Old London Bridge
Frost Fair with Old Bridge in Background by Katherine Pym Old London Bridge was a world unto itself. Not considered London, it was a Liberty, or suburb. People were born, lived, married, and died there, some without stepping off the Bridge the whole of their lives. Built in the years between 1176-1209, begun by King Henry II, the first Plantagenet king of England, it was finished during the reign of King John (who was forced to sign the Magna Carta). A massive structure that acted like a dam, it stood stalwart against heavy tides and ice during cold winters, and prevented invading ships to pass upriver. So strongly built, the Old London Bridge lasted 622 years before being pulled down in 1830's. (The location of the current London Bridge is some 180 feet upriver from the old.) It was a stone structure of 19 arches and a wooden drawbridge. Houses, shops, churches and other assorted buildings stood on the bridge. The anchors holding the bridge in place were called starl...