Old London bridge in 1760
Illustration from a history of England published in 1906. Info from wiki: After the murder of his erstwhile friend and later opponent Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, the penitent King Henry II commissioned a new stone bridge in place of the old, with a chapel at its centre dedicated to Becket as martyr. The archbishop had been a native Londoner and a popular figure. 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, supervised by Peter of Colechurch.[12] The costs would have been enormous; Henry's attempt to meet them with taxes on wool and sheepskins probably gave rise to a later legend that London Bridge was built on wool packs.[12] It was finished by 1209 during the reign of King John; it had taken 33 years to complete. John tried to recoup the cost of building and maintenance by licensing out building plots on the bridge but this was never enough. In 1284, in exchange for loans to Edward I, the City of London acquired the Charter for the maintenance of the bridge, based on the duties and toll-rights of the former "Brethren of the Bridge" By 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.[20] From 1758 to 1762, all houses and shops on the bridge were demolished through Act of Parliament. To help improve navigation under the bridge, its two centre arches were replaced by a single wider span. Even so, the basic medieval structure was narrow, increasingly decrepit and evidently long past its useful life.
Size: 3270px × 2443px
Photo credit: © Historical Images Archive / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1209–1831, 1760, 18th, architecture, bridge, bridges, buildings, century, driving, england, engraving, fire, hazard, illustration, image, left, london, major, medieval, origin, picture, shops
