On the west the Esplanade begins at Westminster Bridge, a graceful structure built in 1862, at a cost of �400,000, spanning the Thames from Westminster to Lambeth and commanding beautiful views of the river, which here runs north and south. At the west end of the bridge is a colossal group of Boadicea in her war-chariot, by Thomas Thornycroft (1902).
The bridge, designed by Thomas Page, is 810 feet long and 84 feet wide and consists of seven iron arches borne by granite piers. It replaces an older stone bridge constructed in 1739-50, the view from which inspired Wordsworth's noble sonnet 'Composed on Westminster Bridge' (1802). Just above the bridge are the Houses of Parliament (left bank), with their famous terrace, and St. Thomas's Hospital, on the Albert Embankment (right bank). Just below the bridge, on the right bank, is the London County Hall.
