“At a Court of Common Council holden on Thursday, December 18th, 1755, after a very protracted opposition, the Corporation consequently agreed to petition Parliament for leave to bring in a Bill to erect another Bridge over the Thames at Fleet-Ditch, and on Tuesday, January 13th, 1756, the petition was presented and referred to a Committee; another petition being also presented at the same time, praying leave to bring in a Bill for improving and widening the passage over London Bridge, by removing the houses and other obstructions thereon, and for raising money to enable the Trustees to render the same safer and more commodious. This also was referred to a Committee; on Friday, March 12th, 1756, leave was granted to bring in the Bills; and on Thursday, the 27th of May, they both received the Royal assent, when the King closed the Session of Parliament. These Acts are printed in Maitland’s ‘History,’ volume ii., page 1387; though the best authority is Ruffhead’s ‘Statutes at Large,’ volume vii., pages 728-738, 29th of George II., Chapter xl.; and I shall first give a very few particulars of the Act relating to London Bridge, and next shew how the alteration was effected. By this Statute, then, the Corporation was empowered to buy and remove all buildings on, and contiguous to, the Bridge, for enlarging its avenues, improving the passage over, and widening one or more of its arches:—to devise how the same should be executed, and kept in repair:—to erect an uniform ballustrade on each side, with a passage of 31 feet for carriages, &c., and 7 feet for each of the footways:—to have it lighted and watched at the expense of the Bridge-House estates:—to preserve the arches and pipes belonging to the Water-works:—to establish, after the 24th of June, 1756, an additional toll for the payment of the expenses incurred by the alterations:—to keep the Bridge clear of buildings, and of carriages standing upon it for hire, after the houses should be removed; and to make all carriages keep on the Eastern side in going towards Southwark, and on the Western side in coming to London. The Act also provided penalties for destroying the Bridge or any of its works; extensive powers for the Corporation in buying the various property; an equivalent for the tythes, rates, &c., payable to the Rectors of St. Magnus and St. Margaret, and St. Olave; and particular ordinances concerning the tolls.
“Gates and toll-houses were to be erected on, or near, London Bridge; but to continue only until the principal and interest of the borrowed monies should be discharged. The additional tolls were, ‘for every horse drawing any coach, chariot, hearse, berlin, landau, calash, chaise, or chair, over the Bridge, 1d.; for every such carriage itself, 1d.; and for every horse not drawing, passing across the Bridge, ½d.’ Loaded vessels also, passing under the Bridge, were to pay 2d. for every 5 tons burthen; 3d. for ten tons; 6d. for 25 tons, and 1s. for vessels of greater capacity. In the Act for building a Bridge at Blackfriars, 29th of George II.—1756,—Chapter lxxxvi., it is stated, that the taking away of all tolls from that of London, as soon as possible, would be of general advantage, they being then leased out for 21 years at a fine of £2100, and a yearly rent of £735; the redemption of all which was estimated at £36,000. In 1757, the 31st of George II., Chapter xx., an aid of £15,000 was granted by Parliament towards the rebuilding of London Bridge, because the tolls were not only difficult to collect, but were also a considerable hindrance to commerce and navigation: vide the ‘Continuation of Maitland’s History,’ at the end of volume ii., page 19. The powers of the new Act—which also protected the Bridge and its works, by making it felony to destroy them,—commenced from the 21st of April, and the additional tolls of the former one ceased from the 24th of June, 1758. Whilst I am upon the subject, it will probably be as well to include all our notices of the tolls of London Bridge under one head; and therefore I may remark, that in 1767, the 7th of George III., Chapter xxxvii., an Act was passed for the completing of Blackfriars Bridge, making several improvements in the City, and for treating with Mr. Edward Neale, the Lessee of the tolls of London Bridge, for their redemption; to which latter purpose, the sum of £30,000 was appropriated. About the end of September, 1770, the Corporation proceeded to act upon this power, fifteen years and three quarters being then unexpired of the lease; but the lessee having altered his demand, on account of the tolls having increased upwards of £600 per annum since 1766, it was found, that to reimburse the City, it was essential that they should continue both upon London and Blackfriars Bridges for some years longer. Upon petition of the Corporation, therefore, in the 11th of George III., 1771, Chapter xx., an Act was passed for further continuing the tolls on London Bridge until March the 25th, 1782, when the remainder of the lease was to be bought and the tolls finally to cease. All these particulars will be found in the ‘Statutes at Large,’ volumes vii., pages 728-738, 742; viii., page 210; x., pages 306, 307; and xi., pages 154, 155; there is also considerable information upon this subject, to be found in Malcolm’s ‘Londinum Redivivum,’ volume ii., pages 392-396, derived from authentic documents. From these authorities it appears that the amount of the prescriptive tolls of London Bridge, at Midsummer, 1763, produced £1785: 10s. 5d.; in 1764, £1946: 4s. 1d.; in 1765, £1846: 7s. 4d.; in 1766, £1878: 16s. 6d.; and in 1770, £2465: 14s. 3d.; estimating, therefore, the average to be about £1864, and deducting from that sum the Rent, £735; Land Tax, £180: 12s. and the expenses of collecting, £150, the lessee’s clear annual income would be £798: 15s.
