15th June: London Bridge

On this date in 1825 the foundation stone of the New London Bridge was laid by ‘the grand old’ Duke of York.

1. There has been a bridge on roughly this site since Roman times. The first bridge here was probably a pontoon providing a handy shortcut to the then capital of the Roman province of Britannia, Camulodunum (now known as Colchester).
2. London Bridge is the subject of a popular nursery rhyme, London Bridge is falling down, which dates back to the 17th century. The lyrics deal with various suggestions for mending the broken bridge and the problems with each one, eg Wood and clay will wash away; Bricks and mortar will not stay; Iron and steel will bend and bow; Silver and Gold will be stolen away. There are numerous theories about the origin of the rhyme including that it relates to the 11th century destruction of London Bridge by Olaf II of Norway. Another rather gruesome one was that it relates to an ancient superstition that the bridge would collapse unless a child was buried alive in the foundations and the "watchman" referred to in a later verse is that human sacrifice. However, no human remains have been found in the foundations of the bridge, so the rhyme may just be about the problems of maintaining a busy bridge. "My Fair Lady" could refer to Matilda of Scotland or Eleanor of Provence, both consorts to kings, who had connections with building the bridges or collecting the tolls.
3. The bridge certainly did fall down a lot in its early history. The first one was probably destroyed in the Boudican revolt (after which it was rebuilt and the trading settlement which sprung up there became Londinium, the new capital of Roman Britain. After the Romans, it probably fell down through neglect by the Saxons. It was rebuilt by William the Conqueror; his bridge fell down because of a tornado in London in 1069! The next one, built by William II, was destroyed by fire. It wasn't damaged by the Great fire of London because there had been a number of fires on the bridge before that and there was a firebreak in place.
4. At one time, there were houses, shops and even a church on London Bridge. This version was commissioned by King Henry II as penance for having Thomas Becket killed. The Chapel of St Thomas on the Bridge became the official start of pilgrimage to his Canterbury shrine. It had a river-level entrance for fishermen and ferrymen and a drawbridge to allow tall ships to pass through. By Tudor times there were 200 buildings on the bridge. Some of the buildings were seven stories high; they overhung both the river and the road, which was only 12 feet wide to begin with, so the road became a tunnel. The buildings were a significant fire hazard, but even so, this version of London Bridge didn't fall down for 600 years.
5. Another gruesome fact is that for over 300 years, the severed heads of traitors were displayed on pikes at the southern gatehouse of the bridge. William Wallace was the first in 1305, followed by Jack Cade in 1450, Thomas More and Bishop John Fisher in in 1535, and Thomas Cromwell in 1540. The heads were dipped in tar and boiled to preserve them, and there could be as many as 30 on display at any one time.
6. London Bridge may be the reason why in Britain, we drive on the left. In 1722, there was so much traffic across the bridge that the then 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."
7. Towards the end of the 18th century, it was decided that the bridge had to be replaced and a competition was held for designers. The winner was John Rennie who won with a design of five stone arches. Rennie's bridge was 928 feet (283 m) long and 49 feet (15 m) wide, constructed from Haytor granite.
8. This one barely lasted 100 years, and was in danger of falling down because one side of it was sinking by an inch (about 2.5 cm) every eight years. By 1924 the east side was three to four inches (about 9 cm) lower than the west side. Replacing the bridge was going to be costly - so Ivan Luckin of the Common Council of the City of London came up with a novel way to fund the new bridge - selling the old one. This is how come, on 18 April 1968, Rennie's bridge was sold to American entrepreneur Robert P. McCulloch for US$2,460,000; was taken apart and rebuilt brick by brick to span a canal in Arizona. Ivan Luckin has denied that McCulloch thought he was buying Tower Bridge.
9. Until Putney Bridge opened in 1729, London Bridge was the only road-crossing of the Thames downstream of Kingston-upon-Thames.
10. Today's London Bridge opened to traffic in 1974. It is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It is 269 m (882.5 ft) long, 32 m (105.0 ft) wide and carries the A3 road.