WEBVTT - Has London Bridge Ever Fallen Down?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuffloren Boglebaum.

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<v Speaker 1>Here crossing the River Thames between the city of London

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<v Speaker 1>and southern The London Bridge in some form has welcomed

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<v Speaker 1>travelers for two millennia. Yet despite its longevity and fame,

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<v Speaker 1>it even has its own nursery rhyme. Oh. What people

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<v Speaker 1>think of as the London Bridge is often not the

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<v Speaker 1>London Bridge at all. In fact, do a Google search

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<v Speaker 1>for images of London Bridge and what you'll probably see

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<v Speaker 1>instead are images of the Tower Bridge, the famous Victorian

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<v Speaker 1>Gothic structure with two towers, which, to be fair, is

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<v Speaker 1>also a bridge in London. The actual London Bridge offers

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<v Speaker 1>a much simpler profile, and while the current structure dates

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<v Speaker 1>for the late nineteen hundreds, the story of the bridges

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<v Speaker 1>that have stood on that site is considerably longer. Today,

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<v Speaker 1>the London Bridge, Tower Bridge and three others are all

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<v Speaker 1>managed by the City Bridge Foundation, which has been operating

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<v Speaker 1>in one form or another for some nine hundred years.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a charitable trust and money is not required by

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<v Speaker 1>the bridge maintenance budget go to helping out Londoners in

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<v Speaker 1>need via the funding arm a City Bridge Trust. The

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<v Speaker 1>City Bridge Trust donates thirty million pounds a year in

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<v Speaker 1>this way. Okay. The first stone bridge on this site

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<v Speaker 1>across the Thames was built between eleven seventy six and

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<v Speaker 1>twelve oh nine CE. It was replaced in the early

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<v Speaker 1>eighteen hundreds and then again when the existing bridge was

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<v Speaker 1>built in the nineteen sixties and seventies. However, even before

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<v Speaker 1>the twelfth century stone bridge, a series of wooden bridges

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<v Speaker 1>had been constructed at the site, and the story of

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<v Speaker 1>the London Bridge begins with a Roman invasion and the

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<v Speaker 1>founding of the settlement of London Eum. It got its

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<v Speaker 1>start as a military pontoon bridge built by the Romans

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<v Speaker 1>when they were settling the area. For the next two

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<v Speaker 1>thousand years, the position of the bridge remained in nexus

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<v Speaker 1>for economic development. Timber bridges on the site were damaged

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<v Speaker 1>by multiple fires and a storm. The final wooden bridge,

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<v Speaker 1>designed by Peter, the Bridgemaster Chaplain of Saint Mary Colechurch,

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<v Speaker 1>was completed in eleven sixty three. Henry the Second commissioned

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<v Speaker 1>the first stone structure, also designed by Peter, just a

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<v Speaker 1>decade later, slightly to the west of the timber bridge location.

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<v Speaker 1>It was a simple masonry arched bridge and included a drawbridge.

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<v Speaker 1>This version, now referred to as the Old London Bridge,

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<v Speaker 1>was used as both day river crossing and a development

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<v Speaker 1>site for half a millennia. The stone Bridge was home

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<v Speaker 1>to around two hundred buildings at any given time, including residences, shops,

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<v Speaker 1>and a chapel dedicated to Saint Thomas of Canterbury. It

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<v Speaker 1>was during this period that the bridge was also home

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<v Speaker 1>to a morbid display the heads of traders to the

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<v Speaker 1>Crown dipped in tar and set on pikes at the

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<v Speaker 1>bridge's southern gateway, including those of Scottish hero Sir William

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<v Speaker 1>Walla and King Henry the Eighths. Chief Minister Thomas Cromwell,

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<v Speaker 1>who we've talked about in our episode on Humpty Dumpty

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<v Speaker 1>of all Things, Charles the Second stopped the practice in

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<v Speaker 1>sixteen sixty. Over the years, with so much development, the

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<v Speaker 1>bridge became constricted, not to mention the bathroom facilities dropped

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<v Speaker 1>straight into the Thames. So the city started removing the

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<v Speaker 1>buildings in these seventeen hundreds. As the London Bridge continued

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<v Speaker 1>to be a major transportation route even without its buildings,

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<v Speaker 1>a structural problems appeared. The arches deteriorated and the bridge,

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<v Speaker 1>which had experienced a variety of damage, was slowly sinking.

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<v Speaker 1>By the eighteen twenties, it was deemed structurally problematic. For

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<v Speaker 1>the article this episode is based on How Stuff Works.

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<v Speaker 1>Spoke via email with Roger Hobbs, Emeritith, professor in the

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<v Speaker 1>Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Imperial College, London.

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<v Speaker 1>He explained a bridge peers are libel to damage from

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<v Speaker 1>shipping and from the force of the river rushing through.

