L O N D O N. 
102 
ffrong weftern wind, blowing into the face of the tide, 
fufpended its coming up; as the fame thing has occafion- 
ally happened fmce; bat particularly on the 13th of De¬ 
cember, t7.11. 
In the year 1136 the bridge was con fumed by fire; and 
in 1163 it was in fuch a ruinous ftate as to be rebuilt un¬ 
der the infpeftion of Peter, curate of St. Mary Colechurch 
in London, who was celebrated for his knowledge in ar¬ 
chitecture. At length, the continued and heavy expenfe 
w hich was neceiTary to maintain a wooden bridge becoming 
burtbenfome to the people, (who, when the lands appropri¬ 
ated for its maintenance proved inadequate to theii object, 
were taxed to fupply the deficiency,) it was refolved, in 
the year 1176, to build one of Hone, a little to the weit 
of the other; and this ftrufture was completed in the year 
1209. The fame architeft was employed, who died four 
years before it was finifhed, and was buried in a beautiful 
chapel, probably of his own conflruftion, dedicated to St. 
Thomas, which itood on the ninth pier from the north end, 
and had an entrance from the river, as well as the ftreet, 
by a winding ftaircafe. In the middle of it was a tomb, 
fuppofed to contain the remains of its architect. This 
bridge, with the chapel over it, is the fubject of the an¬ 
nexed Plate. 
Qf this chapel, the fame author (Stow) gives us the fol¬ 
lowing interefting account: “ King John gave a certaine 
void place in London to rebuild on, the profits thereof to 
remaine towards the charges of building and repayring 
of the fame bridge. A mafon, being malter-workman of 
the bridge, builded (from the foundation) the large chap- 
pell on that bridge of his own charges ; which chappell was 
then endowed for two priefts, foure clarkes, &c, befides 
chantries fince founded by John Hatfield and others. 
After the finifhing of this chappell, which was the firfl 
building upon thofe arches, l'undry houfes (at times) were 
erefted, and many charitable men gave lands, tenements, 
or fummes of money, towards the maintenance thereof; 
all which was fometimes noted, and in a table faire writ¬ 
ten for pofterity, and remaining in the chappell, till the 
fame chappell was turned to a dwelling-houfe, and then 
[this writing was] removed to the bridge-houfe. We 
find that the fum paid for one whole year, from Michael¬ 
mas Hen. VII. amounted to 815I. 17s. 2d. for repairs 
and allowances ; by which account then made may he 
partly gueifed the great charges and difcharges of that 
bridge at this day, when things be ftretched to fo great a 
price.” The tower, which was at the north end of the 
drawbridge, was built in the year 1426, and fliared the fame 
fate as the houfes, ,as will be mentioned below. There 
Was another over the gate at the fouth end towards South¬ 
wark. The whole fell down in 1436 ; but, by the contri¬ 
butions of feveral wealthy and well-minded citizens, it 
was rebuilt, and thirteen houfes more were added. 
But, though fo much art and expenfe were employed 
in building the bridge with ftone, it fuftered very much 
from a fire in the ftreets at each end ; fo that, from this 
accident and other circumltances, it was in fuch ruinous 
condition, that king Edward I. granted a brief to the 
bridge-keeper to aik and receive the benevolence of his 
fubjefts towards repairing it. At this time, as our En¬ 
graving will fhow, there were no houfes on the bridge, 
nor probably for two hundred years afterwards, as we read 
of tilts and tournaments being held there in 1395. The 
houfes were erected at the beginning of the fifteenth cen¬ 
tury, and were not removed till the time we are fpeaking 
of, 1758. 
