London Bridge has been rebuilt repeatedly to meet the needs of a growing city. Medieval stone spans gave way to John Rennie’s nineteenth-century structure and then the present bridge, whose concrete form serves a modern river crossing.
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The current London Bridge looks plain beside Tower Bridge, but its simpler form carries a long history of rebuilding. Wooden crossings existed here before Roman times; in 1176, Peter de Colechurch began a stone bridge whose construction took 33 years.
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UpgradeQuick facts
- A stone bridge begun in 1176 stood for 655 years.
- John Rennie the Elder designed the nineteenth-century replacement, later sold and moved to Arizona.
- The current bridge was designed by Mott, Hay & Anderson with Lord Holford as architectural adviser.
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