TALE OF LONDON

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 136, 1 February 1932, Page 5

TALE OF LONDON

THE FAMOUS BRIDGE EXHIBITION RECALLS HISTORY OF FAMOUS CITY LANDMARKS A GREAT ARCHITECT London Bridge is broken down, Dance o'er my lady lea; London Bridge is broken down, With a gay lady. I How shall we build it up again, Dance o'er my lady lea; How shall we build it up again, With a gay lady? The rhyme will oceur to many people who take a half an hour off during the week to look at the exhibition illustrating the history of Old London Bridge which is now being held on the ground floor of Regis House, says the London "Observer." The exhibition has been got together mainly to celebrate the centenary of the present London Bridge, and, incidentally, to raise funds to restore the exquisite spire of the.Church of St. Magnus the Martyr — the church which stands just at the back pf Regis House. In 1176 Peter, the Bridge Master and Chaplain of St. Mary Colechurch began the tremendous task of building the stone structure of Old London Bridge. His plans at once met with opposition. Up to this time nearly every bridge had been built of timber, and to construct one of stone seemed $n impossible and revolutionary proposal. It was pointed out that there was no suitable stone near the site and that in any case it would be well-nigh impossible to build the foundations on the muddy, soft bed of the river. Money came in slowly. Richard, Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Papal Legate in England, Cardinal Hugoeio di Petraieone, both sent a subscription of a thousand marks. Private help, though, was not enough, and Henry II. is said tq haye com.e to Peter's aid with a tax that was imposed upon wool. Peter's Blan The plan was for 19 pointed arches, the length of the bridge to be a little over 905 feet. The work progressed slowly, and the first question to decide was whether or not to divert the river. Mr. Gordon Home, in his very able book "Old London Bridge," quotes the opinion pf Wr.ep with .approval, "that every pier was set upon ■ piles of wood, which were drove as far as might be under low water- J mark, on which were laid Planks of Timber, and upon them the Foundations of the Stone Piers." The work grew more and more dangerous as each pier was added, for the rush of the water oecasionally carried away the boats. "It is coneeivable," says Mr. Home, "that 250 lives were lost during the generation which passed away while the first stone bridge was being painfully and laboriously put together." That irresistible rush of the water was to enact a heavy toll in lives in the years to come, and, indeed, many people would not undertake the- risk. Pepys, writing in May, 1661, says: "Towards Westminster from the Tower, by water, and was fain to stand upon one of the piers about the bridge, before the men could drag their boat through the lock, and which they could not do until another was called to help them." The danger was particularly great at ebb tide, when the water rushed through at a tremendous speed. Trade had to put up with other inconveniences, for in very cold weather ice blocked up the narrow openings of the bridge. There were times, indeed, when the whole river above the bridge was' completely frozen over. The bridge, though, was a great rendezvous. "Being through the bridge," writes Fepys, also in 1661, "I found the Thames full of boats and galleys, and upon inquiry found that there was a wager to be rjtn. this morning." And if being on one of the houses of the bridge had its social attraction it had the additional one pf being healthier than other parts of London. "I have been lately told," says a doctor, writing in 1709, "by several Eminent Men, living on London Bridge, that they have observed, that for the quantity of Houses that the Bridge scapes better than other parts of the City, in any Contagious time whatsoever: as also Fishmongers on the Hill are generally healthful; which must proceed from the much use of and dabbling in cold water, ptc." Frequent duekings had their compensation.

The Traitor's Gate There is one of Mr. J. B. Thorp's famous models of the bridge in the exhibition, complete with men and traffic moving serenely up and down. It shows the bridge gate as standing at the southern end — that famous gate where the heads of So many traitors were exhibited to terrify a bloody and merciless world. The sight was a familiar one. Mr. Home, iri his book, quotes this terse and effective reference from the "Diary of the Duke pf Stettin's Journey Through England" (16Q2) : "Near the end of the bridge, on the suhurb side, were stuck up the heads of 30 gentlemen of high standing who had been beheaded on acconnt pf treason and secret practises against the Queen." After this initial shock, the traveller moved on to come to the drawbridge, and, further on, to the charming medieval street with its shops and the rows of stalls. In the centre of the bridge was the beautiful phapel of St. Thomas, which was dedicated to the memory of Thomas a' Becket. In another part of the exhibition is a model of the system of waterworks which were built in 1582 at thp northern end. They stpod not very far away from the Church of St. Magnus, whose rectdr has been responsible for getting this exhibition together. It is tbe Rev. H. J. Fynes-Clinton, who has lent that marvellous Elizabethan silver goblet, the Falstaff cup. It belonged to the famous Boar's Head Tavern, the scene of the festivities in "Henry IV.," and it was given to the vestry of the Church of St. Michael's in 1634. Next door is the chureh's register, one of the oldest in existenee, opened at the entry* made pf the Great Fire: "The Church was burnt by the dreadfql fire that consumed the City, September the second, one thousand six hundred sixty and six." But there are other things, old and

new, which are well worth seeing; Mr. Thorp's jolly model of the Loi'd Mayor's Show in 1616; the gruespme machines of torture desjgned for tfre malefactor and traitor, and the no less horrible methods of dealing with the shrew; and last, but not least, a seore of maps that trace the growth qf London from the sixteenth century onwards.