Old London Bridge

This bridge disappeared in 1832. Eight centuries at least had elapsed since the commencement of that bridge traffic. There were three or four bridges of wood successively built at this spot before 1176 A.D., in which year the stone structure was commenced; and this was the veritable "Old London Bridge," which served the citizens for more than six hundred and fifty years. A curious fabric it was, containing an immense quantity of stone arches of various shapes and sizes, piers so bulky as to render the navigation between them very dangerous, and (until 1754) a row of buildings a-top.

So many were the evils which accumulated upon, around, and under it, that a new bridge was resolved upon in 1823--against strong opposition on the part of the Corporation. John Rennie furnished the plans, and his son, Sir John, carried them out. The new bridge was opened by William IV., August 1st, 1831.

The Old London Bridge, for a waterway on nine hundred feet, had eighteen solid stone piers, varying from twenty-five to thirty-four feet in thickness; thus confining the flow of the river within less than half its natural channel.

That this arose simply from bad engineering is very probable; but it admitted of huge blocks of building being placed on the bridge, with only a few interspaces, from one end to the other. These formed houses of four stories in height, spanning across the passageway for traffic, most of which was, of course, as dark as a railway-tunnel. Nestling about the basement-floors of these buildings were shops, some of which were devoted to the business of bookselling and publishing.

It is obvious that the inhabitants of these dwellings must have been sadly pent up and confined; it would be, above all, a miserable field for infant life; yet nothing can be more certain than that they were densely packed with people.

About the centre, on a pier larger than the rest, was reared a chapel, of Gothic architecture of the twelfth century, sixty feet by twenty, and of two floors, dedicated to St. Thomas of Canterbury, and styled St. Peter's of the Bridge; a strange site, one would think, for an edifice of that sacred character, and yet we are assured that to rear religious houses upon bridges was by no means an uncommon practice in mediaval times. In the earlier days of Old London Bridge, the gate at the end toward the city was that on which the heads of executed traitors were exhibited; but in the reign of Elizabeth this grisly show was transferred to the "Traitors Gate," at the Southwark end. A representation of this gate, with the rows of heads above it, is here given (illustration at top of page).

Article from Illustrated Home Book of the World's Great Nations, edited by Thomas Powell, Saalfield Publishing Company, New York, 1901

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