The London Bridge as seen in... Arizona??

30 years later in 1014, Vikings and Saxons came to invade London in what I assume to be an epic battle (I mean, how could it not be? There were Vikings involved). As a joint effort, the Viking and Saxons quite literally tore the London Bridge apart. They rowed up to the bridge, tied cables around the piles and rowed away in separate directions and then… London bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down!

Fast forward a century or so to 1176 when construction started on the first version of the London Bridge made of stone; this bridge was completed 30-something years later in 1209.

About 600 years later, after surviving a couple massive fires and the Great Frost, it was decided that a new bridge was needed. There were many plans presented, but eventually John Rennie’s plans for the London Bridge were decided upon and approved. In 1825, 100 feet west of the original bridge, the first stone was laid, and construction began. Six years later, the bridge was completed and the old one demolished.

Between 1902-1904, this bridge was widened in order to accommodate the massive boom in population and traffic crossing the bridge as the train station opened to the south of the bridge. Then in 1962, the city of London decided that another new bridge was needed – Rennie’s designs did not account for the additional traffic and so the bridge began sinking into the river.

Where did the old bridges go?

Pieces of the “original medieval” bridge can still be found around modern-day London.

Pieces were built into the tower of the St Magnus the Martyr’s Church on Lower Thames Street.

Several of the half-dome stone alcoves are scattered around the city; one can be found in the courtyard of Guy’s Hospital, two alcoves have found their home in Victoria Park, and there is one in Courtland Estates in East Sheen.

Fishmongers Chambers has several blocks from the old bridge as well as a chair made from the original wooden posts.

Lastly, and probably our favourite one, the King’s Arms Pub has King George III’s coat of arms that were previously on the stone gate of the bridge.

John Rennie’s bridge was put up for auction by the City of London – because who doesn’t want a 130-year-old bridge, right?

Robert McCulloch, the founder of Lake Havasu City, Arizona bought it for $2.4 million in 1968 and spent another $7 million and 3 years dismantling the bridge and sending it by boat to Long Beach, California where it was then trucked over to Lake Havasu.

Construction started on September 23, 1968 under the supervision of a civil engineer from Nottingham, England named Robert Beresford who used John Rennie’s original plans to reconstruct the bridge.

Three years later, the bridge was open and dedicated.