The Thames, in this part of it, is 915 feet broad, which 
is the length of the bridge. The Itreet that covered it 
confifted, before the houles fell to decay, of lofty edifices, 
built with fome attention to exterior regularity ; it was 
twenty feet wide, and the buildings on either fide about 
twenty-fix feet in depth. Acrofs the middle of the ffreet 
ran feveral lofty arches, extending from fide to fide ; the 
bottom part of each arch terminating at the firft Itory, 
and the upper part reaching near the tops of the houfes. 
the work over the arches extending in a right line from 
fide to fide. They were defigned to prevent the build¬ 
ings from giving way, and were therefore formed of ftrong 
timbers, bolted in the correfponding wood-work of the 
houfes that flanked them. Thus the ftreet on the bridge 
had nothing to diltinguifh it from any narrow dark ftreet in 
the city but the high arches juft deferibed, and three open¬ 
ings, guarded with iron rails, which afforded a view of the 
river. But the appearance from the water baffled all de- 
feription, and dif’played a ftrange example of curious de¬ 
formity, as is generally the cafe when houfes are erefted 
upon bridges. Nineteen arches, of different heights and 
breadths, with fterlings increaled to a monftrous lize by 
frequent repairs, ferved to fupport a range of houfes as 
irregular as themfelves ; the back part of which, broken 
by hanging clofets and irregular projeitions, offered a very 
difgufting object ; while many of the buildings overhung 
the arches, fo as to hide the upper part of them, and 
feemed to lean in fuch a manner as to fill the beholder 
with equal amazement and horror. In one part of this 
extraordinary ftrufture there had formerly been a draw¬ 
bridge, which was ufeful by way of defence, as well as to 
admit (hips to the upper part of the river, and it was 
guarded by a tower. It prevented Fauconbridge the Baf- 
tard from entering the city in 1471 with his armed fol¬ 
lowers, on the pretence of liberating the unfortunate Henry 
from his imprifonment in the Tower. It alfo checked, 
and indeed feemed to annihilate, the ill-condufted inl'ur- 
reftion of fir Thomas Wyat, in the reign of queen Mary. 
In the time of civil diflenfion, which rendered this king¬ 
dom a continual feene of turbulence and bloodflied, this 
tower was employed to expofe the heads of traitors ; and 
an old map of the city, in 1 597, reprefents this building 
as decorated with a fad and numerous exhibition of them. 
In the year 1746 the corporation of London came to the 
refolution of taking down all the houfes on the bridge, 
and enlarging one or more of its arches to improve the 
navigation beneath it; but it was ten years before this re¬ 
folution was carried into effeft. In the courfe of the re¬ 
pair and enlargement, when it was begun, it was found 
neceflary to conftruft a temporary paflage over the river, 
to preferve the communication between London and South¬ 
wark uninterrupted during the alteration and repair of 
London-bridge. For this purpofe, a wooden bridge had 
been erected alongflde of it, bending at each end, and 
opening into the entrances of the ltone-bridge. Great 
was the aftonifhment of the citizens, when, on April nth, 
1758, about eleven o’clock at night, this timber bridge 
appeared in flames. It continued burning till noon the 
next day, when the ruins fell into the river ; and thus a 
total flop was put to all trade.that depended upon the in- 
tercourfe between London and the oppofite fhore, except¬ 
ing what could be carried on by boats. The inhabitants 
of Southwark were much diftrefled by the deftruftion 
of the troughs that conveyed water to them over the 
bridge during its repair. How this fire happened was ne¬ 
ver known. The lord-mayor licenfed forty boats extra¬ 
ordinary to work on the three fucceeding Sundays as ferry¬ 
boats, whole flations were advertifed in the public papers 5 
and great numbers of workmen were employed to make a 
prefent paflage over the remains of the old bridge. The 
common-council immediately ordered another temporary 
bridge to be erefted with the utmolt dilpatch ; and fo di¬ 
ligently was this order executed, that it was completed 
and opened for carriages in lefs than a month. It was 
upon this occafion that an aft was pafled to amend the 
former aft for the repair of London-bridge ; which granted 
15,000). for that purpofe; repealed the late tolls impoled 
for paflage over and under the bridge; and declared that 
perlons wilfully attempting to deftroy any part of the 
bridge, or of the works belonging to it, fhould fuffer 
death without benefit of clergy; this was becaufe it had 
been fulpefted that the temporary bridge had been let on 
fire malicioufly. 
When they began the work of removing the houfes 
from 
