Motley Talk about Bridges
The Thames in London was the heart of the city, carrying passengers and the trade that made London wealthy. So why did this great city only have one bridge until 1750?
Dear Friends, let’s talk about the River Thames and its bridges. I have been thinking about the London bridges ever since I wrote about London Bridge in ‘The Frost Fairs’. Nowadays we seem to have lost touch with the river Thames, but before the 20th Century it was the heart of London, the entryway for the wealth that made London what it is today.
The Thames is the longest river entirely in England, at 215 miles long (346 km). The Thames flows from Gloucestershire in the west down to where the river water begins to meet the sea water. After that the water follows the rhythm of the tides, finally flowing through the Thames Estuary and into the North Sea.
It seems that the London area remained an underpopulated forest region until the Romans arrived. At its narrowest point the River Thames (which was much wider and not as deep as in modern times) could be crossed by ford when the tide was low, or by a ferry when the tide was high.
At very low tide, twice a year, wooden stumps can be seen which are all that remains of an ancient Vauxhall Bridge, close to the present bridge. The bridge was built around 1550 BCE. Little is known for certain, but the bridge probably led to a gravel island in the middle of the river, which may have been a burial site.
Around 50 BCE the Romans landed in Deal, on the south coast of England, but they soon found the Thames Estuary and sailed up-river. As Julius Caesar describes, they found a small town surrounded by a thick wood, “fortified with a ditch and rampart, to serve as a place of retreat against the incursions of their enemies.” When the Romans settled they established a port and trading post and called it Londinium; it was on the current site of the City of London. Then those fine Roman engineers built the first bridge to span the Thames.
Britain was part of the Roman Empire for over 360 years, until the 5th Century when the Empire fell, and the Romans abandoned Londinium. In the years that followed the city was attacked by Vikings and other raiders, the bridge fell into disrepair and the city was practically abandoned.
By the 9th Century London was gradually re-established and a new, wooden ‘London’ bridge built in the same place as the Roman bridge (and replaced a few times in the following years). Now, in one of those wonderful side steps that history makes, I must introduce the ‘turbulent priest’.
Thomas Becket became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162. Part of his duties was to protect the church from the power of the king (at the time King Henry II). Becket took his duties very seriously, which caused all sorts of problems for the king. Apparently, King Henry said one day, to no-one in particular, “will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?”. Four of Henry’s knights thought they would help their King and they travelled to Canterbury, where they killed Becket in his cathedral.
But King Henry had not intended that Becket should be killed (or so he said) and as part of his penance King Henry paid to replace the existing London Bridge with a new stone bridge, including a chapel dedicated to Becket in the middle. Construction took 33 years and by the time it was completed in 1209 King Henry II was long dead.
The new London Bridge had nineteen arches and a wooden drawbridge, which could be raised if the city had to be defended. Shops with four or five stories of accommodation above were built on the bridge from the beginning, which accounted for the many arches needed to support their weight.
There were problems with the arches. Firstly, they constrained the river water so, depending on the ebb & flow of the tide, the difference in water level between the two sides of the bridge could be as much as 6 feet (1.8 m), producing ferocious rapids between the piers. The second problem was that the piers were made from wood. If wood is submerged it will be okay and if it is dry it will be okay, but wood that is wet at high tide, then dry at low tide (as happened to the wood in middle of the piers), decayed and needed constant maintenance. There were incidents when some of the arches collapsed. But they had a (cunning) plan. The revenue from the shops and houses on the bridge and the tolls from people crossing the bridge was sufficient to pay for the maintenance and upkeep of the bridge. Except…
King Henry III gave his wife Eleanor of Provence the bridge revenues. Instead of using the funds to maintain the bridge, the already unpopular Queen used the money as her personal funds (she was a leader of fashion). In 1281 five arches collapsed. The funds were moved. Hence the old nursery rhyme;
London Bridge is falling down, Falling down, falling down. London Bridge is falling down, My fair lady.
There was a major fire on the bridge in 1633, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because it made a fire break, so that during the 1666 Great Fire of London the bridge survived. Though the bridge decayed over time and houses were demolished, the medieval London Bridge lasted over 600 years.
Until the 18th Century London Bridge was the only bridge in London, so the river was the main highway through the city and beyond. The river was full of small boats taking passengers up, down & across the river with larger boats and ships carrying goods, soldiers, adventurers .. and pirates (see my Motley Talk about Pirates). The world travelled to London on the Thames.
On the Thames the Watermen, plying their boats for passengers, were the masters of the river. In 1514 King Henry VIII granted a licence to the Watermen, giving them exclusive rights to carry passengers on the river. The Company of Watermen of the River Thames were a powerful body and formed a type of trade union to set tariffs, manage apprenticeships (which lasted 5 years) and reduce accidents on the river. Obviously, they disliked bridges.
After so long with just one bridge in London, the parliamentarians insisted they needed a new bridge. Westminster Bridge was opened in 1750 but not without strong opposition from the Watermen, who feared they would lose their trade. In the end the Watermen received the equivalent of £2 million in compensation. The confrontation and compensation for Watermen has been repeated for every bridge that has since been built across the Thames. The current Westminster Bridge dates from 1862.
The other central London bridges (from Vauxhall Bridge to Tower Bridge) were opened on these dates, with many being rebuilt (the second date):
Blackfriars Bridge 1769 and 1869
Blackfriars Bridge (a railway bridge) 1864 and 1886
Vauxhall Bridge 1816 and 1906
Waterloo Bridge 1817 and 1945
Southwark Bridge 1819 and 1921
London Bridge was replaced with a stone bridge in 1831, a little further up-river. The medieval London Bridge was then pulled down. That stone bridge (seen on the left in the picture and since rebuilt in Arizona, USA) was replaced in 1973.
Lambeth Bridge 1862 and 1932
Hungerford Bridge (a railway bridge) 1864
Cannon Street Bridge (a railway bridge) 1866
Tower Bridge was opened in 1894, a triumph of Victorian engineering that allowed tall ships to sail through the bridge.
Golden Jubilee Bridges (pedestrian bridges on either side of Hungerford Bridge) 2002
Millennium Bridge (a pedestrian bridge otherwise known as the Wobbly Bridge) 2000 and 2002
In 2015, when Boris Johnson was Mayor of London, he announced plans for 13 new river crossings; so far none have been built (unsurprisingly). The Company of Watermen survives and still works on behalf of its members and charities. I presume they will continue to demand compensation (even if only in jest) for each new bridge.
In the 19th Century London was the biggest city in the world, and as it grew the city expanded outwards. The building of the Embankment in the 19th Century, with roads on top and at the side of the river, further separated Londoners from the Thames. Sadly, nowadays Londoners rarely venture onto the river Thames. If you would like to do so, the Thames Clipper boats have routes that pass under all the bridges mentioned.
Oh me too …
Fascinating. The Thames is an amazing part of history and continues to be as interesting now as it has ever been.