“It was upon this calculation that the value of the remainder of his lease was ascertained, and the Act for continuing the tolls first devised; though on Wednesday, April, 24th, 1765, the Committee of City Lands let to Mr. Neale a lease of 21 years of the toll of carts and wheelage over London Bridge, for a fine of 2000 guineas, and the old rent of £735 per annum. See the ‘Gentleman’s Magazine’ for 1765, volume xxxv., page 197.
“Notwithstanding, however, these active proceedings for the improvement of this edifice, the parties in favour of, and against, a new building ran extremely high, as you may see in the ‘Continuation of Maitland’s History,’ page 4. That several interests were to be consulted in the alteration of London Bridge, is evident, and they are particularly shewn in the counter-petitions presented to Parliament whilst the Bridge Bills were pending; as, one drawn up by the most ardent supporters of the new Bridge at Blackfriars; and another by the Rev. Edmund Gibson, Rector of St. Magnus and St. Margaret, for recompense in loss of tythes, &c. to the amount of £48: 6s. 2d., by taking down the houses. Vide the ‘Journals of the House of Commons,’ volume xxvii., page 574; and the ‘Continuation of Maitland’s History,’ page 11; on page 7 of which authority it is also stated, that on the 12th of June, 1755, ‘the Common-Council allowed the Comptroller of the Bridge-House £410 per annum, in lieu of his customary bills, which were so much reduced by the loss that would accrue to the Bridge-House estate, in the repairing and improvement of London Bridge.’ But whilst many persons were too much interested even in the worst state of it, with all its inconvenient buildings, not to oppose their alteration, they were found to be almost equally dangerous both on the edifice and on the water. In the proceedings in Parliament concerning the alterations, Mr. Dance, the Architect, stated, that the piers were solid for ten feet above the sterlings, upon which were erected walls of three feet in thickness, forming cellars to the houses; and they having settled, the walls were much injured. In consequence, also, of the contracted passage between the houses upon the Bridge, the inhabitants experienced many inconveniences peculiar to their situation. Mr. Deputy James Hodges declared, that he ‘had frequently known it happen, that coals had been thrown through the windows of the houses, out of the barges going under the Bridge; and that, as he is informed, the reason is, that the candle-lights in the houses make it dangerous in the night-time to go through the locks. That people on the river have always a glimmering light by which they can distinguish objects, unless a very thick fog. That light leaves them just when they come to shoot the locks, as far as the shadows of the houses extend; and thereby they lose the possibility of discerning the passage between the sterlings.’ See Malcolm’s ‘Londinum Redivivum,’ volume ii., page 388, and the ‘Journals of the House of Commons.’ The improvement of the passage over London Bridge was, however, much accelerated by the passing of an Act in 1755, the 28th of George II., Chapter ix., for taking away the ancient Market then held in High Street, Southwark, after Lady-day, 1756: and in Chapter xxii. of the former year, it was removed to its recent place on the site of Rochester Yard. See Bray’s ‘History of Surrey,’ volume iii., page 550; and the ‘Statutes at Large,’ volume vii., pages 579, 620. Having thus, then, given some idea of the proceedings of the Corporation before the improvement of the old London Bridge, let us now go on to consider the nature and manner of that alteration itself: and so, if you’re not asleep, Mr. Barbican, here’s your health.”
“No, truly,” replied I, wakefully endeavouring to appear as brisk as my drowsiness would let me, “Time has a wonderful effect in reconciling us to the most tiresome employments; and I doubt not but to be able to hold out through the remainder of your discourse, with the aid of this Sack-posset, which seems to be little less interminable, and heated beyond the power of cooling again. But go on, Master Barnaby, go on, Sir.”
