Glengall Bridge - London's Little Drawbridge

The Glengall Bridge - a pedestrian bridge at Millwall Dock on the Isle of Dogs, London is a small drawbridge within a stone throw from World's most famous drawbridge - the iconic London Tower Bridge.

This little bridge also has a small claim to fame, it is near copy of the famous Langlois Bridge at Arles, France, which was subject of series of drawings and paintings by Van Gogh. (View the series of paintings in Wikipedia)

It is not known whether the resemblance between the two bridges was by intent or co-incidental. The Glengall Bridge was built in 1989 whereas the Langlois bridge was built sometimes in early 19th century. The original bridge depicted in paintings of Van Gogh no longer exists today, though its replica was later built in 1960s in Langlois and is popularly called Van Gogh Bridge.

The Glengall Bridge has another claim to fame - It was shown in the exciting boat chase in the James Bond movie "The World Is Not Enough", where the villain "Cigar Girl" passes through the bridge as it was just closing and Bond who was chasing her had to use the dive feature of his boat to go underwater to continue with the chase. The boat chase was voted as the best of the 10 greatest scenes featuring London. (source: The Guardian)

Image from Geograph.org.uk is by Danny Robinson

Van Gogh's "The Langlois Bridge at Arles", 1888, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

James Bond's famous Thames Boat Chase

The action at Glengall Bridge starts at 3:23 minutes.

View location of bridge in Google Earth / Google Maps

Credits: I am thankful to Sanober for bringing this to my knowledge and allowing me to use picture of the bridge taken by her. Thank you Sanober.

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