Elgin Bridge is a

vehicular A vehicle () is a machine designed for self-propulsion, usually to transport people, cargo, or both. The term "vehicle" typically refers to land vehicles such as human-powered vehicles (e.g. bicycles, tricycles, velomobiles), animal-power ...

box girder A box girder or tubular girder (or box beam) is a girder that forms an enclosed tube with multiple walls, as opposed to an i-beam, - or H-beam. Originally constructed of wrought iron joined by riveting, they are now made of rolled steel, rolled ...

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

across the

Singapore River The Singapore River is a river that flows parallel to Alexandra Road and feeds into the Marina Reservoir in the southern part of Singapore. The immediate upper drainage basin, watershed of the Singapore River is known as the Singapore River Plann ...

, linking the

Downtown Core The Downtown Core is the historical and downtown centre of the city-state of Singapore and the main commercial area in Singapore excluding reclaimed lands with two integrated resorts such as the Marina Bay Sands, one of the most expensive buil ...

to the Singapore River Planning Area located within

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

's Central Area. It was built between 1925 and 1929. The bridge was named after

James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and 12th Earl of Kincardine, (20 July 181120 November 1863) was a British colonial administrator and diplomat. He served as Governor of Jamaica (1842–1846), Governor General of the Province of Canada (1847– ...

in 1862, a colonial administrator and diplomat who had served as

Governor-General of Canada The governor general of Canada () is the federal representative of the . The monarch of Canada is also sovereign and head of state of 14 other Commonwealth realms and resides in the United Kingdom. The monarch, on the advice of his or her Ca ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The iron bridge built across the river had previously replaced an older wooden bridge. The current bridge that still stands today was built in 1929. As this was the first permanent bridge across the river, the two roads leading to it were named

North Bridge Road North Bridge Road () is a one-way road in Singapore, running north of the Singapore River. It starts at the junction with Crawford Street in Kallang, on the western bank of the Rochor River, and continues in a southwest direction before ending ...

and

South Bridge Road South Bridge Road () is a major road in Singapore, running south of the Singapore River in Chinatown. It starts at Elgin Bridge and ends at the junction of Neil Road, Tanjong Pagar Road and Maxwell Road.Savage; Yeoh, p. 472 History South ...

accordingly.

History

In 1819,

Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (5 July 1781 – 5 July 1826) was a British Colonial Office, colonial official who served as the List of governors of the Dutch East Indies, governor of the Dutch East Indies between 1811 and 1816 and lieut ...

landed on

and founded the colony. Raffles issued an instruction on 25 June 1819 that a bridge be built as soon as possible across the

so that it may link a town planned for the

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

community on the southern side of the river to another intended for the Malays on the northern side. In 1822, a wooden

footbridge A footbridge (also a pedestrian bridge, pedestrian overpass, or pedestrian overcrossing) is a bridge designed solely for pedestrians.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While the primary meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points at a ...

was built under the direction of Lieutenant Philip Jackson and it was officially named Presentment Bridge. It was also known as Jackson's Bridge and Monkey Bridge. In 1844, a wooden

built by

John Turnbull Thomson John Turnbull Thomson (10 August 1821 – 16 October 1884) was a British civil engineer and artist who played an instrumental role in the development of the early infrastructure of nineteenth-century Colonial Singapore, Singapore and New Zealan ...

replaced the older bridge, and was named Thomson's Bridge. This was demolished in 1862; in its place an

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

bridge was built and named Elgin Bridge after

Governor General of India The governor-general of India (1833 to 1950, from 1858 to 1947 the viceroy and governor-general of India, commonly shortened to viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom in their capacity as the emperor o ...

. It was widened in the 1870s. In 1925 the iron bridge had to make way for a new

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

bridge, which was opened to traffic by the Governor of the Straits Settlements Sir Hugh Clifford on 30 May 1929.

Cavaliere The Italian honours system is a means to reward achievements or service to the Italian Republic, formerly the Kingdom of Italy, including the Italian Social Republic. Orders of chivalry Italian Republic There are five orders of knightho ...

Rudolfo Nolli, an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

, designed the

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

lamps on both sides of the bridge. His signature is inscribed beneath the lamps.

Bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

plaques, each with a

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the ...

standing in front of a

royal palm ''Roystonea regia'', commonly known as the royal palm, Cuban royal palm, or Florida royal palm, is a species of Arecaceae, palm native to Mexico, the Caribbean, Florida, and parts of Central America. A large and attractive palm, it has been plan ...

tree engraved on it, can also be found below the lamps. On 3 November 2008, the bridge was selected for conservation as part of the

Urban Redevelopment Authority The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is the national urban planning authority of Singapore, and a Statutory boards of the Singapore Government, statutory board under the Ministry of National Development (Singapore), Ministry of National De ...

's expanded conservation programme. On 15 October 2019, the National Heritage Board gazetted the Elgin Bridge, along with Anderson Bridge and

Cavenagh Bridge Cavenagh Bridge is a suspension bridge and one of the oldest bridges in Singapore, spanning the lower reaches of the Singapore River in the Downtown Core. Opened in 1869 to commemorate Singapore's new Crown colony of the Straits Settlements statu ...

(collectively known as the Singapore River Bridges) as the 73rd National Monument of Singapore. This was first announced by

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...

Heng Swee Keat Heng Swee Keat (; born 15 April 1961) is a Singaporean former politician and former police officer who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore from 2019 until 2025. He was the Parliament of Singapore, Member of Parliament (MP) who rep ...

on 3 August 2019, where the

Padang Padang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province of West Sumatra. It had a population of 833,562 at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and 909,040 at the 2020 Census;Bad ...

is included as a future National Monument.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Bridges in Singapore Downtown Core (Singapore) Singapore River 1929 establishments in British Malaya National monuments of Singapore

History

See also

References

External links