258 OLD LONDON BRIDGE. TART IV. 



roar of the bridge " was heard a long way off. The feat 

 of " shooting the bridge " was in those days attended 

 with considerable danger, and lives were frequently lost 

 in the attempt. Hence prudent passengers, who took a 

 boat for down river, usually landed above the bridge 

 and walked to the nearest wharf below, where they again 

 embarked. The more venturesome risked " shooting the 

 bridge," and thus boats were often swamped and their 

 passengers drowned. In 1428 John Mowbray, second 

 Duke of Norfolk, when passing under one of the arches, 

 ran his boat upon the pile-work, and had very nearly 

 perished ; but leaping on to one of the starlings, he 

 was then hauled up to the bridge by ropes let down to 

 him for the purpose. The risk attending this operation 

 of shooting the bridge explains the old proverb, that 

 " London Bridge was made for wise men to go over and 

 fools to go under." 



Perhaps the most singular features of the old bridge? 

 were its upper platform, consisting of two rows of houses 

 with a narrow roadway between, the chapel and draw- 

 bridge, and the turreted battlements at either end. The 

 length of the roadway was 926 feet, and from end 

 to end it was enclosed by the lofty timber-houses, which 

 were held together by arches crossing overhead from one 

 range to the other and thus keeping the whole in posi- 

 tion. The street was narrow, dark, and dangerous. 

 There were only three openings along it on either side, 

 provided with balustrades, from which a view of fhe 

 river and its shipping might be obtained, as well as of 

 the rear of the houses themselves, which overhung the 

 parapets arid completely hid the arches from sight. On 

 the centre pier was the chapel with its tower, and at 

 the ends of the bridge were the gate-houses, on which 

 the grim heads of traitors and unfortunate partisans were 

 stuck upon poles until a comparatively recent period. 

 Hentzner, a German traveller, counted above thirty 

 heads displayed upon them as late as the year l..">!-)8. 



