London Bridge

Rare card · No. 22623

Since Roman times, several crossings named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It replaced a 19th-century stone-arched bridge, which in turn superseded a 600-year-old stone-built medieval structure. In addition to the roadway, for much of its history, the broad medieval bridge supported an extensive built up area of homes and businesses, part of the City's Bridge ward, and its southern end in Southwark was guarded by a large stone City gateway. The medieval bridge was preceded by a succession of timber bridges, the first of which was built by the Roman founders of London (Londinium) around AD 50. The current bridge stands at the western end of the Pool of London and is positioned 30 metres (98 ft) upstream from the medieval alignment. The approaches to the medieval bridge were marked by the church of St Magnus-the...

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