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<v Speaker 1>This finished the life of the medieval bridge and probably

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<v Speaker 1>earlier bridges. They also need maintenance before problems become serious

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<v Speaker 1>or dangerous, so a so called New London Bridge was

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<v Speaker 1>proposed and it was completed in eighteen thirty one. A

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<v Speaker 1>Scottish civil engineer, John Rennie designed the masonry stone structure,

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<v Speaker 1>which was sturdier and highly engineered, but he died before

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<v Speaker 1>the design was approved. His sons constructed it upstream from

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<v Speaker 1>the twelfth century bridge, which was quickly demolished less than

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<v Speaker 1>one hundred years later. In the nineteen twenties, the city

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<v Speaker 1>knew that renovation or reconstruction would be necessary, although weight

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<v Speaker 1>of newfangled automobile traffic was causing it to sink slowly

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<v Speaker 1>into the river, but this new bridge remained until the

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<v Speaker 1>late nineteen sixties when it was finally replaced, but it

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<v Speaker 1>wasn't demolished. Instead, the new London Bridge, built in the

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<v Speaker 1>eighteen hundreds, was sold to one Robert P. McCullock, senior

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<v Speaker 1>chainsaw and motorboat magnate, who founded Lake Havasu City, Arizona,

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<v Speaker 1>in the nineteen sixties as a company town to test

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<v Speaker 1>his motors. In nineteen sixty eight, he purchased the bridge

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<v Speaker 1>for two point four million dollars of plus shipping costs

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<v Speaker 1>of an extra two hundred and forty thousand to bring

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<v Speaker 1>it to his new home, where he had it reconstructed

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<v Speaker 1>above a man made channel. Today, the city claims it's

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<v Speaker 1>the most visited built attraction in the state, an important

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<v Speaker 1>distinction for a place that also contains the Grand Canyon.

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<v Speaker 1>The London Bridge of today was designed by city engineer

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<v Speaker 1>Harold Knox King, with architects Mott hay And Anderson and

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<v Speaker 1>William Holford and partners. It was opened by Queen Elizabeth

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<v Speaker 1>in nineteen seventy three. The bridge features three spans founded

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<v Speaker 1>on concrete piers and is constructed of concrete and polished granite,

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<v Speaker 1>which isn't particularly striking, but is still a crucial roadway

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<v Speaker 1>and a curious public space. The structure is similar to

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<v Speaker 1>most overpasses in US high construction and isn't generally somewhere

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<v Speaker 1>tourists visit for its beauty, especially considering the historical architecture

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<v Speaker 1>throughout the rest of the city. However, the London Bridge

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<v Speaker 1>does offer an excellent location from which to take photos

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<v Speaker 1>of the nearby Tower Bridge. Until Westminster Bridge opened in

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<v Speaker 1>seventeen fifty, the London Bridge offered the city's only option

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<v Speaker 1>for crossing the Thames. Today, it connects two vibrant neighborhoods.

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<v Speaker 1>On the north side is the City of London, which

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<v Speaker 1>is the financial sector like Wall Street. To the south

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<v Speaker 1>is Southerark, with the Borough Market, the Shard and the

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<v Speaker 1>London Dungeon. Even with its current important status in modern London,

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<v Speaker 1>the bridge remains a site of tradition, such as the

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<v Speaker 1>twelfth century right to use it to drive sheep into

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<v Speaker 1>the City of London for sale. In twenty thirteen, twenty

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<v Speaker 1>sheep crossed the bridge in a reenactment of the historical

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<v Speaker 1>charter as part of a fundraising effort. This modern version

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<v Speaker 1>is expected to last over a century. But technically, yes,

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<v Speaker 1>the London Bridge has fallen down to some degree many

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<v Speaker 1>times during its two thousand year history. But where did

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<v Speaker 1>the nursery rhyme London Bridge is falling Down originate? It

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<v Speaker 1>was first published in the mid eighteen hundreds, but it

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<v Speaker 1>had probably been known long before that. There are a

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<v Speaker 1>few prevailing theories about what event the song refers to,

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<v Speaker 1>including an eleventh century Viking attack, the sixteen sixty six

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<v Speaker 1>Great London Fire, the rumored live entument of a person

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<v Speaker 1>in the structure's foundation, or even the ongoing issue of

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<v Speaker 1>the bridge needing repair. No consensus has been reached regarding

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<v Speaker 1>the identity of the fair lady mentioned in the rhyme either.

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<v Speaker 1>A one possibility is Eleanor of Provence, who was Harry

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<v Speaker 1>the Third's consort and controlled London Bridge revenue during the

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<v Speaker 1>late thirteenth century. Another guest is Matilda of Scotland, a

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<v Speaker 1>consort of Henry the First, who commissioned bridge projects more

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<v Speaker 1>than a century earlier. It has also been suggested that

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<v Speaker 1>it could be a member of the Lee family, who

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<v Speaker 1>claim it was one of their relatives who was walled

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<v Speaker 1>up in the bridge. Rumors of immurement have never been substantiated. Really,

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<v Speaker 1>it's Anybody's guests. Today's episode is based on the article

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<v Speaker 1>London Bridge has never fallen down, but it keeps getting

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<v Speaker 1>rebuilt on how stuffworks dot Com, written by Kerry Whitney.

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<v Speaker 1>Greenstuff is production of by Heart Radio in partnership with

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<v Speaker 1>how stuffworks dot Com, and it is produced by Tyler Klang.

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<v Speaker 1>Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

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<v Speaker 1>Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows