History of London Bridge
The first London Bridge was built by the Romans sometime after AD43 and some of its wooden remains have been found on the north side of the river. During its life the wooden structure was renewed several times, and it was probably to this earlier bridge that the nursery rhyme 'London Bridge is falling down'. The wooden structure was eventually replaced with a stone bridge which commenced building in 1176 and featured twenty arches and stone piers with a drawbridge. This took thirty years to complete and houses and shops were incorporated to help pay for the upkeep of the bridge.
In 1825 a new bridge designed by John Rennie, was opened, as the old one could no longer cope with the increasing traffic. The bridge was widened in 1902 and was the bridge that Charles Dickens had in mind during Oliver Twist, and the steps that used to lead down to the river on the west side of the bridge became 'Nancy's Steps'. In 1970, this bridge was sold to Lake Havasu City, Arizona and was painstakingly dismantled piece by piece, which were then numbered and reconstructed in Lake Havasu City over a man-made canal. The current bridge that we see today was opened in 1973.
The area in between London Bridge and Tower Bridge was known as the Pool of London and has been of vital importance to London for centuries but reached its peak in the 18th and 19th centuries. At this time the river was lined with nearly continuous walls of wharves running for miles along both banks. The area was so crowded that it was said you were able to walk across the river by simply stepping for ship to ship. The area around Hays Wharf in its heyday handled so much food it was nicknamed London's Larder and 80% of the dry produce coming into Great Britain passed through this wharf.
Tower Bridge was completed in 1894 after eight years of construction, the need for the bridge had arisen towards the end of 19th century as the east end has become so densely populated. 50 designers submitted plans for the bridge and eventually Horace Jones in collaboration with John Wolfe Barry offered up the solution which became Tower Bridge. At the time it was the largest and most sophisticated bascule bridge ever built and the bascules only took a minute to rise to their maximum height of 86 degrees, allowing boats to continue to access the busy Pool of London.
