
• Walter Hirons — Relief Man — 1902–1938
• Alexander Leslie — Engine Driver — 1890s
• Charles W Benstead — Stoker — 1896–1901

Weather-beaten and trodden by millions of feet, the plaques have an air of permanence and belonging. However, they have only been here since 2016.

They are the outcome of a unique collaboration between Tower Bridge, a local school and a London foundry and workshop.

The original idea was to create a link between the Towers and the Engine Rooms that hinted at the history of the Bridge. It was an opportunity to remind visitors that Tower Bridge is, and always has been, a place of employment, with close links to the local communities where many of its workers came from.

To re-emphasise those connections, to bring them alive for a younger generation and take them right up to the present it was decided to involve the City of London Academy Southwark in the designs of the ornamental plaques.

Under the guidance of the charismatic Giles Corby and his London Sculpture Workshop, Year 10 students designed the plaques, using their favourite technical or architectural details from the Bridge, worked up the models and maquettes, and attended the casting and installation of their plaques on the Bridge. The result is a metaphor of how the Bridge keeps on linking past and present.

• More than 80 people were needed to maintain the engines and raise the Bridge.
• When Tower Bridge was first built, it raised between 20-30 times a day. Today, it opens an average of 2-3.
• Tower Bridge’s stokers used to shovel over 20 tonnes of coal per week.
• The steam engines could raise the bascules in 60 seconds.
• In 1976, Tower Bridge switched from steam power to electricity. These original steam engines are the ones now on display in the Engine Rooms.
• Until the early 1980s, we had cats living in and around the Engine Rooms.

Marvel at the original Victorian steam engines, coal-fired boilers, drivetrains and accumulators and learn how they work through a series of interactive displays and information panels.

Learn about the power of steam and the ingenious hydraulic technology that lifted Tower Bridge's mighty bascules at a moment's notice until 1976. These are now maintained and preserved for visitors to enjoy.

From cooks to coal stokers, signal men to engineers, uncover the fascinating histories of the people who kept an icon in motion. Enjoy engaging films and oral histories, which shine a light on the dedicated, ordinary workers who kept London's defining landmark lifting for more than a century.