“The year 1768 commenced with so violent and general a frost, that its effects were felt equally upon the land and the water. ‘It is said,’ observes the ‘Gazetteer’ of Friday, January 1st, ‘that London Bridge is in great danger by this severe frost: the most essential of the piles which form the Sterlings have been lately observed to be quite loose, and playing in the water; and workmen have been ordered, notwithstanding the imminent danger, to throw Kentish rag-stone round the piers.’ In addition to this, there were also several fatal accidents, arising from the River being frozen, which were likewise greatly detrimental to this edifice. The night of Tuesday, January 5th, was said to have been themost fatal ever known for damage done upon the Thames: one French vessel was thrown upon the Sterlings of the Bridge, with the loss of her bow-sprit, where it was obliged to be kept for several days secured by ropes; and two others were driven through the Centre Arch, losing their main-masts, and carrying away the lamps from the parapet. Some barges also got across the other Arches, and after the breaking up of the frost, which was about the middle of January, the ‘Gazetteer’ of Thursday, 21st, states, that ‘yesterday a great many tons of Kentish rag-stones were thrown under the Great Arch of London Bridge, as a supposed temporary remedy against the damage the foundation received during the late frost. An expedient productive of infinite ruin to the navigation, as they are soon scowered away again, and an accumulating expense to the City of an alarming nature.’ It is also added in the same paper for Tuesday, February 2nd, that ‘the damages done to London Bridge Water-works in the late severe weather, are not yet repaired, though the workmen have worked over hours, and on Sundays, ever since the weather broke. The last damaged wheel will be at work this week.’ It had been frequently remarked in the papers of this period, that the amount of rents received from the Proprietors of the London Bridge Water-works, was not, in any degree, proportionate to the expenses of their repairs, which were calculated at £2500 yearly; and in the ‘Gazetteer’ for Friday, April 22nd, 1768, it is stated that they returned only£3000 clear of all expenses. It is also rather curiously observed, that ‘’tis computed that there are drowned at London Bridge, about 50 people upon an average every year; which, as they are the prime of watermen, bargemen, and seamen, amount, at £400 each, to £20,000per annum.’ The ‘Continuation of Maitland’s History,’ page 73, states, that on April 10th, in this year, the Thames was so remarkably low, that it was with difficulty even a wherry could cross it, the sand-banks on both sides of the Bridge being entirely dry. And now, as I have already mentioned to you several particulars concerning the foundation of Blackfriars’ Bridge, let me conclude this year with a summary notice of its completion. The Architect, then, was Robert Mylne, Esq.; the first pile of it was driven in the middle of the Thames on Saturday, June 7th, 1760; and the first stone was laid by Sir Thomas Chitty, Lord Mayor, on Friday, October 31st. On Wednesday, November 19th, 1768, it was made passable as a bridle-way, exactly two years after its reception of foot passengers; and it was finally and generally opened on Sunday, November, 19th, 1769. The total expense of this building amounted to £152,840. 3s.10d.; exclusive of £5830 for altering and filling-up the Fleet-ditch, and £2167, the cost of the Temporary Wooden Bridge. Until June 22nd, 1785, there was a toll of ½d.for every foot-passenger, and 1d.on Sundays; the yearly amount of which, from its commencement in 1766, with the purposes to which it was applied, may be seen in the‘Second Report of the Select Committee for Improving the Port of London,’ 1799, folio,AppendixB.11, page 49. The Toll-house was burned down in the Riots of 1780, when all the account-books were destroyed.“And now to return again to our memorials of London Bridge, I do not find, even after the most careful search, any particulars of this edifice, connected with the great Frost of 1785, notwithstanding its extent and severity for 115 days; and for that of 1789, though there are many descriptions of its appearance both up and down the River, there are but few notices of it at this identical spot. The ‘Public Advertiser’ of Friday, January 9th, 1789, states, that the shipping below the Bridge was in considerable danger, from the tiers at Deptford, Greenwich, &c. being enclosed with ice; and that the Thames being frozen over on the day preceding, ‘several purl-booths were erected, and many thousands of persons crossed upon the ice from Tower-wharf to the opposite shore.’ The same paper for the day following, states, that the frost had then continued for about six weeks; whilst its severity down the River kept still increasing. Passages across the ice, strewed with ashes, were formed at Gun-Dock, Execution-Dock, &c.; and these parts seem to have constituted the principal scenes of attraction. ‘No sooner,’ says the ‘London Chronicle’ from Saturday, January 10th, to Tuesday, January 13th, page 48, ‘had the Thames acquired a sufficient consistency, than booths, turn-abouts, &c. &c. were erected; the puppet-shows, wild-beasts, &c. weretransported from every adjacent village; whilst the watermen, that they might draw their usual resources from the water, broke in the ice close to the shore, and erected bridges, with toll-bars, to make every passenger pay a halfpenny for getting to the ice. One of the suttling booths has for its sign ‘Beer, Wine, and Spirituous Liquors without a License.’ A man who sells hot gingerbread, has a board on which is written ‘no shop-tax nor window-duty.’ All the adventurers contend in these short sentences for the preference of the company, and the Thames is in general crowded.’ Another specimen of the humour exhibited at this place, was contained in the following inscription on a temporary building on the Thames, and printed in the ‘Public Advertiser’ of Thursday, January 15th: ‘This Booth to Let. The present possessor of the Premises is Mr. Frost. His affairs, however, not being on a permanent footing, a dissolution or bankruptcy may soon be expected, and the final settlement of the whole entrusted to Mr. Thaw.’ On Wednesday, January 7th, a large pig was roasted on one of the principal roads; and on Monday the 12th, a young bear was hunted on the ice, near Rotherhithe. As usual, too, a printing-press was erected near the same spot, of which there is a curious memorial preserved in Mr. Crowle’s ‘Illustrated Pennant,’ volume viii., page 262, consisting of a bill, having a border of type flowers containing the following verses; afterwards altered and adopted in the Frost of 1814.‘The silver Thames was frozen o’er,No diff’rence ’twixt the Stream and shore;The like no Man hath seen before,Except he liv’d in Days of Yore.On the Ice, at the Thames Printing-Office opposite St. Catherine’s Stairs in the severe Frost, January, 1789. Printed by me, William Bailey.’ The same collection also contains a small stippled engraving, entitled ‘A View of the Thames from Rotherhithe Stairs, during the Frost in 1789. Painted by G. Samuel, and Engraved by W. Birch, Enamel-painter.’ The severity of this frost, however, appears to have been felt considerably beyond these scenes of amusement. The East-India ships were hastily sent down to Gravesend, to which place, and even below it, large shoals of ice had already floated, extending almost through the whole Reach; the navigation of boats was entirely stopped, and it was supposed that the River would soon be completely impassable from London Bridge to Woolwich. Vast quantities of boiling water were poured every morning upon the Bridge Water-works, before the wheels could be set in motion, and 25 horses were daily employed in removing the ice which surrounded them: whilst at Blackfriars the masses of floating ice were said to be 18 feet in thickness, and were continually increasing from the many cart-loads of snow constantly thrown over the ballustrades. ‘The various parts of the River,’—says the ‘Public Advertiser’ of Friday, January 9th,—‘present different appearances; in some, the surface is smooth for a mile or two, and then rough and mountainous, from the great quantities of snow driven by the wind, and frozen in large bodies.’ Towards Putney Bridge and upwards, the scene on the ice again became really entertaining. ‘Opposite to Windsor-street,’ continues the same paper, ‘booths have been erected since Friday last, and a fair is kept on the river. Multitudes of people are continually passing and repassing; puppet-shows, round-abouts, and all the various amusements of Bartholomew fair are exhibited. In short, Putney and Fulham, from the morning dawn till the dusk of returning evening, are a scene of festivity and gaiety.’“At length, the expected thaw commenced with some rain, about two o’clock on Tuesday, January 13th; and before night the streets were almost overflowed. ‘Perhaps,’ says the ‘London Chronicle,’ from that date to Thursday, January 15th, page 56, ‘the breaking up of the Fair upon the Thames last Tuesday night below Bridge, exceeded every idea that could be formed of it, as it was not until after the dusk of the evening, that the busy crowd was persuaded of the approach of a thaw. This, however, with the cracking of some ice about 8 o’clock, made the whole a scene of the most perfect confusion; as men, beasts, booths, turn-abouts, puppet-shows, &c. &c. were all in motion, and pouring towards the shore on each side. The confluence here was so sudden and impetuous, that the watermen who had formed the toll-bars over the sides of the river, where they had broken the ice for that purpose, not being able to maintain theirstandard from the crowd, &c. pulled up the boards, by which a number of persons who could not leap, or were borne down by the press, were soused up to the middle. The difficulty of landing at the Tower stairs was extreme, until near 10 o’clock, occasioned by the crowding of people from the shore, who were attracted by the confusion on the water. The inconvenience to the shipping is now increased more than since the setting in of the Frost, as no persons will venture upon the ice to fetch or carry any thing for them, and it is not yet sufficiently disunited for a boat to live.’ The succeeding number of this paper, page 60, mentions that on Thursday, January 15th, the ice was so powerful as to cut the cables of two vessels lying at the Old Rose Chain, and drive them through the Great Arch of London Bridge; when their masts becoming entangled with the ballustrades, both were broken, and many persons hurt. The Thames, however, continued to be considerably frozen for some time after this. I shall terminate the year 1789, by informing you, that it is stated in the ‘Public Advertiser’ of Friday, January 16th, that the shares of the London Bridge Proprietors, which some years before had been worth £3000 per annum in Life Annuities, had then fallen below £2000.“In the years 1793 and 1794, the Great Centre Arch again became a subject of consideration; for, in order to confine the rubble which had been deposited there to raise and preserve the form of its bed, nine strong beams of timber were sunk in ithorizontally between the Sterlings, having upright pieces at each end fitting into grooves cut in the sides of the Sterlings, which forced them down and held them in their places. This contrivance, however, was only of temporary benefit, for, at the excellent survey of London Bridge, made by Mr. George Dance, in 1799, he supposed that only two of these timbers were remaining, the rest having been carried away by the ice. If we remember, indeed, the accidents that were continually happening to the Bridge, by vessels driving through it at this very part, there can be no great reason to wonder at these defences being speedily destroyed. So early as January 19th, 1795, we find by ‘Dodsley’s Annual Register’ for that year, volume xxxvii., page 3 of the ‘Chronicle’ part, that, about 12 o’clock, two vessels broke from their moorings a little below the Bridge, when the tide drove them violently against it. One of them being a large West-Indiaman, making the Centre Arch, had all its masts carried away close by the board, when it drove through with a violent crash, and continued up the river to Somerset House. In 1798, also, the same authority, volume xl., page 40 of the ‘Chronicle’ part, mentions, that on May 23rd, a sprit-sail vessel, laden with hay, drove against the Bridge with great velocity, and the mast not being lowered in time, it struck the ballustrades over the Centre Arch and broke them away to the space of nearly ten feet; the two persons on board being killed by the stones. But if I were to record all theaccidents of this nature, which are contained in the registers of every year, my narrative would be much longer, and more melancholy, than either of us would desire; and I shall add only, therefore, that even the timbers, sunk as an improvement to the passage of the Centre Arch, were found, in some degree, to injure the navigation of the Bridge. For in the examination of Mr. M. P.—now Alderman—Lucas, on June 26th, 1799, he stated, that the chalk, &c. thrown into the water to support the foundation of that part of the Bridge, had produced shoals both above and below it; and, that the timbers recently laid there having prevented the rubble being scattered, it was stopped up in the wake of the Great Arch, where it formed a bar. On this account, the last three hours of the ebb-tide, which were always attended with danger, became additionally hazardous; empty craft under 3 or 4 tons burthen, could not go through with safety, and loaded craft could not pass at all at that time. The stream being then sunk below the level of the Sterlings, the passage was reduced nearly one half; the fall commenced and increased until the ebb was over; a barge of 30 or 40 tons would consequently pass with her bows under water, of which it frequently shipped four or five tons; whilst it was impossible for any one to stand upon the deck, without holding on to some part of the vessel. Let me add, that you will find all these particulars, together with a ‘Plan and description of the Timbers sunk in the Great Arch of London Bridge, in the years 1793 and 1794,’ inplate vii. of ‘The several Plans and Drawings referred to in the Second Report from the Select Committee upon the Improvement of the Port of London,’ 1799, folio; and in the AppendixA5,B6, and pages 19 and 35 of the Report itself.“As I do not find that the famous Frost of 1794 produced any very remarkable circumstance connected with London Bridge, I shall hasten to the year 1799, when it again became the subject of considerable inquiry and speculation, the particulars of which are so fully recorded in that Report to which I have now referred you: pages 5 and 6, section 2, and ‘Appendix,’B.1,-B.11, pages 21-49, plates v.-vii. The amount of these proceedings was, that after a minute survey of the Bridge and River, by Mr. George Dance, Clerk of the Works, and Mr. John Foulds, his assistant, and Engineer to the Water-works, executed between the months of May and July, it was ascertained, that, provided the Sterlings were kept in repair, the structure itself was likely to stand for ages. These defences, they added, had then been recently altered and improved in shape, size, and construction, so as to retain the chalk, &c. with which they were then filling; and though there were many fractures in the building, they had not increased in the last 30 years. The average cost of its repairs had exceeded £4200 annually, for the last six years, and the Wardens’ receipts for the same period had varied from £9772: 2s.1½d.to £24,848: 10s.4½d.These financial particulars arerecorded at length in the Report whence we derive our information; ‘Appendix,’B.10, pages 38-49, in a document entitled ‘An account of the produce of the Estates of the City of London, called the Bridge-House Estates, and the application thereof, from the year 1756 to Christmas 1798;’ which may properly be considered as a continuation of that paper which furnished us with the ancient revenues and expenditures. I should observe, however, that the Report still represents the dangers of the Bridge navigation; stating, that, although the stream was 10 feet deep under the Middle Arch at low-water, yet, at the distance of only a few yards below it, there were not more than 18 inches. These Reports contain also the following engravings.“1. ‘Ground-plan and Elevation of London Bridge in its present state, 2nd July, 1799, taken by Mr. Dance. R. Metcalf Sculp.’ A most curious and interesting print, measuring 8 feet 5 inches, by 2 feet; shewing the sizes of the several locks; the different heights of the tides; the singular forms of the Sterlings; a Section through one of the arches and roadway, and the measurement of every part set down in figures. See Plate v. in the large folio of Drawings, &c. belonging to the Second Report. If to these particulars we add the Water-works, the line of Soundings taken along the points of the Sterlings, a Section of the bed of the River beneath them, and Mr. Smeaton’s new foundation of the Great Arch, we shall have the most accurate materials for constructing theGround-Plan and Elevation of Old London Bridge.“2. Another print belonging to this Report, consists of the ‘Soundings of the Great Arch of London Bridge, taken from the top of the Sterlings, 29th May, 1799, by J. Foulds and I. K.:’ to which are added the depths of the River, at, and between, London Bridge and Billingsgate, taken at low-water. Plate vi. in the same volume. The printed Report also contains three other engravings connected with this subject, from drawings made by Mr. Smeaton, to illustrate his observations on London Bridge, in March, 1763, and afterwards preserved by Sir Joseph Banks, with the original manuscript of his Report. They will be found at page 25,B.5, of the ‘Appendix,’ and they consist of—1. ‘Section of the Water-way at London Bridge as it was before the opening of the Great Arch, and at the beginning of Feb. 1763:’—2. ‘Plan of the Sterlings of London Bridge, before the opening of the Great Arch;’—3. ‘Plan of the proposed Water-way under the Great Arch of London Bridge,’ shewing the bed of rubble, &c. laid down for lining the foundation, and the additions to the two centre Sterlings. All these engravings, however, you will find reduced upon one plate, by W. Lowry, and inserted in Smeaton’s ‘Reports’ already cited, volume ii., page 1.
“The year 1768 commenced with so violent and general a frost, that its effects were felt equally upon the land and the water. ‘It is said,’ observes the ‘Gazetteer’ of Friday, January 1st, ‘that London Bridge is in great danger by this severe frost: the most essential of the piles which form the Sterlings have been lately observed to be quite loose, and playing in the water; and workmen have been ordered, notwithstanding the imminent danger, to throw Kentish rag-stone round the piers.’ In addition to this, there were also several fatal accidents, arising from the River being frozen, which were likewise greatly detrimental to this edifice. The night of Tuesday, January 5th, was said to have been themost fatal ever known for damage done upon the Thames: one French vessel was thrown upon the Sterlings of the Bridge, with the loss of her bow-sprit, where it was obliged to be kept for several days secured by ropes; and two others were driven through the Centre Arch, losing their main-masts, and carrying away the lamps from the parapet. Some barges also got across the other Arches, and after the breaking up of the frost, which was about the middle of January, the ‘Gazetteer’ of Thursday, 21st, states, that ‘yesterday a great many tons of Kentish rag-stones were thrown under the Great Arch of London Bridge, as a supposed temporary remedy against the damage the foundation received during the late frost. An expedient productive of infinite ruin to the navigation, as they are soon scowered away again, and an accumulating expense to the City of an alarming nature.’ It is also added in the same paper for Tuesday, February 2nd, that ‘the damages done to London Bridge Water-works in the late severe weather, are not yet repaired, though the workmen have worked over hours, and on Sundays, ever since the weather broke. The last damaged wheel will be at work this week.’ It had been frequently remarked in the papers of this period, that the amount of rents received from the Proprietors of the London Bridge Water-works, was not, in any degree, proportionate to the expenses of their repairs, which were calculated at £2500 yearly; and in the ‘Gazetteer’ for Friday, April 22nd, 1768, it is stated that they returned only£3000 clear of all expenses. It is also rather curiously observed, that ‘’tis computed that there are drowned at London Bridge, about 50 people upon an average every year; which, as they are the prime of watermen, bargemen, and seamen, amount, at £400 each, to £20,000per annum.’ The ‘Continuation of Maitland’s History,’ page 73, states, that on April 10th, in this year, the Thames was so remarkably low, that it was with difficulty even a wherry could cross it, the sand-banks on both sides of the Bridge being entirely dry. And now, as I have already mentioned to you several particulars concerning the foundation of Blackfriars’ Bridge, let me conclude this year with a summary notice of its completion. The Architect, then, was Robert Mylne, Esq.; the first pile of it was driven in the middle of the Thames on Saturday, June 7th, 1760; and the first stone was laid by Sir Thomas Chitty, Lord Mayor, on Friday, October 31st. On Wednesday, November 19th, 1768, it was made passable as a bridle-way, exactly two years after its reception of foot passengers; and it was finally and generally opened on Sunday, November, 19th, 1769. The total expense of this building amounted to £152,840. 3s.10d.; exclusive of £5830 for altering and filling-up the Fleet-ditch, and £2167, the cost of the Temporary Wooden Bridge. Until June 22nd, 1785, there was a toll of ½d.for every foot-passenger, and 1d.on Sundays; the yearly amount of which, from its commencement in 1766, with the purposes to which it was applied, may be seen in the‘Second Report of the Select Committee for Improving the Port of London,’ 1799, folio,AppendixB.11, page 49. The Toll-house was burned down in the Riots of 1780, when all the account-books were destroyed.
“And now to return again to our memorials of London Bridge, I do not find, even after the most careful search, any particulars of this edifice, connected with the great Frost of 1785, notwithstanding its extent and severity for 115 days; and for that of 1789, though there are many descriptions of its appearance both up and down the River, there are but few notices of it at this identical spot. The ‘Public Advertiser’ of Friday, January 9th, 1789, states, that the shipping below the Bridge was in considerable danger, from the tiers at Deptford, Greenwich, &c. being enclosed with ice; and that the Thames being frozen over on the day preceding, ‘several purl-booths were erected, and many thousands of persons crossed upon the ice from Tower-wharf to the opposite shore.’ The same paper for the day following, states, that the frost had then continued for about six weeks; whilst its severity down the River kept still increasing. Passages across the ice, strewed with ashes, were formed at Gun-Dock, Execution-Dock, &c.; and these parts seem to have constituted the principal scenes of attraction. ‘No sooner,’ says the ‘London Chronicle’ from Saturday, January 10th, to Tuesday, January 13th, page 48, ‘had the Thames acquired a sufficient consistency, than booths, turn-abouts, &c. &c. were erected; the puppet-shows, wild-beasts, &c. weretransported from every adjacent village; whilst the watermen, that they might draw their usual resources from the water, broke in the ice close to the shore, and erected bridges, with toll-bars, to make every passenger pay a halfpenny for getting to the ice. One of the suttling booths has for its sign ‘Beer, Wine, and Spirituous Liquors without a License.’ A man who sells hot gingerbread, has a board on which is written ‘no shop-tax nor window-duty.’ All the adventurers contend in these short sentences for the preference of the company, and the Thames is in general crowded.’ Another specimen of the humour exhibited at this place, was contained in the following inscription on a temporary building on the Thames, and printed in the ‘Public Advertiser’ of Thursday, January 15th: ‘This Booth to Let. The present possessor of the Premises is Mr. Frost. His affairs, however, not being on a permanent footing, a dissolution or bankruptcy may soon be expected, and the final settlement of the whole entrusted to Mr. Thaw.’ On Wednesday, January 7th, a large pig was roasted on one of the principal roads; and on Monday the 12th, a young bear was hunted on the ice, near Rotherhithe. As usual, too, a printing-press was erected near the same spot, of which there is a curious memorial preserved in Mr. Crowle’s ‘Illustrated Pennant,’ volume viii., page 262, consisting of a bill, having a border of type flowers containing the following verses; afterwards altered and adopted in the Frost of 1814.
‘The silver Thames was frozen o’er,No diff’rence ’twixt the Stream and shore;The like no Man hath seen before,Except he liv’d in Days of Yore.
‘The silver Thames was frozen o’er,No diff’rence ’twixt the Stream and shore;The like no Man hath seen before,Except he liv’d in Days of Yore.
On the Ice, at the Thames Printing-Office opposite St. Catherine’s Stairs in the severe Frost, January, 1789. Printed by me, William Bailey.’ The same collection also contains a small stippled engraving, entitled ‘A View of the Thames from Rotherhithe Stairs, during the Frost in 1789. Painted by G. Samuel, and Engraved by W. Birch, Enamel-painter.’ The severity of this frost, however, appears to have been felt considerably beyond these scenes of amusement. The East-India ships were hastily sent down to Gravesend, to which place, and even below it, large shoals of ice had already floated, extending almost through the whole Reach; the navigation of boats was entirely stopped, and it was supposed that the River would soon be completely impassable from London Bridge to Woolwich. Vast quantities of boiling water were poured every morning upon the Bridge Water-works, before the wheels could be set in motion, and 25 horses were daily employed in removing the ice which surrounded them: whilst at Blackfriars the masses of floating ice were said to be 18 feet in thickness, and were continually increasing from the many cart-loads of snow constantly thrown over the ballustrades. ‘The various parts of the River,’—says the ‘Public Advertiser’ of Friday, January 9th,—‘present different appearances; in some, the surface is smooth for a mile or two, and then rough and mountainous, from the great quantities of snow driven by the wind, and frozen in large bodies.’ Towards Putney Bridge and upwards, the scene on the ice again became really entertaining. ‘Opposite to Windsor-street,’ continues the same paper, ‘booths have been erected since Friday last, and a fair is kept on the river. Multitudes of people are continually passing and repassing; puppet-shows, round-abouts, and all the various amusements of Bartholomew fair are exhibited. In short, Putney and Fulham, from the morning dawn till the dusk of returning evening, are a scene of festivity and gaiety.’
