- Like many London bridges, the Putney Bridge we know today is a replacement for an earlier bridge. The first Putney Bridge was officially known as Fulham Bridge, and was opened on 29 November 1729. It was made of wood, built by Thomas Phillips to a design by architect Sir Jacob Acworth.
- Before this, there was only one bridge across the Thames in London - London Bridge. People in Putney and Fulham who wanted to cross the river had to take a ferry. The ferry wasn't all that reliable and it wasn't unknown for the ferryman to leave his post and go drinking in a nearby pub. It was only when someone influential, Prime Minister Robert Walpole, to be exact, was inconvenienced by a ferryman being in the pub rather than with his boat, when making his way from a visit to King George I back to Parliament, that public demands for a bridge were listened to.
- The first bridge was a toll bridge. In its early years it would bring in £1,500 per year — about £130,000 in today's money. The Prince of Wales would pay £100 a year for he and his family to cross the bridge as often as they liked. The toll was removed in 1877 when all London's bridges were taken into public ownership.
- Feminist Mary Wollstonecraft threw herself off Putney Bridge in 1795 when she found out her partner was having an affair with an actress. She was rescued by passing boatmen, who resuscitated her. If they hadn't, she would never have married William Godwin or given birth to Mary Shelley, who wrote Frankenstein.
- The current bridge, which dates from 1886 was designed by civil engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette and is made from stone and Cornish granite. Bazalgette also designed London's sewerage system, and the bridge incorporates part of the overflow to his system. The cages under the bridge are to prevent people from getting into the sewers (though why anyone would want to is a mystery). There is a myth that the cages were used to drown criminals. This is untrue.
- Another myth concerns the names of the areas on either bank. This story goes that there were two sisters who lived on opposite sides of the bank, who would frequently visit each other, by means of the ferry. The names come from the directions the women would give to the ferryman - one used to say, 'Full home, waterman,' while the other would say, 'Put nigh'.
- Putney Bridge is the only bridge in Britain to have a church at each end. On the north bank is All Saints' church; on the south bank is St Mary's church, the site of the famous Putney Debates on the English constitution.
- The current bridge was constructed by John Waddell of Edinburgh at a cost of £240,433 (£22,223,526 in today's money).
- It is 700 feet (210m) long, 43 feet (13m) wide and carries the A219 road.
- Putney Bridge is often said to be the starting point for the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. The race actually starts slightly upstream of the bridge, but people can get a very good view of the start from the bridge.
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