Our story starts with the murder of Thomas
Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury in 1170. King Henry II commissioned a new stone bridge
across the river Thames in London in place of the old London Bridge, with a chapel at
its centre dedicated to Thomas Becket as a martyr. The Chapel of St Thomas on the Bridge became
the official start of pilgrimage to his Canterbury shrine; it was grander than some town parish
churches, and had an additional river-level entrance for fishermen and ferrymen. Building work began in 1176 and took 33 years,
finishing in 1209 during the reign of King John. John tried to recoup the cost of building
and maintenance by licensing out building plots on the bridge but this was never enough. The bridge was 26 feet (8 m) wide according
to some records that were later disputed. The structure was about 800–900 feet (240–270m)
long, supported by 19 irregularly spaced arches, founded on starlings set into the
river-bed. Starlings are the brick defensives surrounding
the bridge’s supports. They’re shaped to ease the flow of the water
around the bridge, reducing erosion and spreading the weight of the piers. The bridge had a drawbridge to allow for the
passage of tall ships, and defensive gatehouses at both ends. By 1358 it was already crowded with 138 shops. At least one two-entranced, multi-seated public
latrine overhung the bridge parapets and discharged into the river below; so did an unknown number
of private latrines reserved for Bridge householders or shopkeepers and bridge officials. The buildings on London Bridge were a major
fire hazard and increased the load on its arches, several of which had to be rebuilt
over the centuries. In 1212, perhaps the greatest of the early
fires of London broke out on both ends of the bridge simultaneously, trapping many people
in the middle. Houses on the bridge were burnt during Wat
Tyler's Peasants' Revolt in 1381 and during Jack Cade's rebellion against the Government
in 1450. By the Tudor period, there were some 200 buildings
on the bridge. Some stood seven storeys high, some overhung
the river by seven feet, and some overhung the road, to form a dark tunnel through which
all traffic had to pass. This was made worse by the 1577 addition of
the palatial Nonsuch House. The available roadway was just 12 feet (4
m) wide, divided into two lanes, so that in each direction, carts, wagons, coaches and
pedestrians shared a single file lane six feet wide. When the bridge was congested, crossing it
could take up to an hour. Those who could afford the fare might prefer
to cross by ferry, but the bridge structure had several undesirable effects on river traffic. The narrow arches and wide pier bases restricted
the river's tidal ebb and flow, so that in hard winters, the river upstream of the bridge became
more susceptible to freezing and impassable by boat. The flow was further obstructed in the 16th
century by waterwheels under the two north arches to drive water pumps, and under the
two south arches to power grain mills. The difference in water levels on the two
sides of the bridge could be as much as 6 feet (2 m), producing ferocious rapids between
the piers. Only the brave or foolhardy attempted to "shoot
the bridge"—steer a boat between the starlings when in flood—and some were drowned in the
attempt. The bridge was "for wise men to pass over,
and for fools to pass under." In 1666, the Great Fire of London first destroyed
the bridge's waterwheels, preventing them from pumping water to fight the fire, and
then burned one third of the houses on the bridge; a gap in a building left by a previous
fire in 1633 prevented the destruction of the rest. The southern gatehouse became the scene of
one of London's most notorious sights — a display of the severed heads of traitors,
impaled on pikes, a tradition that started in 1305 and continued for 355 years. Over the years, incidents of arches collapsing
were recorded in 1281, 1282 and 1437. By 1710, most of the houses on the bridge
had been rebuilt in the Restoration style and in order to widen the roadway to 20 feet
(6 metres), the new houses were built overhanging the river supported by wooden girders and
struts which hid the tops of the arches. In 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 has been suggested as one possible origin
for the practice of traffic in Britain driving on the left. A fire in September 1725 destroyed houses
on the bridge's east side and damaged some on the west side, but were rebuilt. The last houses to be built on the bridge
were in 1745, but even these elegant buildings had begun to subside within a decade. In 1756, the London Bridge Act gave the City
Corporation the power to purchase all the properties on the bridge so that they could
be demolished and the bridge improved. While this work was underway, a temporary
wooden bridge was constructed to the west of London Bridge. It opened in October 1757 but caught fire
and collapsed in the following April. The old bridge was reopened until a new wooden
construction could be completed a year later. To help improve navigation under the bridge,
its two centre arches were replaced by a single wider span, the Great Arch, in 1759. Demolition of the houses was completed in
1762 and the last tenant departed after some 550 years of housing on the bridge. The roadway was widened to 46 feet (14 metres)
and a balustrade was added together with fourteen stone alcoves for pedestrians to shelter in. However, the creation of the Great Arch had
weakened the rest of the structure and constant expensive repairs were required in the following
decades. The old nursery rhyme “London Bridge is
falling down” was very apt. The structural weakness, combined with congestion
both on and under bridge, often leading to fatal accidents, resulted in public pressure
for a modern replacement that was opened in 1831. Famously this bridge was sold to Missouri
entrepreneur Robert P. McCulloch in 1967. It now spans the Bridgewater Channel canal. Despite many rumours, he didn’t think he
was buying the more famous Tower Bridge!
