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London Bridge: A Visual History
This is a special, limited edition of 1000 copies presented by the Lord Mayor of London as a gift to Robert P. McCulloch on Sunday, October 10, 1971 to commemorate the opening of London bridge in Lake Havasu City, AZ after it's relocation from England. Contains 109 highly illustrated pages documenting the history of the London bridge from early Roman times through the relocation in 1971.
144 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 7, 2021
My interest was piqued while reading, "Bryant and May: London Bridge is Falling Down" by Christopher Fowler who wrote, "If I had to locate the heart of London I wouldn't choose a church or palace I'd pick London Bridge because it has seen 2,000 years of tumultuous life."
"London Bridge A Visual History" by Peter Jackson is an interesting read and contains many exquisite black and white and some color pictures. It was worth the effort to obtain a copy via the interlibrary loan from my local public library.
In his introduction, Peter Jackson writes "In a very real sense London exists because of London Bridge." The original purpose of the bridge was to cross the river Thames. Several temporary structures existed before the final permanent one was built after assessing the ground to find the most suitable area of support for such a structure. "Where the bridge was built a settlement developed which was to become London."
"London Bridge A Visual History" by Peter Jackson is an interesting read and contains many exquisite black and white and some color pictures. It was worth the effort to obtain a copy via the interlibrary loan from my local public library.
In his introduction, Peter Jackson writes "In a very real sense London exists because of London Bridge." The original purpose of the bridge was to cross the river Thames. Several temporary structures existed before the final permanent one was built after assessing the ground to find the most suitable area of support for such a structure. "Where the bridge was built a settlement developed which was to become London."
August 2, 2019
This book is a classic of its type, and though it is a little dated, and not perfect, it's worth rounding up a copy if London Bridge is in your research interest. Jackson was an artist who was hired by the London Evening News to produce a cartoon strip for adults, featuring the history of London. (It was inspired by the Ripley's Believe-It-Or-Not cartoons.) Jackson went from knowing nothing about London's history to being the authority. One of my prized reference books is his The History of London in Maps (also by Felix Barker), which every single person in the civilized world should own. Certainly all writers, whatsoever.
I find bridges fascinating, and two types of bridges in particular. A.) Canal bridges; but not the ones that went over canals, rather those that carried canals over rivers, streams, streets, whatever. And B.) the medieval bridges that people lived on.
Old London Bridge was one of the Type B bridges, and was the reason I went online looking for this out-of-print classic. This book actually covers all of the bridges that would have been called London Bridge, from the Roman military bridge for Londinium, to the later wooden replacements for it (the last of them being pulled down by the Vikings), to the medieval bridge (Old London Bridge), to the widened and houseless bridge restructure of 1763, the New London Bridge of 1825, and finally, the newest bridge (with the New London Bridge being packed off to the Arizona desert), of the late 1960s.
This book is mostly illustrations, of course. It is sometimes unclear whether we are looking at an original Peter Jackson drawing, or a Peter Jackson rendition of a print or painting, or a historical illustration. Nonetheless, there is a great deal of information contained in this relatively slim volume, and a good deal of imaginative representation. I will have to move on to some other references for additional detail, but this works as a benchmark reference.
The key failing of this volume is the lack of maps. There is only one plan of the New London Bridge that shows the approaches, but no map of what it was replacing. Buildings are shown in some of the views, but you have to go to a different reference book to find out where, precisely, each bridge stood, and what the city looked like at each end. A secondary weakness is the general lack of specific numbers. Jackson is good on dates, but never tells us how many houses were on the bridge (we do learn there were 38 shops listed on the bridge in 1633), what it's population might have been, and so forth.
So, key piece of information, not in the book, is that by the Tudor period there were over 200 buildings on the bridge, some of them 7 stories high. Given population density back then, this suggests several thousand inhabitants.
Finally, I think it's time to start a Nonsuch House Restoration Society with the goal of building Nonsuch Houses, on bridges and roadways, throughout the world.
I find bridges fascinating, and two types of bridges in particular. A.) Canal bridges; but not the ones that went over canals, rather those that carried canals over rivers, streams, streets, whatever. And B.) the medieval bridges that people lived on.
Old London Bridge was one of the Type B bridges, and was the reason I went online looking for this out-of-print classic. This book actually covers all of the bridges that would have been called London Bridge, from the Roman military bridge for Londinium, to the later wooden replacements for it (the last of them being pulled down by the Vikings), to the medieval bridge (Old London Bridge), to the widened and houseless bridge restructure of 1763, the New London Bridge of 1825, and finally, the newest bridge (with the New London Bridge being packed off to the Arizona desert), of the late 1960s.
This book is mostly illustrations, of course. It is sometimes unclear whether we are looking at an original Peter Jackson drawing, or a Peter Jackson rendition of a print or painting, or a historical illustration. Nonetheless, there is a great deal of information contained in this relatively slim volume, and a good deal of imaginative representation. I will have to move on to some other references for additional detail, but this works as a benchmark reference.
The key failing of this volume is the lack of maps. There is only one plan of the New London Bridge that shows the approaches, but no map of what it was replacing. Buildings are shown in some of the views, but you have to go to a different reference book to find out where, precisely, each bridge stood, and what the city looked like at each end. A secondary weakness is the general lack of specific numbers. Jackson is good on dates, but never tells us how many houses were on the bridge (we do learn there were 38 shops listed on the bridge in 1633), what it's population might have been, and so forth.
So, key piece of information, not in the book, is that by the Tudor period there were over 200 buildings on the bridge, some of them 7 stories high. Given population density back then, this suggests several thousand inhabitants.
Finally, I think it's time to start a Nonsuch House Restoration Society with the goal of building Nonsuch Houses, on bridges and roadways, throughout the world.
February 24, 2010
I've picked this book up from my office's library after reading descriptions of London Bridge in Bill Bryson's "Shakespeare" biography. The old, and lost, London Bridge had houses on it... and even a palace (Nonesuch House). Amazing.
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