London Bridge is falling down, or so the nursery rhyme would have
us believe. Curiously, it has never been true. Battered by time and
the elements, the London Bridge of the song was certainly damaged,
just as it was repaired. It became a thing of beauty for artists, a
site of pollution for social reformers. But never once during the
600-odd years of its chequered existence did London Bridge actually
fall down. The construction of what is now known as Old London
Bridge began in 1176. Taking over three decades to complete, it
supported shops, dwellings, warehouses and even the Gothic chapel
of St Thomas a Becket. Effectively a satellite city over water, the
Bridge was to see jousting, battles, fire and plague. Frost fairs
held on the frozen river below its arches spoke of prosperity while
the severed heads spiked on Traitor's Gate above recalled life's
more perilous side. Europe boasted other inhabited bridges, some
still standing today, but at 900-plus feet in span and with a
five-century monopoly of one of the most strategically important
waterways in the world, Old London Bridge remains unrivalled, if
poignantly so. In 1831, demolition began. By 1973 the pretender to
its throne was carrying upwards of 40,000 motor vehicles a day.
Five years earlier a new version of London Bridge had suffered the
ultimate indignity: it was sold to America as a tourist attraction.
Patricia Pierce's exhaustively researched work is not only a vivid
account of this extraordinary edifice but also shows how it stands
as a microcosm of history. From Magna Carta up to Dickens, little
happened that did not in some way affect Old London Bridge. Happily
its legacy lives on. Bridge House Estates, a charity whose origins
date from the Middle Ages, granted #4.5 million for the new
millennium footbridge over the Thames. Unfortunately, it had a
wobble. Something that could not be said of this most assured of
writers. (Kirkus UK)
The story of Old London Bridge is a turbulent and varied one,
spanning over 600 years from 1176 to 1832. In every period, the
bridge was the focal point for war and conflict, from early Viking
raids to the Civl War. In times of peace, the bridge was thriving
commercial centre and an arena for many pleasures including
spectacular national ceremonies, races, pageants, jousts and
regattas. Thousands lived and died in the "town on the bridge", a
bustling community of merchants, craftsmen, thieves and rogues.
Many stories are intertwined with that of Old London Bridge and the
author weaves them together in this social history of London. She
describes each stage in the bridge's history in a detailed
narrative and peppered with colourful characters - monarchs and
traitors, priests and pilgrims, artists and writers.
General
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