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Chelsea Bridge
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=== Battersea Park === In the early 1840s [[Thomas Cubitt]] and [[James Pennethorne]] had proposed a plan to use 150,000 [[long ton|tons]] of rocks and earth from the excavation of the [[Royal Victoria Dock]] to infill the marshy Battersea Fields and create a large public park to serve the growing population of Chelsea.{{sfn|Cookson|2006|p=130}}{{sfn|Cookson|2006|p=134}}{{sfn|Roberts|2005|p=114}} In 1846 the Commissioners of Woods and Forests purchased the Red House Inn and {{convert|200|acre|km2}} of surrounding land, and work began on the development that would become [[Battersea Park]].{{sfn|Cookson|2006|p=130}} It was expected that with the opening of the park the volume of cross river traffic would increase significantly, putting further strain on the dilapidated Battersea Bridge.{{sfn|Matthews|2008|p=76}} Consequently, the [[Battersea Bridge and Embankment, etc. Act 1846]] ([[9 & 10 Vict.]] c. 39) authorised the building of a new [[toll bridge]] on the site of an ancient [[Ford (crossing)|ford]] exactly {{convert|1|mi|km|spell=in}} downstream of Battersea Bridge.{{sfn|Matthews|2008|p=75}}{{refn|group=n|Although embankments have raised the water level and a channel in the centre of the river is now [[dredging|dredged]], the river is very shallow at this point. In 1948, after dredging had been suspended owing to the [[Second World War]], it was possible to walk across the river at low tide.}} The approach road on the southern side was to run along the side of the new park, while that on the northern side was to run from [[Sloane Square]], through the former Chelsea Waterworks site, to the new bridge.{{sfn|Cookson|2006|p=131}} Although previous toll bridges in the area had been built and operated by private companies, the new bridge was to be built and operated by the government, under the control of the [[Metropolitan Improvement Commission]], despite protests in Parliament from [[Radicals (UK)|Radicals]] objecting to the government profiting from a toll-paying bridge.{{sfn|Matthews|2008|p=75}} It was intended that the bridge would be made toll-free once the costs of building it had been recouped.{{sfn|Davenport|2006|p=69}}
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