PREFACE.

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 acknowledgements. 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 15, 1827.

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 46,) 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 160166; 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,

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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 127; 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 55; those of Henry Walleis, Lord Mayor in 1282, and an eminent benefactor to London Bridge, see pages 96, 97; 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 473, 474. Designed and Drawn by W. Harvey, from ancient Historical authorities

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

3. Dedication Head-piece: an Ornamental Group, consisting of the Amorial Ensigns, &c. of the City of London, the Company of Goldsmiths, and the Right Worshipful John Garratt

4. Head-piece: Exterior View of the river-front of Fishmongers' Hall, with the Shades' Tavern below it

5. Initial Letter: View down Fish-Street-Hill, comprising the Monument, St. Magnus' Church, and the Northern Entrance to London Bridge

6. 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

7. 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

8. Ancient Boat-Tournament of the same period: copied from the same authority

9. Architectural Elevation of the Centre and Southwark end of the First Stone Bridge erected over the Thames at London, A. D. 1209. Drawn from Vertue's Prints, and other authorities

10. Ground-plan of London Bridge, as first built of Stone by Peter of Colechurch, A. D. 1209. Drawn from the measurements and surveys of Vertue and Hawksmoor

11. Western Exterior of the Chapel of St. Thomas, on the centre pier of the First Stone London Bridge, A. D. 1209. Drawn from the same authorities

12. Interior View of the Upper Chapel contained in the above, looking Westward. Drawn from Vertue's Prints

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13. Interior View of the Crypt, or Lower Chapel, contained in the above, looking Eastward. Drawn from the same authorities

14. Southern Series of Windows in ditto. Drawn from the same
authorities
15. Ancient Date of 1497, carved in Stone, found on London Bridge
in 1758, and supposed to commemorate a repair done in the
former year

16. Eastern View of part of London Bridge, as it appeared in the reign of King Henry VII.; showing the houses, &c. then erected upon it, and the whole depth of the Chapel of St. Thomas. Copied from an Illuminated Manuscript in the Royal Library in the British Museum

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17. Ancient Dates of 1509 and 1514, carved in stone, and found in 1758 with the former

18. Cage and Stocks on London Bridge, with the confinement of a
Protestant Woman, in the reign of Queen Mary
19. Southern View of Traitors' Gate at the Southwark end of London
Bridge, with the heads erected on it in 1579. Drawn from the
Venetian copy of Visscher's. View of London, and other authori-
ties

20. Southern front of the old Southwark Gate and Tower, at the South end of London Bridge, as they appeared in 1647. Drawn from W. Hollar's Long Antwerp View of London

21. Southern front and Western side of the Nonesuch House and Drawbridge erected on London Bridge, at the above period. Drawn from the same authority

22. Western side of the Nonesuch House on London Bridge, as it appeared in the time of Queen Elizabeth. Copied from a Tracing of an original Drawing on vellum, preserved in the Pepysian Library, in Magdalen College, Cambridge

23. Ancient Corn Mills erected on the Western side of London Bridge, at Southwark. Drawn from the same authority

24. Ancient Water-Works and Water-Tower standing on the Western side of London Bridge, at the North end. Drawn from the same authority

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251

253

260

25. General View of the Western side of London Bridge, with all its
ancient buildings, taken from the top of St. Mary Overies' Church
in Southwark, at the close of the Sixteenth Century. Drawn by
W. H. Brooke
26. Copy of a Brass Token, issued by John Welday, living on Lon-
don Bridge in 1657. Drawn from the Originals in the Col-
lection of the late Barry Roberts, Esq. in the British Museum
27. Other Tokens in Brass and Copper, issued by Tradesmen residing
at London Bridge. Drawn from the Originals in the British

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