Chronicles of London Bridge. Richard Thompson

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       Richard Thompson

      Chronicles of London Bridge

      Published by Good Press, 2019

       [email protected]

      EAN 4057664620606

Table of Contents

       PREFACE.

       DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF THE EMBELLISHMENTS.

       Chronicles OF LONDON BRIDGE.

       DIMENSIONS AND REFERENCES. COMMENCING AT THE CITY, OR NORTH END.

       GENERAL INDEX.

       WORKS IN THE PRESS, OR RECENTLY PUBLISHED, BY SMITH, ELDER, and Co.

PREFACE.

       Table of Contents

      The plan of narrative adopted in the ensuing pages, is recommended by both the sanction and the example of very learned antiquity; since, without referring to the numerous classical volumes, which have been written upon the same principle, two of the most ancient and esteemed works on English Jurisprudence have honoured it with their selection. Of the accuracy of the historical events here recorded, the authorities so explicitly cited are the most ample proofs; and, that they might be the more generally interesting, whatever may have been their original language, the whole are now given in English: so that an argument should lose none of its effect from its too erudite obscurity, nor an illustration any of its amusement by requiring to be translated.

      The collection and arrangement of these materials have been a labour so unexpectedly toilsome and extended, as, it is hoped, fully to excuse every delay in the work’s appearance; and, but for the valuable aid of those numerous friends who have so kindly assisted its progress, it must have still been incomplete. Of these, the first and the most fervent has been John Garratt, Esq., who, by a singularly happy coincidence, was at once the founder of the New London Bridge, as Lord Mayor, and a native, and Alderman, of the Ward containing the Old one. Of other benefactors to these sheets, the names of Henry Smedley, Esq.; H. P. Standley, Esq.; Henry Woodthorpe, Esq., Town Clerk; Mr. Joseph York Hatton; Mr. John Thomas Smith, of the British Museum; Mr. William Upcott, of the London Institution; and Mr. William Knight, of the New Bridge Works; will sufficiently evince the importance of their communications; to whom, as well as to the many other friends, whose kindnesses I am forbidden to enumerate, I thus offer my sincerest acknowledgments. The Historians of the Metropolis have hitherto passed over the subject of this work far too slightingly: it will be my most ample praise to have endeavoured to supply that deficiency, by these

      Chronicles of London Bridge.

       June 15th, 1827.

DESCRIPTIVE LIST

       OF

       THE EMBELLISHMENTS.

       Table of Contents

      1 Historical Title-page, displaying a rich Gothic edifice, surrounded by the Effigies, Armorial Ensigns, &c. of the most eminent persons connected with the history of London Bridge. The two upper figures represent Richard, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Cardinal Hugo di Petraleone, who subscribed so liberally to its original foundation, (see page 61,) and the two lower ones, Kings John and Edward I., commemorative of the Bridge having been finished in the reign of the former, and of the several grants made to it by the latter. In the upper centre is suspended a banner, with the present Royal Arms of England, alluding to the foundation of the New London Bridge in the reign of George IV.; and beneath it, a representation in tapestry, of the triumphal entry of Henry V. across the ancient Bridge, in 1415, after the victory of Agincourt, described on pages 220–229: at the sides of which are groups of banners, &c., commemorative of some of the principal persons engaged in the battle. Below, are the Armorial Ensigns of King Henry II., the Priory of St. Mary Overies, the ancient device of Southwark, and the Monograms of Peter of Colechurch, and Isenbert of Xainctes; the benefactors and Architects of the First Stone Bridge at London. Beneath these is a monumental effigy of Peter of Colechurch; under which appear the ancient and modern Arms of the City of London, see page 177; those of Robert Serle, Mercer, and Custos of London in 1214, the principal citizen to whom the finishing of the Bridge was entrusted, see page 73; those of Henry Walleis, Lord Mayor in 1282, and an eminent benefactor to London Bridge, see pages 131, 132; and in the centre, the shield of John Garratt, Esq., Alderman of the Ward of Bridge-Within, and Lord Mayor in 1824–25, who laid the First Stone of the New Edifice: see pages 635–660.—Designed and Drawn by W. Harvey, from ancient Historical authorities. Engraven by G. W. Bonner.

      2 Antique Rosette Device on the Title-page, containing the Armorial Ensigns of England, the City of London, the Borough of Southwark, and the Priory of St. Mary Overies. Engraven by the late W. Hughes.

      3 Dedication Head-piece: An Ornamental Group, consisting of the Armorial Ensigns, &c. of the City of London, the Company of Goldsmiths, and the Right Worshipful John Garratt. Engraven by A. J. Mason.

      4 Page 1. Head-piece: Exterior view of the river-front of Fishmongers’ Hall, with the Shades’ Tavern below it. Drawn and Engraven by G. W. Bonner.

      5 Initial Letter: View down Fish-Street-Hill, comprising the Monument, St. Magnus’ Church, and the Northern entrance to London Bridge. Engraven by G. W. Bonner.

      6 Page 39. Ancient Monumental Effigy, from the Church of St. Mary Overies, Southwark; reported to represent John Audery, the Ferryman of the Thames, before the building of London Bridge. Copied from an Etching by Mr. J. T. Smith, Keeper of the Prints and Drawings in the British Museum. Drawn and Engraven by G. W. Moore.

      7 Page 57. Ancient Water-Quintain, as it was played at upon the River Thames, near London Bridge, in the 12th century: Copied from an Illuminated Manuscript in the Royal Library in the British Museum. Drawn by W. H. Brooke; Engraven by G. W. Bonner.

      8 Page 57. Ancient Boat-Tournament of the same period: copied from the same authority. Drawn and Engraven by the same.

      9 Page 74. Architectural Elevation of the Centre and Southwark end of the First Stone Bridge erected over the Thames at London, AD 1209. Drawn from Vertue’s Prints, and other authorities; Engraven by the late W. Hughes.

      10 Page 80. Ground-plan of London Bridge, as first built of Stone by Peter of Colechurch,