THAMES AND POST-INDUSTRIAL PRESENT

The industrial revolution had brought an increased growth in population size of England, and increased city dwelling population. While this boosted London’s economy, it also had the negative effects of overcrowding, bad living conditions and pollution. During the 18th and 19th centuries the Thames was one of the world’s busiest waterways. Along with this, the Thames became one of most polluted rivers due to over crowding, overuse and too many factories. New sewage systems needed to be created to fix the pollution. The sewage systems were another step in industrial and engineering developments in London.

MILLENNIUM BRIDGE

New Modern Bridge, development in engineering. Saint Pauls in the back ground.

With the coming of rail and road transportation, there was a decline of the use of waterways. After the year 1914, the prominence of the river Thames reduced. London was no longer England’s main port, ports had moved down stream to less crowded areas. London was now trying to clean up and make it a cleaner city. London’s booming industry that was dominant in the 19th century was now declining after the Thames lost its ports and factories. Once the industrial revolution had passed London's factories were no longer its main source of economic gain. Over the 20th century London transformed frm and busy trade city into a financial capital. Although, the London does not use the river Thames as much as it had during the industrial revolution, the river enable London to grow into the city it has become. Without trade, factories, engineering, and all the other aspects the Thames brought to London, the city would never have become as rich and powerful as it is today.