London Bridge
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London Bridge at 0800. The bridge is a major commuter route into the City of London |
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The southern end of the bridge, looking towards the City |
London Bridge is a
bridge in
London,
England over the
River Thames, between the
City of London and
Southwark. It is between
Cannon Street Railway Bridge and
Tower Bridge; it also forms the western end of the
Pool of London. London's original bridge made this one of the most famous bridge emplacements in the world. It was the only bridge over the Thames in London until
Westminster Bridge was opened in
1750.
On the south side of the bridge is
Southwark Cathedral and
London Bridge station. On the north side is the
Monument to the Great Fire of London and
Monument tube station.
The bridge is designated as part of the
A3 road, maintained by the
Greater London Authority. [
1]
A
bridge has existed at or near the present site for nearly
2000 years. The first bridge across the
Thames in the London area was built by the
Romans on the present site around
46 AD and was made of wood. The location was most likely chosen as a bridgeable spot which still had deepwater access to the sea. The bridge fell into disrepair after the Romans left, but at some point either it was repaired or a new timber replacement constructed, probably more than once. In
1013, the bridge was burned down by King
Ethelred in a bid to divide the invading forces of the Dane
Svein Haraldsson. This episode reputedly inspired the well-known
nursery rhyme London Bridge is Falling Down. The rebuilt London Bridge was destroyed by a storm in
1091 and yet again, this time by fire, in
1136.
Old London Bridge
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This section of a prospect of London published in 1710 shows Old London Bridge, The Monument (the tall column centre left) and the Custom House (the building on the riverbank, centre right). |
Following the 1136 destruction of London bridge, its maintainer
Peter de Colechurch proposed to replace the timber bridge with a permanent stone construction. A tax was levied to fund the new stone bridge, and construction of a new stone bridge was begun in the reign of
Henry II, under de Colechurch's direction, in
1176. The new bridge took 33 years to complete and was not finished until
1209, four years after de Colechurch died, during the reign of
King John.
John had the idea to build houses on the bridge, and it was soon colonised by houses, shops and even a chapel built at the centre of the bridge (dedicated to the recently martyred and canonised
Thomas Becket who, appropriately, had been born in the parish of
St Mary Colechurch). Contemporary pictures show it crowded with buildings of up to seven stories in height.
The medieval bridge had 19 small arches and a
drawbridge with a defensive gatehouse at the southern end. The narrowness of the arches meant that it acted as a partial
barrage over the Thames, blocking an estimated 80% of the river flow and thereby making the river more susceptible to freezing over in winter. The current was further obstructed by the addition of water-wheels under the two north arches to drive water pumps, and under the two south arches to power
grain mills. This produced ferocious rapids between the
piers or "starlings" of the bridge, as the difference between the water levels on each side could be as much as six feet (two metres). Only the brave or foolhardy attempted to "shoot the bridge" – steer a boat between the starlings – and many were drowned trying to do so. As the saying went, the bridge was "for wise men to pass over, and for fools to pass under".
Various arches of the bridge collapsed at various points, and houses on the bridge were burnt during
Wat Tyler's
Peasants' Revolt in
1381 and
Jack Cade's rebellion in
1450, during which a pitched battle was fought on the bridge.
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This pedestrian alcove is one of only two surviving fragments of the old London Bridge that was demolished in 1831. They have resided in Victoria Park, Tower Hamlets since 1860. |
The northern gate, the New Stone Gate, was replaced by
Nonesuch House in
1577. The southern gatehouse, the Stone Gateway, became the scene of one of London's most notorious sights: a display of the severed heads of traitors, impaled on pikes and dipped in tar to preserve them against the elements. The head of
William Wallace was the first to appear on the gate, in
1305, starting a tradition that was to continue for another 355 years. Other famous heads on pikes included those of
Jack Cade in
1450; Sir
Thomas More in
1535; Bishop
John Fisher, also in
1535; and
Thomas Cromwell in
1540. A German visitor to London in
1598 counted over thirty heads on the bridge. The practice was finally stopped in
1660, following the Restoration of King
Charles II.