“At length, the expected thaw commenced with some rain, about two o’clock on Tuesday, January 13th; and before night the streets were almost overflowed. ‘Perhaps,’ says the ‘London Chronicle,’ from that date to Thursday, January 15th, page 56, ‘the breaking up of the Fair upon the Thames last Tuesday night below Bridge, exceeded every idea that could be formed of it, as it was not until after the dusk of the evening, that the busy crowd was persuaded of the approach of a thaw. This, however, with the cracking of some ice about 8 o’clock, made the whole a scene of the most perfect confusion; as men, beasts, booths, turn-abouts, puppet-shows, &c. &c. were all in motion, and pouring towards the shore on each side. The confluence here was so sudden and impetuous, that the watermen who had formed the toll-bars over the sides of the river, where they had broken the ice for that purpose, not being able to maintain theirstandard from the crowd, &c. pulled up the boards, by which a number of persons who could not leap, or were borne down by the press, were soused up to the middle. The difficulty of landing at the Tower stairs was extreme, until near 10 o’clock, occasioned by the crowding of people from the shore, who were attracted by the confusion on the water. The inconvenience to the shipping is now increased more than since the setting in of the Frost, as no persons will venture upon the ice to fetch or carry any thing for them, and it is not yet sufficiently disunited for a boat to live.’ The succeeding number of this paper, page 60, mentions that on Thursday, January 15th, the ice was so powerful as to cut the cables of two vessels lying at the Old Rose Chain, and drive them through the Great Arch of London Bridge; when their masts becoming entangled with the ballustrades, both were broken, and many persons hurt. The Thames, however, continued to be considerably frozen for some time after this. I shall terminate the year 1789, by informing you, that it is stated in the ‘Public Advertiser’ of Friday, January 16th, that the shares of the London Bridge Proprietors, which some years before had been worth £3000 per annum in Life Annuities, had then fallen below £2000.
“In the years 1793 and 1794, the Great Centre Arch again became a subject of consideration; for, in order to confine the rubble which had been deposited there to raise and preserve the form of its bed, nine strong beams of timber were sunk in ithorizontally between the Sterlings, having upright pieces at each end fitting into grooves cut in the sides of the Sterlings, which forced them down and held them in their places. This contrivance, however, was only of temporary benefit, for, at the excellent survey of London Bridge, made by Mr. George Dance, in 1799, he supposed that only two of these timbers were remaining, the rest having been carried away by the ice. If we remember, indeed, the accidents that were continually happening to the Bridge, by vessels driving through it at this very part, there can be no great reason to wonder at these defences being speedily destroyed. So early as January 19th, 1795, we find by ‘Dodsley’s Annual Register’ for that year, volume xxxvii., page 3 of the ‘Chronicle’ part, that, about 12 o’clock, two vessels broke from their moorings a little below the Bridge, when the tide drove them violently against it. One of them being a large West-Indiaman, making the Centre Arch, had all its masts carried away close by the board, when it drove through with a violent crash, and continued up the river to Somerset House. In 1798, also, the same authority, volume xl., page 40 of the ‘Chronicle’ part, mentions, that on May 23rd, a sprit-sail vessel, laden with hay, drove against the Bridge with great velocity, and the mast not being lowered in time, it struck the ballustrades over the Centre Arch and broke them away to the space of nearly ten feet; the two persons on board being killed by the stones. But if I were to record all theaccidents of this nature, which are contained in the registers of every year, my narrative would be much longer, and more melancholy, than either of us would desire; and I shall add only, therefore, that even the timbers, sunk as an improvement to the passage of the Centre Arch, were found, in some degree, to injure the navigation of the Bridge. For in the examination of Mr. M. P.—now Alderman—Lucas, on June 26th, 1799, he stated, that the chalk, &c. thrown into the water to support the foundation of that part of the Bridge, had produced shoals both above and below it; and, that the timbers recently laid there having prevented the rubble being scattered, it was stopped up in the wake of the Great Arch, where it formed a bar. On this account, the last three hours of the ebb-tide, which were always attended with danger, became additionally hazardous; empty craft under 3 or 4 tons burthen, could not go through with safety, and loaded craft could not pass at all at that time. The stream being then sunk below the level of the Sterlings, the passage was reduced nearly one half; the fall commenced and increased until the ebb was over; a barge of 30 or 40 tons would consequently pass with her bows under water, of which it frequently shipped four or five tons; whilst it was impossible for any one to stand upon the deck, without holding on to some part of the vessel. Let me add, that you will find all these particulars, together with a ‘Plan and description of the Timbers sunk in the Great Arch of London Bridge, in the years 1793 and 1794,’ inplate vii. of ‘The several Plans and Drawings referred to in the Second Report from the Select Committee upon the Improvement of the Port of London,’ 1799, folio; and in the AppendixA5,B6, and pages 19 and 35 of the Report itself.
