e of them therefore were very narrow: the piers were
also of different lengths. These irregularities were certainly
intentional and were based upon some observations on the rise and fall
of the tide. No other great Bridge had yet been constructed across a
tidal river.

When the Bridge was built it was thought necessary to consecrate it to
some saint. The latest saint, St. Thomas Becket, was chosen as the
titular saint of this Bridge. A chapel, dedicated to him, was built in
the centre pier of the Bridge: it was, in fact, a double chapel: in the
lower part, the crypt, was buried Peter of Colechurch himself: the upper
part, which escaped the Great Fire, became, after the Reformation, a
warehouse.

16. LONDON BRIDGE.

PART II.

Houses were erected in course of time along the Bridge on either side
like a street, but with intervals; and along the roadway in the middle
were chain posts to protect the passengers. As the Bridge was only 40
feet wide the houses must have been small. But they were built out at
the back overhanging the river, and the roadway itself was not intended
for carts or wheeled vehicles. Remember that everything was brought to
the City on pack horse or pack ass. The table of Tolls sanctioned by
King Edward I. makes no mention of cart or waggon at all. Men on
horseback and loaded horses can get along with a very narrow road.
Perhaps we may allow twelve feet for the road which gives for the houses
on either side a depth of 14 feet each.

[Illustration: OLD LONDON BRIDGE.]

These houses were occupied chiefly by shops, most of which were
'haberdashers and traders in small wares.' Later on there were many
booksellers. Paper merchants and stationers, after the Reformation,
occupied the chapel. The great painter Hans Holbein lived on the Bridge
and the two marine painters Peter Monamy and Dominic Serres also lived
here.

The narrowness of the arches and the rush of the flowing or the ebbing
tide made the 'shooting' of the Bridge a matter of great danger. The
Duke of Norfolk in 1429 was thrown into the water by the capsizing of
his boat and narrowly escaped with his life. Queen Henrietta, in 1628,
was nearly wrecked in the same way by running into the piers while
shooting the Bridge. Rubens the painter was thrown into the water in the
same way.

One of the twenty arches formed a drawbridge which allowed vessels of
larger size than barges to pass up the river and could be used to keep
back an en