 Since 1771 , Battersea and Chelsea had been linked by the modest wooden Battersea Bridge . As London grew following the advent of the railways , Chelsea began to become congested , and in 1842 the Commission of Woods , Forests , and Land Revenues recommended the building of an embankment at Chelsea to free new land for development , and proposed the building of a new bridge downstream of Battersea Bridge and the replacement of Battersea Bridge with a more modern structure . 
