Originally pubished in 1832 for The Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.

OLD London Bridge-the most ancient memorial of English civilizationis nearly pulled down. The Thames now sweeps, “strong without rage,” through the five broad arches of the new bridge; and the massive piers and buttresses of the old bridge have been carried away, to form, perhaps, a mi mic ruin in some citizen’s pleasure ground; orto build into the foundations of some humbler structure, of which history will never make mention. Old London Bridge had well done its duty. It had stood for six centuries, the principal means of communication between the city and Southwark. It had been patched and propped, from time to time, as the growing commerce of the great mart of the world required new facilities. Its nineteen narrow arches, not much broader than the windows of some Gothic aisle, had been widened; the chapel, which stood upon one of its piers, had been pulled down; the shops, which ranged on each side of the whole structure, had given way to a modern parapet; and the Southwark gate, upon which the head of many a wretched conspirator had been exposed, no longer frowned upon the multitude who passed across. As these improvements were successively effected, the stories of past ages were gradually deprived of some of their most interesting as-sociations. The processions of kings, the penances of martyrs, the fierce contests of civil warfare, the gorgeous pageantry of the old citizens, were deprived of their most striking memorials. At last the very bridge itself, which used to attract wonders by its patchwork antiquity, was swept away, water-works and all; and in its place stands a magnificent bridge, costing, with the approaches, nearly two millions sterling, which allows tree passage, above and below, to the mighty rush of London commerce.

The engraving, which we have here given, represents the dry arch of the new bridge, which passes over Thames-street. We proceed to offer a few particulars of the entire structure.

The new bridge is built 180 feet higher up the river than the old bridge, by which the steep approach from Fish-street-hill is avoided. The piers were built in coffer-dams, and the first pile was driven on the 15th of March, 1824. A coffer-dam is a space enclosed in a river by driving piles, of two or three rows, the spaces between the rows being filled up with earth to prevent the admission of the water, when that in the inner enclosure is pumped out. In this cof-fer-dam the foundations of a pier are laid on the solid ground. The first coffer-dam of London Bridge having been completed, the first stone was laid on the 27th of April, 1825. The construction of the piers proceeded with great rapidity; and the first arch was keyed in on the 4th of August, 1827. The arches of this bridge being very flat elliptics, it was necessary that the centres (upon which the stones and other materials of an arch are supported during the progress of the work should he particularly strong. Each centre of this bridge consisted of nearly eight hundred tons of timber and iron. The bridge was finally completed on the 3lst of July, 1831, having occupied about seven years and a half in its construction. It was opened by the King on the Ist of August. Waterloo Bridge was built in six years; Westminster and Blackfriars in eleven years each.

London Bridge consists, as may be seen in the above elevation, of five semi-elliptic arches. The least of these is larger than any other stone arch of this form ever erected. The centre arch is 152 feet span, with a rise above high water mark of 29 feet 6 inches;-the two arches next the centre are 140 feet in span; the abutments are each 130 feet in span. The roadway is 53 feet wide between the parapets, the footways occupying 9 feet each; the rise in the road is only 1 in 132. The length of the bridge, from the extremities of the abut-ments, is 928 feet; within the abutments, 782 feet. The whole of the bridge is built of granite, and the total quantity of stone employed amounts to about 120,000 tons. The new bridge is, like the old one, free of toll. The expense has been paid, partly by the Corporation and partly by the Government;-the Corporation are allowed to levy a tax (which is to last for twenty-six years of 10d. per chaldron on all coals entering the port of London.

The following plan will give a better idea of the approaches to the new bridge than any description.