Millennium Bridge
Thames Embankment, London EC4V 3QH
You are crossing the River Thames, the lifeblood of London but also, for centuries, a source of deadly disease. In hot summers the slow moving river became choked with sewage. In 1858 the smell was so bad, during the Great Stink, that Parliament was forced to close.
Engineer Joseph Bazalgette responded by building London’s modern sewer system and embanking the river, transforming public health. Ahead of you on the south bank is Tate Modern, housed in the former Bankside Power Station, a reminder of the coal smoke that once damaged the lungs of Londoners before the Clean Air Acts of 1956 and 1993.
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Directions to next stop: At the end of the bridge, turn right onto Bankside. Walk past Shakespeare’s Globe and continue under Southwark Bridge. Pass the Anchor pub and follow the riverside path as it becomes Clink Street. Stop by the ruined walls on your right.