TQ3079 : View from Lambeth Bridge
taken 9 years ago, near to Lambeth, England
Standing beside the River Thames, the Palace of Westminster is one of the most famous buildings in the UK.
The building as it is today was constructed between 1834 and 1864, replacing an earlier building which caught fire. It has 1100 rooms, 100 staircases and five kilometres of corridors.
It hosts the two houses of Parliament of the United Kingdom — the House of Lords and the House of Commons.
Read more at Wikipedia Link
Listed buildings and structures are officially designated as being of special architectural, historical or cultural significance. There are over half a million listed structures in the United Kingdom, covered by around 375,000 listings.
Listed status is more commonly associated with buildings or groups of buildings, however it can cover many other structures, including bridges, headstones, steps, ponds, monuments, walls, phone boxes, wrecks, parks, and heritage sites, and in more recent times a road crossing (Abbey Road) and graffiti art (Banksy 'Spy-booth') have been included.
In England and Wales there are three main listing designations;
Grade I (2.5%) - exceptional interest, sometimes considered to be internationally important.
Grade II* (5.5%) - particularly important buildings of more than special interest.
Grade II (92%) - nationally important and of special interest.
There are also locally listed structures (at the discretion of local authorities) using A, B and C designations.
In Scotland three classifications are also used but the criteria are different. There are around 47,500 Listed buildings.
Category A (8%)- generally equivalent to Grade I and II* in England and Wales
Category B (51%)- this appears generally to cover the ground of Grade II, recognising national importance.
Category C (41%)- buildings of local importance, probably with some overlap with English Grade II.
In Northern Ireland the criteria are similar to Scotland, but the classifications are:
Grade A (2.3%)
Grade B+ (4.7%)
Grade B (93%)
Read more at Wikipedia Link
Grade I listed buildings and structures are of exceptional, even international importance. There are over 6,000 in the country. Only 2.5% of listed buildings are Grade I listed.
In Scotland the classification is Category A
Index: Link
The current structure is a five-span steel arch, designed by engineer Sir George Humphreys and architect Sir Reginald Blomfield and opened on 19 July 1932 by King George V. Obelisks at either end are surmounted by stone pineapples, as a tribute to Lambeth resident, John Tradescant the younger who is said to have grown the first pineapple in Britain.
The previous structure was a suspension bridge, 828 feet long, designed by Peter W. Barlow, which opened as a toll bridge in 1862. It ceased to be a toll bridge in 1879.
A Grade II listed structure Link .
The River Thames rises at Thames Head in Gloucestershire on the slopes of the Cotswolds and flows generally eastward to its mouth near Southend in Essex. At 215 miles long it is one of the longest rivers in Britain, and the longest entirely within England. It is one of the most important rivers in Britain. Link