Chronicles of London Bridge

by Richard Thompson

which was of the best hard Aberdeen Granite, weighing 4 tons. Its measurement was, 5 feet ⁵⁄₈ of an inch long, 3 feet 6³⁄₈ inches broad, and 2 feet 10 inches deep; containing 50 feet 7 inches in cubic measure; and its situation as nearly as possible the centre of the First, or South Pier, on the Southwark side. The Company continued rapidly to arrive until the barriers were closed at 2 o’clock, when most of the seats in the Coffer-Dam were occupied; and where, to lighten as much as possible the interval of waiting, the bands of the Horse-Guards, Red and Blue, and of the Artillery Company, which were stationed in a gallery at the entrance, were employed to furnish frequent entertainment: Refreshments of Tea, Coffee, Champagne, &c., being also liberally supplied by the Committee. About a quarter before three o’clock, the Lady Mayoress, and her family, came to the Dam in the private state-carriage; and at four, a signal-gun announced that the Procession had left the Court-yard of Guildhall, nearly in the following order; passing through Cheapside, Cornhill, and Grace-Church Street, to the Bridge, where it was received by the Committee, and other members of the Common Council; the principal persons being in their own carriages.

A Division of the Artillery Company, with their Field-pieces.
Constables.
Band of Music.
Marshalmen.
The Junior City Marshal, Mr. W. W. Cope, on horseback.
Nathaniel Saunders, Junr., Esq., the Water-Bailiff, and Mr. Nelson, his Assistant.
Barge Masters.
City Watermen, bearing Colours.
Remainder of the City Watermen.
Bridgemasters and Clerk of the Bridge-House.
Contractors, William Jolliffe, Esq., and Sir Edward Banks.
Model of the Bridge, borne by Labourers.
Architect and Engineer, John Rennie, Esq., F.R.S.
Members of the New Bridge Committee.
Comptroller of the Bridge-House, Robert F. Newman, Esq.
Visitors and Members of the Committee of the Royal Society.
High Bailiff of the Borough of Southwark, John Holmes, Esq.
Under Sheriffs, George Martin, and John S. Tilson, Esqrs.
Clerk of the Peace of the City of London, Thomas Shelton, Esq.
City Solicitor, William Lewis Newman, Esq.
Remembrancer, Timothy Tyrrell, Esq.
Secondaries of Giltspur Street and the Poultry Compters.
Comptroller of the Chamber, Lewis Bushnan, Esq.
Common Pleaders, Wm. Bolland, Esq., George Bernard, Esq.
Hon. C. E. Law, and John Mirehouse, Esq.
Judges of the Sheriff’s Court.
Town Clerk, Henry Woodthorpe, Esq.
Common Serjeant, Thomas Denman, Esq., M. P.
Deputy Recorder, Mr. Serjeant Arabin.
Chamberlain, Richard Clark, Esq.
Members of Parliament and other Gentlemen, Visitors.
Sir Humphrey Davy, President of the Royal Society.
The Sheriffs, Anthony Brown, and John Key, Esqrs., Aldermen.
Aldermen below the Chair.
The Recorder, Newman Knowlys, Esq.
Aldermen past the Chair.
Visitors, Privy Councillors.
Visitors, Peers.
Officers of State.
Music and Colours, with the Court of the Lord Mayor’s Company, the Goldsmiths.
Marshalmen.
The Senior City Marshal, Mr. Neville Brown, on horseback.
The Lord Mayor’s Household.
The Lord Mayor’s Servants in their State Liveries.
The Lord Mayor in his State Carriage, accompanied by His Royal Highness the Duke of York.
Carriage of His Royal Highness the Duke of York.
The remainder of the Artillery Company, as a guard of honour to the Lord Mayor.

“The streets through which the Procession passed, were all thronged; every window was filled with spectators; and, on arriving at its destination, the River, the Wharfs, the most distant buildings, and even Southwark Bridge, were equally crowded with thousands of impatient gazers. It was not, however, until a quarter before five, that the field-pieces of the Artillery Company, at the old Swan Stairs’ Wharf, announced the cavalcade’s actual approach, when the bands played the famous Yäger Chor of Weber’s ‘Freyschutz.’ The City-Watermen, bearing their richly emblazoned standards, soon afterwards entered the Coffer-Dam, when, after the colours had been very ingeniously passed between the timbers, and grouped around the Stone, it being found that they would materially obstruct the view, they were, with similar difficulty, conveyed back again. The narrow and winding passages of the Dam destroyed much of the stately order of the Procession; but nearly the whole Court of Aldermen, and a large party of the Common-Council, in their scarlet and purple gowns, having appeared on the floor beneath, they were followed by the City Officers; the Lord Mayor, in his robes of state; and His Royal Highness the Duke of York, in a plain blue coat, wearing the Garter round his knee, and the star of the order upon his breast. In the same part of the Procession also came the Earl of Darnley; Lord James Stuart; the Right Hon. C. W. W. Wynn, President of the Board of Controul; Admiral Sir George Cockburn, M. P.; Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin, Bart, M. P.; Sir George Warrender, Bart, M. P.; Sir Peter Laurie; Sir Robert Wilson, M. P.; Thomas Wilson, Esq., M. P.; William Williams, Esq., M. P.; George Holme Sumner, Esq., M. P.; and several other personages of distinction.

“The Lord Mayor and His Royal Highness having arrived at the state chair, amidst the waving of handkerchiefs, and the loudest cheers, and having both of them declined that seat of honour, they remained standing during the whole of the ceremony; which then commenced by the Ward Schools and the visitors singing ‘God save the King,’ verse and chorus, in which the Duke also joined with great enthusiasm. The Lord Mayor then removed towards the Eastern end of the Platform, in the centre of the Coffer-Dam floor, where there was a small stage covered with crimson cloth, attended by four members of the Bridge Committee, bearing the bottle for the coins, an inscription incrustated in glass, the level, and the splendid Silver-Gilt Trowel for Laying the First Stone.

This elegant instrument, which was designed and executed by Messrs. Green, Ward, and Green, of Ludgate Hill, measured 15 inches in its extreme length, and 5 inches at the widest part of the blade; the handle being 5½ inches long, composed of wrought laurel, terminating in very rich acanthus foliage at the end; and its depository, a green Morocco case lined with white satin. The upper side was embossed with a reclining figure of the Thames, with a vase, swan, and cornucopia; beneath which was a shield, charged with the impaled arms of London and Southwark, and surrounded by the supporters, crest, motto, and badges of the City. The other side was perfectly flat, and was decorated with a border of flowers; the armorial ensigns, crest, and motto, of the Lord Mayor; and the following Inscription, engraven in ornamental characters:—

‘THIS TROWEL
WAS USED
IN THE LAYING OF
THE FIRST STONE
OF THE
NEW LONDON BRIDGE,
ON THE 15th DAY OF JUNE, 1825,
IN THE SIXTH YEAR OF THE REIGN
OF HIS MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY
GEORGE THE FOURTH,
BY THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
JOHN GARRATT,
LORD MAYOR
OF THE CITY OF LONDON:
WHO WAS BORN IN THE WARD IN WHICH THE BRIDGE IS SITUATED,
ON THE 15th DAY OF DECEMBER, 1786;
ELECTED A MEMBER OF THE COMMON COUNCIL
FOR THAT WARD, ON THE 3rd DAY OF AUGUST, 1809
ALDERMAN THEREOF,
ON THE 10th DAY OF MARCH, 1821;
AND SHERIFF OF LONDON AND MIDDLESEX,
ON THE 24th DAY OF JUNE FOLLOWING.’