“You are next to be informed then,” recommenced the Antiquary, “that we are told by the Rev. John Entick, in his ‘Continuation of Maitland’s History,’ page 19, that the Committee appointed to repair London Bridge resolved to take down all the buildings and erections which stood upon it, of every kind whatsoever: to remove the great middle pier, and to lay the two adjoining locks into one, by turning an entire new arch, occupying the whole space: to add the depth of the removed houses to the width of the Bridge: and to secure both sides by a stone wall breast-high, surmounted by lofty ballustrades. To effect all this, it was essential to stop up the Bridge, and, at the same time, to provide a convenient passage to Southwark; on which, it was determined to construct a Temporary Bridge of Wood. This edifice consisted of stout unplaned oak timbers, to the amount of £2000; and it was erected on the sterlings in a curved form, on the Western side of the stone one, into which it opened at each end, extending from the water-works to about the fourth arch on the Surrey side of the river. The timber being taken back by the builder, his labour in erecting and removing it being compensated, and one penny per cube foot allowed him for the use of the materials. In Harrison’s ‘History of London,’ page 409, it is stated, that this temporary Bridge was opened in the month of October, 1757, when it was ‘found to be very convenient, not only for foot-passengers, but also for horsemen and carriages;’ but there are few notices to be found of it in the public prints of the period. By ‘Lloyd’s Evening Post and British Chronicle,’ however, a quarto newspaper of several leaves, then published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we are informed, in the paper for Wednesday, September 21st, page 219, that, ‘to-morrow they will begin to lay the first coat of gravel on the Temporary Bridge, so that it will be passable by the end of this month:’ and the ‘Public Advertiser’ of Saturday, October 22nd, thus fixes the time when the Bridge was actually finished. ‘Yesterday, the Committee appointed under the late Act of Parliament for the improvement of London Bridge, met and view’d the Temporary Bridge, and gave orders to have it open’d to-morrow morning for foot-passengers.’ The houses on the stone edifice, indeed, were already began to be removed; for, in the ‘Gentleman’s Magazine,’ for 1757, volume xxvii., page 91, it is stated, that on Tuesday, February 22nd, ‘three pots of money, silver and gold, of the coin of Queen Elizabeth, were found by the workmen in pulling down the houses on London Bridge.’ The whole of these buildings, however, were not entirely taken away until some years after this time; for in the ‘London Chronicle’ of Thursday, May 17th, 1759, the name of ‘William Herbert on London Bridge,’ occurs as one of the publishers of ‘The Lives of the Reformers.’ By the same paper, too, for Thursday, August the 14th, 1760, page 161, we are informed, that ‘in pulling down the house called the Chapel-House, on London Bridge, there has been found this week a very antique marble font, &c. curiously engraved, and several ancient coins, &c. The stones used in the building of this structure were so strongly cemented with different kinds of mortar, and strong iron clamps, that the workmen found a most difficult task in the demolition of it, which is not yet completed.’ The Committee for altering London Bridge had, however, previously advertised for persons to carry their intentions into effect, to meet at Guildhall on the 1st of February, 1757; as may be seen in the ‘Public Advertiser’ of Monday, January 24th; and in the same authority for Monday, May the 2nd following, it is further stated, that Messrs. Blackden and Flight, the contractors for taking down and clearing away the houses on London Bridge, completed their engagement on the Saturday evening previously: and that from the commencement of their work, there had not occurred a single accident. The view of old London Bridge and its buildings by Scott, to which I have already referred, furnishes us with large and interesting prospects of several of the principal edifices which, after this period, were removed; and I may add, that in the x.th volume of Mr. Crowle’s Illustrated Pennant, there is an enlarged drawing of this picture, executed by John Varley, in colours, measuring 3 feet 9½ inches, by 1 foot 5¾; ruthlessly cut into three parts to fit the size of the book. In these views, one of the most curious objects is a prospect of the Eastern Exterior of the Chapel of St. Thomas in 1757;
a more particular engraving of which you will find in the ‘Gentleman’s Magazine,’ for 1753, volume xxiii., page 432. But few remains of the original structure were then perceptible on the outside of this building; though its form of a semi-hexagon might be traced, whilst the old pier of the Bridge, the basement standing on the sterling, and some of the pinnacles and buttresses of the Chapel, were discernible in the centre and at the sides. The greater part of it, however, was scarcely to be distinguished from the other houses, being covered with brickwork or boarding; whilst the Upper Chapel was converted into apartments, and the Lower one into the Paper Warehouse of Messrs. Gill and Wright, having a crane attached to it to take in goods from boats. In front of the Bridge pier, a square fish-pond was formed in the sterling, into which the fish were carried by the tide, and then detained there by a wire-grating placed over it: and an ancient servant of London Bridge, now verging upon his hundredth summer, well remembers to have gone down through the Chapel to fish in this pond.
“The Nonesuch House on London Bridge in 1756,
