White Horse Bridge

Wembley Stadium station with White Horse Bridge built across it

The White Horse Bridge is the name of the footbridge that crosses Wembley Stadium railway station leading up to Wembley Stadium in England. It was designed by Steve Chilton for architects Marks Barfield and engineered by Halcrow.

It is named after a grey (though appearing white in old black and white photographs and films) Metropolitan Police horse, named 'Billy', that was used to restore order after the huge numbers of spectators (estimated at 200,000) who turned up to witness the 1923 FA Cup Final spilled onto the pitch before kick off. The game, the first to be held at the old Wembley Stadium, was won by Bolton Wanderers, beating West Ham United 2–0.

File:White Horse Bridge by night, Wembley Stadium railway station (October 25, 2009).jpg

The White Horse Bridge at night

Trivia

In May 2005, the naming decision took place in the form of an online poll hosted by BBC Five Live, in conjunction with the London Development Agency (who were building the bridge and who had conceived the idea of a public poll), and won from a shortlist of Live Aid bridge (in memory of the 1985 concert held at the stadium), Sir Alf Ramsey (being England's World Cup winning manager), Sir Bobby Charlton and Sir Geoff Hurst (two of Sir Alf's team).

The LDA received over 670,000 nominations from all over the world. The name with the most nominations, however, mainly coming from Germany, was Dietmar Hamann, who scored the last goal at the old Wembley stadium. In October 2000, this was an qualification game for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, with an German 1–0 win against England (2000 England vs Germany football match). The LDA decided to name the bridge White Horse Bridge instead.

See also

• List of bridges in London

External links

• Metropolitan Police website article about Billy