Text 10. London Bridge

When the Roman Empire crumbled, most of the arts of civilization started to disappear with it. They might have been lost altogether, had it not been for the monks who preserved as much of the learning of the past as they could by writing it down.

The six centuries between 300 A.D. and 900 A.D. were grim and lawless times for most people. Robbers, cutthroats, and highwaymen swarmed the roads, and they were especially dangerous at river crossings. Travelers had all they could do to manage their horses while crossing, and they found it hard to defend themselves against attack, so the monks began to build bridges at such places. Gradually, during the Middle Ages, they taught others how to build.

The new medieval bridges were not as grand as the Roman bridges. Early ones were of the wooden-beam type, built on stone piers or wooden piles. War and religion both had their effect on most medieval bridges. Chapels were often built close to bridges, fortresslike towers guarded the bridges' approaches, and the roadway was narrowed at strategic points to make defense easier.

By the twelfth century, some people were once again beginning to experiment with different kinds of bridge building, and in London an ambitious builder named Peter Colechurch was planning one of the most famous of all bridges - Old London Bridge.

Timber bridges spanning the Thames River at London had been alternately constructed and destroyed ever since the tenth century, when Norsemen.sailed up the Thames, fastened their lines to a bridge’s piling, then rowed downstream and pulled the bridge down.

Toward the end of the twelfth century, however, such invasions were no longer a threat, and London was becoming an increasingly important city. When Colechurch put forward his plans for a masonry arch bridge, it was exactly what the Londoners wanted. A fund drive was an immediate success, with subscriptions pouring in from rich and poor alike. Building began in 1176, and the bridge was finished thirty-four years later.

The old nursery rhyme says:

London Bridge is falling down,

Falling down,

Falling down...

Amazingly, it didn't! London Bridge was crude and clumsy looking — just over 936 feet long, with 19 pointed arches that varied in width from 15 feet to 34 feet, 5 inches. Not one of the piers matched any other, and all were more than half as wide as the arches that sprang from them.

This meant that the openings through which the waters of the tidal river rushed were relatively small. Water funneled through them with great velocity, making the passage of boats about as chancy as shooting the rapids in a mountain stream. In fact, maneuvering a boat through one of these arches was called “shooting the bridge” and a popular saying was “London Bridge is made for wise men to go over and fools to go under.”

Almost every kind of structure one can think of was built on London Bridge. There were gateways at each end and a chapel on the central pier. Houses were added, built on supports over the piers; there were a hundred of them, including buildings that straddled the roadway. In most of the buildings, merchants had shops on the roadway level and lived in the upper floors.

The seventh span from the south bank was a drawbridge. Upon the drawbridge pier, which was one of the larger piers, Nonesuch House was erected. It was called Nonesuch because nothing like it had been seen before. This four-story house was brought in pieces from Holland and then fastened together with wooden pegs. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. it became one of the most fashionable addresses in London.

The south gateway of the bridge was strongly fortified, and when traitors were beheaded, their heads were displayed on the battlements of this gateway. It soon gained the popular name of Traitor’s Gate.

For most of its six hundred years, London Bridge was the only bridge across the Thames. Its construction and upkeep were paid for by rents and tolls, and in time these amounted to a great deal of money. Tolls were even collected for “shooting the bridge,” which must have specially angered the boatmen who wished the structure had never been built in the first place.

By the seventeenth century, Old London Bridge was no longer a fashionable address. Many of the houses had fallen into disrepair, and in 1831 when construction began on New London Bridge, Old London Bridge was taken down. By that time several other bridges had been built at London.

Scott Corbett

From "Cricket"

I. Read the text ‘London Bridge’. Say which of the facts seems to you the most striking.

II. Find in the text the conditional sentence. Analyze and translate it.

III. Translate the text.

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