(first Published in Small World Ezine on 21 May 2002)
I saw the story of the London Bridge in yesterday's Disney
Channel, and thought it was interesting. You probably know
it already. But it's still something to talk about for our
kind of ezine, right? :-)
The above picture is the old London Bridge, not the one you see below...
(Tower Bridge)
The first time I went to London (1992), I went looking for the
London Bridge because I wanted to know the story behind the
"London Bridge is Falling Down" song. And I was pretty
disappointed that the London Bridge was "just a bridge". Oh
it's only until I found out that normal looking bridge was
not the bridge in the song.
(Battersea Bridge)
When the Roman was there, ther was no London (yet). The first
bridge was probably built around 80 AD from timber in order to
cross the Thames. We do not know how the Roman (or the Saxon
who arrived arter them) called the bridge. A later record
written in 984 AD was probably the first document to mention
the "London Bridge".
Two other timber bridges followed, one being swept away
entirely in a storm in 1091. A third was built in 1163. The
man who built it, a priest named Peter de Colechurch, vowed
that his next bridge would be of stone. That was around the
time of King Henry II.
This bridge took 30 years to build. It had a road 20 feet wide
and 300 yards long and was supported by 20 arches, curving to
a point in Gothic style. This time it lasted over 600 years.
There were gatehouses, a drawbridge and the street houses to
provide rent for the upkeep of the bridge. Then, People and
merchants began building houses and shops on the bridge and
this continued in the years to come. They projected far out
on both sides of the bridge supported by stout Timbers. Many
tradesmen brought their specialties to the bridge and it was
soon nearly completely covered with buildings.
(Early London Bridge)
In 1450 the bridge was held against Jack Cade and his rebels.
There was fire. Houses were burnt. People were slaughtered.
But the worst time was the 1633 fire. Forty-three houses were
destroyed and many of the shops were also burned and damaged.
But this helped prevent the damage from the great fire in 1666
because the 1633 fire had left a big gap before the bridge
and the fire of 1666 could not reach the other side.
When they rebuilt London after the great fire, they also
rebuilt the bridge. This time they replaced the drawbridge with a
big arch in the middle.
In 1825, the new bridge was built 100 feet west of the old
bridge. It was finished in 1831. And they demolished the old
bridge. However, more traffic came with civilization --
trains, buses, etc., this bridge did not last very long. It
sank unevenly as years passed and could no longer cope with
the extent of modern traffic. So, the British Government sold
the bridge to Robert McCulloch of Arizona, USA for $2,460,000.
They moved it to Lake Havasu, Arizona in 1960's. And it's been
a tourist attraction of Arizona until today. It is here:
http://www.oldlondonbridge.com/images/arizona.jpg
(London Bridge 1909-10)
They built a new concrete bridge in the same place over the
Thames.
Nice Picture of The Construction of Tower Bridge London 1892-1894
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