Remember "London Bridge is falling down"? Here's the story of #LondonBridge!
There's been a series of bridges across the #RiverThames in #London since #Roman times, 2000 years ago. They were wooden till a stone one was built between 1176 and 1209.
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The 1176 #LondonBridge stood over 600 years. The heads of traitors were impaled on it - so many that there was an official Keeper of the Heads! The first head, in 1305, was that of #WilliamWallace, the #Scottish solider #MelGibson played in #Braveheart.
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A new #LondonBridge was completed in 1831. It was made of #granite from #Haytor Quarry, which is now part of the #Dartmoor National Park.
Its lamps were made from the melted-down cannons of #NapoleonBonaparte's army.
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Over time #LondonBridge started sinking at a rate of 3 centimetres every 8 years due to the weight of its #granite stone and increasing traffic. By 1924, the east side of the bridge was 9-12 cms lower than the west side. A new one was needed.
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Construction on a new #LondonBridge began in 1968. The old one was bought for $2.5 million to be a tourist attraction in #LakeHavasuCity, #Arizona. The bridge's 10,276 exterior #granite blocks were numbered, shipped and reassembled in Lake Havasu over 3 years.
#nspoli
The inside of #LondonBridge - the one in #Arizona - is hollow because it was rebuilt with a #steel framework faced with #granite. This reduced its weight from 130,000 tons to 30,000 tons, while strengthening the structure in order to accommodate vehicular traffic.
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Today's #LondonBridge – the one actually in #London! - is made of #concrete and #steel. It opened in 1973.
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It's not known what "#LondonBridge is Falling Down" refers to. Perhaps construction issues (i.e. multiple fires, arches collapsed in 1281–82 and 1437, etc).
Another theory is a #Viking attack in 1014 in which they tied ropes to the bridge’s supports and pulled them down.
#nspoli
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