emy. In this way Sir Thomas Wyatt in 1557 was kept out of
London. Before this drawbridge stood a tower on the battlements of which
were placed the heads of traitors and criminals. The heads of Sir
William Wallace, Jack Cade, Sir Thomas More and many others were stuck
up here. On the Southwark side was another tower.

The Bridge, which was the pride and boast of London, was endowed with
lands for its maintenance: the rents of the houses were also collected
for the same purpose: a toll was imposed on all merchandise carried
across, and a Brotherhood was formed, called the Brothers of St. Thomas
on the Bridge, whose duty it was to perform service in the chapel and to
keep the Bridge in repair.

Repairs were always wanting: to keep some of the force of the water off
the piers these were furnished with 'starlings,' i.e. at first piles
driven down in front of the piers, afterwards turned into projecting
buttresses of stone. Then corn mills were built in some of the openings,
and in the year 1582 great waterworks were constructed at the southern
end. The tower before the drawbridge was by Queen Elizabeth rebuilt and
made a very splendid house--called Nonesuch House. The Fire destroyed
the houses on the Bridge, some of which were not rebuilt: and in the
year 1757 all the houses were removed from the Bridge.

The New Bridge was finished and opened in 1831--it stands 180 feet west
of its predecessor. Then the Old Bridge was pulled down. The work of
Peter Colechurch lasted from 1209 to 1831 or 622 years. The Pontife
Brothers, therefore, knew how to put in good and lasting work.

This is the history of London Bridge. First a narrow wooden gangway of
beams lying on timber piles with a fortified gate; then a stone
structure of twenty irregular arches, the Bridge broad but the roadway
still narrow with houses on either side and a fortress and a chapel upon
it--in those times there was always a fortress, and there was always a
chapel. It must have been a pleasant place of residence: the air fresh
and clear: the supply of water unlimited--one drew it up in a bucket:
always something going on: the entrance of a foreign ambassador, a
religious procession, a riding of the Lord Mayor, a pageant, a nobleman
with his livery, a Bishop or a Prior with his servants, a pilgrimage, a
string of pack horses out of Kent bringing fruit for the City: always
something to see. Then there were the stories and traditions of the
place, with the songs whi