“As I do not find that the famous Frost of 1794 produced any very remarkable circumstance connected with London Bridge, I shall hasten to the year 1799, when it again became the subject of considerable inquiry and speculation, the particulars of which are so fully recorded in that Report to which I have now referred you: pages 5 and 6, section 2, and ‘Appendix,’B.1,-B.11, pages 21-49, plates v.-vii. The amount of these proceedings was, that after a minute survey of the Bridge and River, by Mr. George Dance, Clerk of the Works, and Mr. John Foulds, his assistant, and Engineer to the Water-works, executed between the months of May and July, it was ascertained, that, provided the Sterlings were kept in repair, the structure itself was likely to stand for ages. These defences, they added, had then been recently altered and improved in shape, size, and construction, so as to retain the chalk, &c. with which they were then filling; and though there were many fractures in the building, they had not increased in the last 30 years. The average cost of its repairs had exceeded £4200 annually, for the last six years, and the Wardens’ receipts for the same period had varied from £9772: 2s.1½d.to £24,848: 10s.4½d.These financial particulars arerecorded at length in the Report whence we derive our information; ‘Appendix,’B.10, pages 38-49, in a document entitled ‘An account of the produce of the Estates of the City of London, called the Bridge-House Estates, and the application thereof, from the year 1756 to Christmas 1798;’ which may properly be considered as a continuation of that paper which furnished us with the ancient revenues and expenditures. I should observe, however, that the Report still represents the dangers of the Bridge navigation; stating, that, although the stream was 10 feet deep under the Middle Arch at low-water, yet, at the distance of only a few yards below it, there were not more than 18 inches. These Reports contain also the following engravings.
“1. ‘Ground-plan and Elevation of London Bridge in its present state, 2nd July, 1799, taken by Mr. Dance. R. Metcalf Sculp.’ A most curious and interesting print, measuring 8 feet 5 inches, by 2 feet; shewing the sizes of the several locks; the different heights of the tides; the singular forms of the Sterlings; a Section through one of the arches and roadway, and the measurement of every part set down in figures. See Plate v. in the large folio of Drawings, &c. belonging to the Second Report. If to these particulars we add the Water-works, the line of Soundings taken along the points of the Sterlings, a Section of the bed of the River beneath them, and Mr. Smeaton’s new foundation of the Great Arch, we shall have the most accurate materials for constructing theGround-Plan and Elevation of Old London Bridge.
“1. ‘Ground-plan and Elevation of London Bridge in its present state, 2nd July, 1799, taken by Mr. Dance. R. Metcalf Sculp.’ A most curious and interesting print, measuring 8 feet 5 inches, by 2 feet; shewing the sizes of the several locks; the different heights of the tides; the singular forms of the Sterlings; a Section through one of the arches and roadway, and the measurement of every part set down in figures. See Plate v. in the large folio of Drawings, &c. belonging to the Second Report. If to these particulars we add the Water-works, the line of Soundings taken along the points of the Sterlings, a Section of the bed of the River beneath them, and Mr. Smeaton’s new foundation of the Great Arch, we shall have the most accurate materials for constructing theGround-Plan and Elevation of Old London Bridge.
“2. Another print belonging to this Report, consists of the ‘Soundings of the Great Arch of London Bridge, taken from the top of the Sterlings, 29th May, 1799, by J. Foulds and I. K.:’ to which are added the depths of the River, at, and between, London Bridge and Billingsgate, taken at low-water. Plate vi. in the same volume. The printed Report also contains three other engravings connected with this subject, from drawings made by Mr. Smeaton, to illustrate his observations on London Bridge, in March, 1763, and afterwards preserved by Sir Joseph Banks, with the original manuscript of his Report. They will be found at page 25,B.5, of the ‘Appendix,’ and they consist of—1. ‘Section of the Water-way at London Bridge as it was before the opening of the Great Arch, and at the beginning of Feb. 1763:’—2. ‘Plan of the Sterlings of London Bridge, before the opening of the Great Arch;’—3. ‘Plan of the proposed Water-way under the Great Arch of London Bridge,’ shewing the bed of rubble, &c. laid down for lining the foundation, and the additions to the two centre Sterlings. All these engravings, however, you will find reduced upon one plate, by W. Lowry, and inserted in Smeaton’s ‘Reports’ already cited, volume ii., page 1.