The buildings on London Bridge created a major fire hazard and served to increase the load on its arches, so it is not surprising that there were several disasters on the bridge. In
1212 or
1213, perhaps the greatest of the
early fires of London broke out on both ends of the bridge simultaneously, trapping many in the middle and reportedly resulting in 3,000 people being killed. Another major fire broke out in
1633 with the northern third of the bridge being destroyed, although this prevented the bridge from being damaged by the
Great Fire of London in
1666. By
1722, congestion was becoming so serious that the Lord Mayor decreed that "All carts, coaches and other carriages coming out of Southwark into this City do keep all along the west side of the said bridge: and all carts and coaches going out of the City do keep along the east side of the said bridge". This is possibly the origin of traffic in Britain driving on the left. Finally, in
1758â€"
62, the houses were removed along with the two centre arches, replaced with a single wider span to improve navigation on the river.
New London Bridge
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New London Bridge circa 1832. |
By the end of the
18th century, it was apparent that the old London Bridge â€" by now over 600 years old â€" needed to be replaced. It was narrow, decrepit and a hazard to river traffic. In
1799, a competition for designs to replace the old bridge was held, prompting the engineer
Thomas Telford to propose a bridge with a single iron arch spanning 600 ft (180 m). The revolutionary nature of this design won praise but it was never used, due to uncertainty about its feasibility and the amount of land needed for its construction.
The bridge was eventually replaced by an elegant structure of five stone arches, designed by engineer
John Rennie. The new bridge was built 100 feet (30 m) west (upstream) of the original site at a cost of
£2,000,000 and was completed by Rennie's son (of the same name) over a seven-year period from
1824 to
1831. The old bridge continued in use as the new bridge was being built, and was demolished after the new bridge opened in
1831.
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New London Bridge in the early 1890s |
Rennie's bridge was constructed from
Dartmoor granite, with a length of 928 feet (283 m) and a width of 49 feet (15 m). The official opening took place on
1 August 1831;
King William IV and
Queen Adelaide attended a banquet in a pavilion erected on the bridge. The recently constructed
HMS Beagle was the first ship to pass under it. It was widened in
1902â€"
4 from 52 to 65 feet (16 to 20 m) in an attempt to combat London's chronic traffic congestion. Unfortunately, this proved too much for the bridge's foundations; it was subsequently discovered that the bridge was sinking an
inch every eight years. By
1924, the east side of the bridge was some three to four inches lower than the west side; it soon became apparent that the old bridge would have to be removed and replaced with a more modern one.
On
18 April 1968, Rennie's bridge was sold to the
American entrepreneur
Robert P. McCulloch of McCulloch Oil for the sum of
$2,460,000. (It has been claimed that he was under the mistaken belief that he was buying the much more impressive
Tower Bridge, which is often erroneously thought of as 'London Bridge' by tourists, though McCulloch himself strongly denied this.) The bridge was reconstructed at
Lake Havasu City, Arizona, and dedicated on
October 10 1971. Not all of the bridge was transported to America, as some was kept behind in lieu of tax duties.
The version of London Bridge that was rebuilt at Lake Havasu consists of a concrete frame with stones from the old London Bridge used as cladding. The remaining stone was left at Merrivale Quarry on
Dartmoor in
Devon, so a large part of Rennie's bridge never left the UK. When Merrivale Quarry was abandoned and flooded in
2003, the remaining stones were auctioned off. The reconstruction of Rennie's London Bridge spans a canal that leads from Lake Havasu to Thomson Bay, and forms the centrepiece of a theme park in English style, complete with mock-
Tudor shopping mall. Rennie's London Bridge has become
Arizona's second-biggest tourist attraction, after the
Grand Canyon.
Modern London Bridge
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The current London Bridge, viewed from the south-west |
The current London Bridge was constructed by contractors
John Mowlem from
1967 to
1972, and opened by Queen
Elizabeth II on
17 March 1973. It is a dull edifice comprising three spans of pre-stressed concrete cantilevers, paid for in part by the sale of the earlier Rennie bridge. It is 928 feet (283 metres) long. The cost of £4 million was met entirely by the City of London's
Bridge House Estates. The current bridge was built in the same location as Rennie's bridge, which was carefully demolished piece by piece as the new bridge was built, so the bridge would remain in use throughout.
In
1984 the British warship
HMS Jupiter collided with London Bridge causing significant damage to both ship and bridge.
On
Remembrance Day 2004, various London bridges were furnished with red lighting as part of a night-time flight along the river by wartime aircraft. The red lighting on London Bridge considerably improved its drab appearance, so it has been left on the bridge (but not the other bridges) and lights it at night.
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Southwark Council page with more info about the bridge*
Lyrics to the song 'London Bridge is falling down'*
Virtual reality tour of Old London Bridge*
'Knowledge of London - History of London Bridge' 
