Editing Chelsea Bridge (section)

=== Opening ===

{{quote box|width=22em|salign=right|quote=A fairy structure, with its beautiful towers, gilded and painted to resemble light coloured bronze, and crowned with globular lamps, diffusing light all around.<ref>''Illustrated London News'', 28 September 1858, quoted in {{harvnb|Cookson|2006|p=132}}.</ref>|source=''[[Illustrated London News]]'', 25 September 1858}}

On 31 March 1858 Queen Victoria, accompanied by two of her daughters and ''en route'' to the formal opening of Battersea Park, crossed the new bridge and declared it officially open, naming it the Victoria Bridge;{{sfn|Cookson|2006|p=132}} it was opened to the public three days later, on 3 April 1858.{{sfn|Matthews|2008|p=76}} The design met with great critical acclaim, particularly from the ''[[Illustrated London News]]''.{{sfn|Cookson|2006|p=132}}

Shortly after its opening, concerns were raised about the bridge's safety. Following an inspection by [[John Hawkshaw]] and [[Edwin Clark (civil engineer)|Edwin Clark]] in 1861, an additional support chain was added on each side.{{sfn|Davenport|2006|p=69}} Despite the strengthening there were still concerns about its soundness, and a weight limit of 5 [[long ton|tons]] was imposed.{{sfn|Davenport|2006|p=69}} At the same time, the name was changed from Victoria Bridge to Chelsea Bridge, as the government was concerned about the reliability of suspension bridges and did not want a potential collapse to be associated with the Queen.{{sfn|Cookson|2006|p=134}}

[[File:ILN Vauxhall, Victoria & Battersea bridges.jpg|left|thumb|alt=Perspective view of a wide river running through a green city, from upper left to lower right. Three bridges cross the river, which contains many small boats.|upright=1.5|Battersea (top), Victoria (centre) and Vauxhall (bottom) bridges, 1859]]

Although reasonably well used, it was unpopular with the public, who objected to being obliged to pay tolls to use it. On 4 July 1857, almost a year before the bridge's opening, a [[Demonstration (people)|demonstration]] against the tolls attracted 6,000 residents.{{sfn|Cookson|2006|p=134}} Concerns were raised in Parliament that poorer industrial workers in Chelsea, which had no large parks of its own, would be unable to afford to use the new park in Battersea.{{sfn|Matthews|2008|p=76}} Bowing to public pressure, shortly after the bridge opened Parliament declared it free to use for pedestrians on Sundays, and in 1875 it was also made toll-free on public holidays.{{sfn|Matthews|2008|p=76}} Additionally, because the main lights were only turned on when Queen Victoria was staying in London, it was poorly used at night.{{sfn|Pay|Lloyd|Waldegrave|2009|p=68}} Despite this, the new Battersea Park was extremely popular, particularly the sporting facilities; on 9 January 1864 the park staged the world's first official game of [[association football]].{{sfn|Roberts|2005|p=114}}{{refn|group=n|An earlier unofficial match had been played under [[The Football Association|Football Association]] rules on 19 December 1863 in [[Mortlake]] between [[Barnes R.F.C.|Barnes Club]] and [[Richmond F.C.]], both of whom later went on to join the [[Rugby Football Union]].}}