LONDON BRIDGE

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 21 August 1926, Page 11

LONDON BRIDGE

ANECDOTE] and story are clustered in close compass round the three historic . bridges which span old Father Thames. These bridges have been the scene of events that illustrate almost every age of English history, because to read and gather information concerning these bridges one must read of London, and few great meirincleecbthat England has produced but have some associations that connect them with London, and all of them have at some time or another witnessed, on these same bridges, events which have left their indelible mark on English history. In histories, in biographies, in scientific records, ancl in chronicles of the past, these bridges connect ns with the great and the Aviso, the base and the noble, the odd and the Avitty, avllo luia’o inhabited London and left their names upon its Avails. The first bridge throAvn OA r er the Thames takes ns back nearly one thousand years. This first bridge over the Thames was’ a Avooden one, erected by the nuns of St. Mary’s Monastery I a convent of sisters endoAved by the daughter of a rich Thames ferryman. The bridge figures as a fortified phice in the early Danish invasions, and the Norwegian Prince Olaf nearly dragged it to pieces in trying to dispossess the Danes, who held it in 1008. It Avas swept aAvay in a flood, and its successor Avas burnt. In the reign of Henry 11., Pious Peter, a chaplain of Mary Ooleehnreh, built a stone bridge a little further Avest, and the King- helped him Avith the proceeds of a tax on wool, Avhich gaA’c rise to a saying that “London Bridge Avas built upon wool packs.” Peter’s bridge Avas a curious structure, Avith nineteen pointed arches and a drawbridge. From 1176 down to the year 1832, a period of 656 years, Peter’s bridge reared its curious front before the eye, the pride of Londoners, and one of the wonders oi! the woild.

The method adopted by Peter in constructing the bridge was not accurately known till 1758, and the observations then made were confirmed in 1832, when the major portion of the old structure was finally removed. Peter began by driving elm stumps from sft to 6ft in length, whose points were shod with iron, into the bed of the river at low water, and so marked out a causeway for the foundation right across the river. He planned twenty openings of varying dimensions, and of his twenty-one piers, nineteen were constructed in the river. The arches varied from 10ft to one of 70ft. which was the principal, and this was fitted with a wooden drawbridge, raised and lowered by ropes for the passage of vessels. Like the arches, the piers varied from 17ft to 25ft. but there was one which was 34ft in width. The bridge stood 60ft above the level of the water, the roadway was Sift above the crown of the arched openings, and the total length was 926 ft. The piers were marked out with piles.

ROMANCE OF FATHER THAMES

HISTORY OF A THOUSAND YEARS

and so also were the starlings which served to protect the piers from the wash of the tides, in the spaces between the piers and the starlings were cast Kentish rubble,, mixed with chalk and hint, and 2ft below low water there was laid on a platform of oak, the planks being 1 (jin. wide and 9in. thick. The masonry of tlie superstructure rested on the oak planking. For twenty-five years Peter continued to supervise the erection. In 1201, in consequence of illness, Peter gave up the commission, ancl Isenbert, another priest, was directed by King John and the Archbishop of Canterbury to complete the work according to the plans. When the bridge was first erected, there were gates and towers at each end, but no houses until a much later period. At one period there was a block of forty-three houses on the bridge, which had a continuous roof, so that the passage on the bridge was under a tunnel, the roof of which formed the floor of the rooms above. At another period arches v were thrown from pier to pier above the bridge, above which, bouses were erected. Three hundred years after the bridge was built, in .1533, the' rents of the houses and shops brought in £846; i'n 1556 £1069 was received; in 1562 £lO7l, and in 1590 £1369. ' The citizens appeared to think that there was no public function Avhieh the bridge could not be made to serve. Thus, in 1512, they allowed one. Peter Morris, a Dutch engineer, to erect an engine on the north end, by which water was pumped through pipes to a water conduit in Cornhill, and they allowed him to block five arches in order to obtain a sufficient quantity of water to turn his water-wheel. This contrivance till 1822, when.it was finally removed. In the Middle Ages, London bridge was the scene of affrays of all kinds. At one time, the houses upon it caught fire at both ends, and 3000 persons perished, caught and wedged in among the flames. Henry 111. was driven back here by the rebellious De Montfort, Earl of Leicester, Wat Tyler - entered the. City by London i Bridge, and later Richard IT. was received here with gorgeous ceremonies. It was the scene of one of Henry V.’s greatest •triumphs, and also of his stately funeral procession. Jack Cade seized London Bridge, and as he passed, slashed in two the ropes of the drawbridge,- though soon after his head was' stuck on the gatehouse. From this bridge, the rebel Wyatt was driven, by the guns of the To Aver. In the Middle Ages, countless rebels’ heads were stuck on the gatehouses of London Bridge. The present bridge Avas commenced in 1824. Rennie designed it, and in 1831 William IV. and Queen Adelaide opened it. One hundred and twenty thousand tons of stone went to it;; formation. The old bridge Avas not entirely removed till 1832, when the bones of the builder, Pious Peter, Avere found in the crypt of the central chapel, where tradition had declared they laA r .